As will be clear from the last few issues of the Journal, despite many headwinds Winchester’s vision of education is thriving.

Nevertheless, external pressures are strong: from the narrowness of examination curricula to the stifling effects of over-regulation. Constant vigilance is required to defend our borders against these influences. There is also a peril within. Technology is developing ever faster, with far-reaching consequences. If not managed well, it could rapidly erode our culture of original thinking, rigorous scholarship, and deep community.

Rest assured that we have no intention of turning off the electricity and retreating to slates and scrolls: dons and pupils are confident and effective users of technology. We teach STEM to an enviable standard and use technology with great creativity. Pupils code at a high level: witness a jun man last term who explained to me over lunch that the algorithm for his retrieval practice app (a digital version of flashcards) was inadequate, so he customised the code to adapt it to Winchester’s teaching and his own progress.

Our pupils consistently win accolades in prestigious national and international competitions. Technology is used intelligently (e.g. modelling and visualisations, data analysis, access to online resources, and deployment of learning platforms), and we teach a range of specific technology skills – including how to harness AI to enhance individual learning (rather than the more common resort of simply substituting its output). In April, Professor Andrew Martin from the University of Oxford presented to dons his most recent research developing a bank of AI prompts proven to optimise learning in adolescents.

We are, however, circumspect about the influence of technology, and have long been counter-cultural in our willingness to address its deleterious effects on learning and adolescent development.

Notably, reading habits and the quality of writing are undermined by reliance on digital devices. Statistics for the UK and beyond do not make for happy reading. Hardly any young people (fewer than one in five) read daily, with the rates worse still for boys. Young people and adults alike struggle to focus, and reading a whole book from beginning to end is now rare (and no longer necessary for success in public examinations). The availability of distractions online is corrosive to learning, and the ubiquity of AI is forcing us to rethink how and what we teach.

My hunch, yet to be confirmed by research, is that the situation has worsened significantly with the rise of short-form video (snippets 10-20 seconds in length). This has become the dominant form of entertainment for young people. Twenty to thirty hours of screen time per week is common, and I have worked with teenagers spending over 80 hours per week on their mobile phones. (That is not possible for Wykehamists – see below.)

Unsurprisingly, attention becomes fragmented and the ability to focus is severely impaired. Sleeping habits, social development, and basic interpersonal skills are suffering amongst this generation of young people, and whilst parents are worried, they are still typically providing children with their first smartphone at around the age of 12 or 13. Unsurprisingly, the average age for first exposure to pornography is now similar.

So what are we doing about it at Winchester?

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, when online learning became essential, we have been dialling back our pupils’ reliance on laptops. Visiting inspectors commented in March that it was ‘refreshing’ to see that laptops were used relatively little in lessons. Meanwhile, dons are thoughtfully adapting long-standing teaching practices.

For instance, there is no point setting the traditional Div essay to be written up to house because the validity of such tasks is undermined by the availability of AI tools. Div tasks now are more likely to involve note-taking or preparatory reading, with the task itself written under supervision up to books.

Ironically, a commitment to academic rigour in the face of cutting-edge technology is driving us back to old forms of assessment. This year we reintroduced paper-based toytime for Junior Part, resulting in noticeable improvements in concentration and reading and (in the absence of the sedative effects of online videos via laptops) a wholesome increase in low-level mischief.

Mobile phones are not permitted up to books or in ekker time or overnight, even for VIth Book. The younger years have limited access to their mobile phones in their free time, to ensure healthy levels of activity and social mixing; from next year, JP will be issued with an old-style ‘brick’ phone in lieu of the smartphones which are so much more addictive.