Exclusive:Sumdog: Parents raise the alarm about teaching apps in Scottish classrooms

Scotland on Sunday spoke to families in Scottish Borders, Glasgow and Fife who have all expressed concerns about Games-based maths tool Sumdog and other digital apps.

Sumdog is believed to have been withdrawn from several Scottish Borders Council (SBC) primaries following complaints.

Sumdog, developed in Edinburgh in 2010, is used by pupils aged five to 14 to practice maths online.

It has been used by millions of children worldwide to motivate and build confidence of learners, the company said, with a spelling version also available.

But, families in Glasgow and Fife are becoming frustrated with the amount of time youngsters are being urged to spend on devices playing the game, with schools ranked on how long pupils spend on the app in some council-wide Sumdog competitions.

The goal is to spend as much time in-app as possible, regardless of whether the child is completing the sums incorrectly.

A note home to parents at one Glasgow primary school reads: “On the last contest our class came fourth in Glasgow. We would love to achieve a top 10 position again.

“If possible, please allow your child to play on Sumdog for a period of time each night.”

A mum-of-two in Glasgow said: “Being a parent can feel like a constant battle over screen time - TV, video games and now even homework.

“I felt really let down when the school sent my son home with instructions to log on and stay on.

“What’s particularly infuriating is that this challenge doesn’t reward children for doing well or even showing improvement.

“It simply rewards the children that spend the most time staring at the screen.

“It’s one competition I will be proud to see my son lose.”

One father-of-two in Edinburgh said he was making a stand by encouraging his children to try to come bottom of the leader board.

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In the Borders, mother-of-two Catherine, who asked that only her first name was used, was invited to a school open day along with other parents and shown maths activities, such as Sumdog.

“I was honestly gobsmacked that they were using this during maths time at school,” she said.

If pupils continue to click the answer options on the app, eventually it will move through the questions to a video game as a reward. After completing the gamified section, it returns to the maths questions.

Catherine said: “My daughter was literally just whacking the screen to get past the question to the game.

“There is also no teacher supervision while they’re using this.”

She emailed the school and said she did not want her child using Sumdog in curricular maths time or using the iPads during break times.

The parent was also concerned when she checked the Sumdog privacy policy.

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When pupils are signed up to the app their full name, school and age are given.

Amazon Web Services is among companies which collects or maintains information of Sumdog’s student users, including name, age, school login code and time stamps.

Personal information may also be shared with other entities in the Swedish company eEducation Albert group, which owns Sumdog.

Later, Catherine submitted subject access requests (SAR), which show if personal data is being used or stored, and freedom of information queries to SBC.

She claims these confirmed SBC should have given parents a data processing notice before signing pupils up to the app.

New guidance is being developed in England to support research showing children aged five and under should not have more than one hour of screen time a day. The Scottish government has this week been urged to develop similar guidance.

Yet in Catherine’s children’s primary - where some P1s are aged four - screen time is woven into the school day with the classrooms’ interactive whiteboard, half and hour of CBeebies a day and PE led by a YouTube video.

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Meanwhile, parent Sarah Duffield said she found out her five-year-old daughter had been signed up to 14 education apps, including some which use AI to generate images.

She said: “As a parent, I've neither been informed and definitely not consented to my five-year-old daughter's data being shared with so many different providers.

“Across multiple schools, parents are encountering a fragmented landscape of apps, platforms, and practices, with limited visibility of central oversight or quality assurance.

“In other regulated environments, particularly those involving children’s data, this level of inconsistency would typically be treated as a material risk requiring formal controls.

“However, parents report difficulty obtaining clear information about how decisions are made, how risks are assessed, and how concerns are addressed.”

Mrs Duffield, a software engineer, has concerns about the addictive nature of the gamification of education apps.

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She said: “I worked for a time for an IT supplier.

“I want my daughter nowhere near Sumdog, because it is designed along the same lines to be a dopamine-hit gamification app.

“I'm not anti-tech. Obviously, that's how I make my money. But I'm very concerned parents do not understand what they are signing up kids to.”

A statement from SBC said it took the protection of children’s personal data “extrememly seriously”.

It said schools could choose to use a range of digital tools to support literacy and numeracy, including apps such as Sumdog

“Where pupil data is processed in this context, the Council relies on the public task lawful basis under UK GDPR, as the processing is undertaken in order to deliver education and support learning within schools,” the statement added.

The statement said: “Sumdog is used as an optional learning resource to support numeracy, literacy, and spelling. Schools decide whether it forms part of their local learning and teaching approach.

“Scottish Borders Council has not removed Sumdog from use within schools.”

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said parents and cares were responsible for setting their own appropriate routines and limits at home.

“Individual schools that use this platform may set homework or class‑related challenges through the app, but any tasks set will be age‑appropriate and in line with the school’s homework policy.”

Sumdog was approached for comment.