Transforming Schools with ICT
[Welsh Assembly report] Courtesy of NAACE Newsletter
The Welsh have been at it too! This report (published in April) contains a useful overview of the current situation, including summaries of success factors in implementation and barriers to successful use of ICT, and specific
recommendations to the Welsh Assembly. Extracts:
This report is the product of a year long series of meetings of the task group established by the Welsh Assembly Government to consider how to take forward the use of ICT in schools. [Hugh Knight (Chair), Schools ICT Strategy
Working Group.]
It is now seventeen years since the invention of the World Wide Web… Yet when we asked a group of young people , through the Welsh Assembly Government’s Model Assembly programme, for their views on developing the use
of ICT in school, they responded:
’there’s too much technology in classrooms’
’teachers don’t use it as well as we do’
’we should be trusted to manage our own use of the Internet’.
Our review of case studies demonstrated that… teachers consider that theyare having a positive impact on learning. What is more difficult to establish is the extent to which these uses of technology are common practice and which
practices impact most on learning and attainment.
Estyn’s March 2007 report on ICT also commented on the increased use ofvirtual learning environments in schools, the positive impact of interactive whiteboards in lessons, and ways in which “teaching and learning in specific
subject areas are benefiting from the thoughtful, well-planned use of specialist software and equipment.
Estyn’s overall conclusions were that standards of achievement in using ICT were continuing to rise across Wales but that standards were still higher - and were now improving faster - in primary schools. ICT as a key skill was
still an issue in secondary schools and that there was undue variation in attainment within and between schools.
LEAs reported that all schools had a connection to the Internet by December 2002. Since then, over 98% schools in Wales have been connected to the broadband Lifelong Learning Network with bandwidth of 2mb or higher (primary and special) and 8mb or higher (secondary). Our LEA survey indicated that over 85% of schools now have a network point in every classroom… The use of wireless networks has increased with 20% of primary schools and 43% of secondary schools now having some wireless capability within school grounds.
We have also been advised that ICT is one of the most common areas for action identified for early professional development of teachers. In many cases, this may reflect the difficulty of compressing a wide range of activities into
the one year postgraduate training programme. The General Teaching Council for Wales is leading on the development of a Professional Development Framework for teachers in Wales … Teachers aspiring to excellence in the classroom or
as middle leaders would be able to take part in the Chartered Teachers programme, which would include an optional element on ICT.
The Skills Framework underpins all the subjects of the National Curriculumand aims to ensure a coherent approach to learning and progression. The inclusion of ICT within this Framework recognises its importance for all learners, and the need for ICT to be firmly embedded across all learning. Guidance will focus on continuity and progression in ICT, thinking,
communication and number for learners from 3-19 and beyond. [Specific phase and subject details follow.] The use of ICT is a central feature of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification, both within the programme of learning, and as a
method of delivery and learning which permeates the whole qualification.
The working group acknowledge the move toward e-assessment which increases the need to reach appropriate levels of provision and access whilst promoting the effective use of ICT in all schools. Staff will also need appropriate
training and support, not only in administering the assessments but in making use of electronically stored data to impact upon individual achievement and attainment.
Resources are commissioned across the whole range of curriculum areas, forlearners of all abilities from Foundation Phase to A level. The resourcescover all types of media, being mainly print, but including a variety of ICT based media. Approximately 40-50 new projects are commissioned each year from the available £2.1m budget and 200-300 titles are published annually as a result of the commissioning process. Resources are commissioned on the basis of needs identified by teachers and in discussion with the WJEC, NGfL Cymru, the Welsh Books Council and BBC Wales… Although usage figures for the NGfL Cymru website have risen (now c.9000 visits per day) there is still relatively low awareness of the service among teachers in Wales .
Iaith Pawb … This strategy, launched in April 2006 notes the future developments needed to ensure the [ Welsh ’s] place in technology. The Board has commissioned and created many ICT products which will help schools.
The research found that where learners were taught about e-safety , all breaches of e-safety were reduced.” It also concluded that; “teachers ability to deal with breaches of e-safety varies according to the training and support they receive, the policies and procedures in place in schools and the effectiveness of technical support.”
In our interim report [March 2007], we identified the following key priorities for the strategy: fully implementing the developments already started; achieving consistency across Wales ; and doing more to transform learning and organisational effectiveness.
The driver for change is expectation.
The Strategic Objectives to fulfil this Vision
Competent learners
High Expectations - set high and challenging expectations for alllearners within and, where appropriate, beyond the National Curriculum.
E-safeguarding - provide joined-up information and support to promote the safe and responsible use of ICT and protect children and young people from harm.
Empowered teachers
Effective pedagogy - set clear professional standards for practitioners and provide high quality support for the ICT capabilities of the whole school workforce.
Effective schools
Extending access - develop and ensure availability of bilingual learning platforms in Wales across a robust ICT infrastructure, providing equality of access to ICT in schools and extending opportunities to all learners including
those with additional needs.
A culture of self-evaluation - improve the strategic development of ICT in schools through robust, whole-school processes of review, planning for improvement and assessment of impact.
There is, in fact, no ‘clear blue water’ between the use of ICT for learningand the use of ICT for managing schools. Our recommendations address both issues together.
As action is taken to fulfil the Welsh Assembly Government’s objective that all school buildings should be fit for the purpose of education in the twenty-first century, it is essential that a criterion for capital investment should be that the ICT requirements of a modern school are taken into account at the design stage of new buildings, rebuilds and refurbishments.
[Specific recommendations follow for each of the five sub-bullets above, with targets, dates and (in an appendix) full costings.]
Many of the actions recommended in this document can be delivered through existing structures within the Welsh Assembly Government, Estyn, local authorities, schools and with the co-operation of other partners and agencies.
However, in order to ensure that taking the actions forward has impetus and focus the working group recommends that:
a high level steering group be established with a brief to monitor and report annually on implementation of agreed recommendations; a new memorandum of understanding be negotiated with Becta to ensure best use of their resources in Wales ; and an appropriately funded national schools ICT unit be set up, with a remitto work with a range of partners
[The appendices include “Proposed National Standards for Practitioners “,
with specific recommendations for senior leaders, middle managers and teaching
staff.]
[Seen in Becta Content Developers Bulletin]
- BECTA , Leadership , KS1 , Education , Collaboration , ICT
