Whole school development,change and leadership - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 112

often: '. . . it was exemplified by a long-term view of investment in technology in a
climate of innovation and the recognition of the efforts of those involved in promot-
ing good practice with technology in the school . . .' (Lawson and Comber 2004: 145).
However, the shortage of heads with technology expertise was recognized as a
'stumbling block' in innovation. This recognition led to Becta and NCSL creating The
Strategic Leadership of Technology (SLICT) professional development programme,
which focused on developing effective strategic leadership skills for technology inte-
gration across the school.
Lawson and Comber (1999) identified leadership as a key factor in moving
towards what they term the 'integrative' school, through 'the knowledgeable and
enthusiastic involvement of the head teacher who is capable of promoting a school
ethos that embraces technological change' (Comber and Hingley 2004: 2). NAACE
(2001) acknowledged a supportive head as critical to the integration of technology.
However, as Comber and Lawson (2003) and Earley et al. (2002) highlight, such lead-
ers were in relatively short supply, certainly until the advent of SLICT, which was
precisely what SLICT sought to address.
Sherry and Gibson (2002) argue that innovative or integrative technology prac-
tice will remain an isolated phenomenon, restricted to individual classrooms or
departments, if the support of leaders is absent or withheld. Clearly, leaders who
support technology engender a school ethos that facilitates the implementation of
technology. This highlights the importance of school culture, which was found to be
a significant factor that shaped the outcome of previous technological innovations.
While the school improvement literature has recognized the importance of lead-
ership, it is only more recently that leadership has become recognized as a major
factor regarding the integration of technology in schools (Lawson and Comber 2004;
Preston 2004; Younie 2007).
The school context: the impact of subject cultures on using technology
A further criticism of research to date is that teacher development and use of technol-
ogy has been mainly conceptualized at the level of the individual teacher. There is
nominal awareness in some research of the importance of school culture and the issue
of collegiality , particularly at departmental level. This is specifically an issue for second-
ary schools with the existence of specialized curriculum subjects.
One important factor in how technology is perceived and used by teachers is
the 'community of practice' associated with their subject. 'Each subject community
could be said to share a set of tools and resources; approaches to teaching and learn-
ing; curriculum practices; cultural values, expectations and aims' (Hennessy, Ruthven
and Brindley 2002: 3).
Hennessy et al. (2002) argue that there has been little research analysing how and
why subject cultures affect teachers' use of technology differently. The cited excep-
tions are Goodson and Mangan (1995) in Canada and Selwyn (1999a) in the UK. The
former found that technology can colonize some curriculum areas, whereby the sub-
ject subculture co-opts and utilizes computer technology, whereas for some subjects
there may be little colonization.