Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1.
the use of technology-based work is primarily dependent on individual
teachers' initiatives;
2.
in-service provision was a major concern as many teachers felt they needed
an ongoing programme of in-service training and,
3.
knowledge and awareness of software was not in itself sufficient for effec-
tive implementation: instead, issues of management, teaching styles and the
need for on-going support for professional development were identified as
critically important.
In 1997 there came the influential Education Department Superhighways Initiative
(EDSI), a synoptic report that first explored the educational opportunities afforded
by the Internet, which rightly drew attention to '. . . the considerable manage-
rial and organizational demands placed on those introducing technology of this
complexity . . . ' (Scrimshaw 1997: 11).
The EDSI report highlighted the multi-dimensional nature of change and showed
that many conditions had to be met in order to utilize the educational potential of tech-
nology, one of which was: 'the immediate obviousness to teachers of the educational
potential' (DfEE 1997: 29). It was clearly evident from this report that teachers would
be instrumental in unlocking the educational potential of technology.
Similarly, the School's Curriculum and Assessment Agency (SCAA) report on
technology identified the training of teachers as the most significant component for
'future work', alongside 'the need for a long-term strategy ' (SCAA 1997: 12): 'IT train-
ing should be a fundamental requirement in initial teacher training and form part of
qualified teacher status. There needs to be a strategy for the continuing professional
development of all teachers' (SCAA 1997: 14). It is here that the origins of NOF ICT
training for serving teachers and the TTA Circular 4/98 that made ICT mandatory
to trainee teachers can be found. As Robin Squire, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State for Education and Employment, asserted in his keynote address at the SCAA
conference; '. . . answers can only be produced if teachers themselves become knowl-
edgeable about the technologies and their uses, and confident in their ability to shape
them for curricular use' (SCAA 1997: 5).
However, most significantly, the SCAA report also identified that 'there is often a
gap between the rhetoric of schools' IT policies and classroom reality' (SCAA 1997: 3).
Common concerns about technology in schools from government reports - 1990s
There are a number of common threads that run throughout the reports considered
above. Although the balance of emphasis differs between them, all the reports raise
four key issues:
1.
Technology Training - speciically, the need for thorough training in technol-
ogy for all trainee teachers and serving teachers that is clearly targeted by
phase, curriculum area and previous experience; the reports recommended
that this training should cover not just the use of software, but its applica-
tion to curriculum areas, technology pedagogy and classroom management.
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