Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Evidence from government reports suggests technology initiatives were not being
embedded consistently or fully across schools (DfES 2001-02; Ofsted 2001-02, 2004).
However, given the government's aspirations for technology to seriously modernize
education, this inconsistency requires an analysis and identification of the specific
problems.
First, the government commissioned research to evaluate the national roll-out
of the NGfL through Becta; NOF was evaluated via the TTA quality-assurance proc-
ess (Leask 2002); also the school inspection programme (Ofsted) provided data on
the impact of ICT initiatives in schools. From these agencies a number of evaluation
reports were produced, which became significant in the appraisal of the implemen-
tation of the government's national technology strategy. These were primarily the
Becta Pathfinder Series (2001-2, Nos 1-10) and Ofsted Reports (2001-2), which cov-
ered Labour's first term in office. Major factors inhibiting the success of the national
training programme for teachers included the lack of an infrastructure to deliver
high-quality training on a national scale and the lack of access by teachers to reliable
technology for use in schools. Emphasis had been placed on providing computers for
pupils, but not on computers for teachers (Leask 2002).
Second, through developing an ecological perspective, greater analysis is pro-
vided to produce a theoretical framework for understanding the implementation
procedures, which exemplifies the interrelated organizational processes involved.
Specifically, in the UK between 1997 and 2002 government policy had to be filtered
through macro, meso and micro levels (eco-systems), as policy is mediated through
national agencies (macro: DfES), regional agencies (meso: local authorities) down to
individual schools and teachers at the micro level (Younie 2007). National change is a
complex multidimensional process with many factors interacting. To understand this,
Davis (2008: 142) argues 'it is time to seek a more useful theoretical perspective . . .
to inform the diffusion of IT innovation in education'. To this end, it is necessary
to understand how a teacher's practice is at the centre (of an eco-system), which is
nested within a school (another eco-system), that is nested within a region or nation
(eco-zone), which is situated within the global biosphere (the world) (Davis 2008:
142). Consequently the adoption or diffusion of technology in education is complex,
because technology impacts 'multiple ecologies' (Davis 2008: 147). These environ-
ments (or eco-systems) are impacted on or intersected by other drivers or influences
promoting change, such as the IT industry (representing multinational and commer-
cial interests), so it is important to understand the economic and political drivers of
technology in education (Selwyn 2002) and the complexity of change across the mul-
tiple stakeholders (ecologies). In fact, Crook et al. (2010: 6) in one of the last pieces of
research for Becta, argue similarly and claim that 'it may be more helpful to think of
an ecology: one in which a complex network of interacting influences is shaping that
trajectory in a much more subtle fashion'.
Managing a multi-agency national strategy: leadership
To understand the complexity of the educational landscape and ecologies of change
between 1997 and 2002, Younie (2006, 2007) argues it is necessary to identify the
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