1 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 ICT in Northern Ireland Schools Policy & Practice Barry O’Rourke ICT Inspector Education & Training Inspectorate

2 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Overview … Background to ICT in NI Strategy for ICT ICT and Learning

3 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Background Information … 1,224 schools in NI Around 920 primary schools (170,000 pupils) Around 235 post-primary schools (156,000) 48 special schools (5,000) 17 further education colleges Devolution within UK: 3 ministers Department of Education Department of Employment & Learning Department of Culture Arts & Leisure

4 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Background Information … Education Reform Order in 1989: ICT implemented as a cross-curricular theme (pupils aged 4 –16); limited success 2002 Review of curriculum: emphasis on skills, ICT one of these generic skills Assessment: Scheme of IT Accreditation at end of key stage 2 (age 10/11) and key stage 3 (age 13/14); 4 strands, 8 levels post-primary schools primary Curriculum for ICT …

5 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Background Information … Specialist courses provided at GCSE level (age 16) A-level and vocational (AVCE/National Diploma) provided at level 3 (age 18/19) Literacy and Numeracy and ICT are Government priorities for development (School Improvement Programme) Curriculum for ICT …

6 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Education Technology Strategy launched in September 1997: Over 50 targets across categories: Learners and their ICT skills Teacher competence Resources Implementation and support Same NGfL targets as other UK schools.

7 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Learners and ICT Skills … Pupil competence and assessment (on-line?) - statutory assessment? ICT strongly placed in the curriculum Equity of access Policy on Internet access

8 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Teacher Competence: New Opportunities Fund (NOF) training, £11 million By March 2003, all teachers know ‘when, when not and how’ to use ICT in the classroom Pedagogy, beyond basic skills Take-up slow initially, improved and on-schedule Laptops provided to 50% of all teachers 2 mainstream training providers, one provider for special schools; training providers quality assured twice by ETI

9 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Quality Assurance of NOF: Over 86% of teachers signed up, 40% have successfully completed Good evidence that teacher’s personal competence improved, use of ICT resources has increased Significant numbers of teachers want to extend competence Works better when school management provides time and support and strategic direction

10 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Quality Assurance of NOF: Good use of ICT in planning and preparation of resources Good self-help groups in schools, sharing of resources, ideas (more so in primary) In some schools, ICT used well to support other school priorities, in particular literacy and numeracy A few schools have planned well for post-NOF sustainability Availability/access to laptops very successful Threshold payments and notice of ETI ICT survey increased the focus on ICT

11 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Quality Assurance of NOF, BUT… Implemented before hardware/software resourcing (Classroom 2000) Little on-line sharing of resources/materials, an on- line professional community of teachers and educationalists a long way off Time-consuming (other initiatives), adverse effect on after school clubs, activities, priorities Many teachers experience difficulty integrating ICT into lessons. Good practice still much too rare. Appropriateness of distance learning model?

12 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Resources, Implementation and Support NINE website, regional version of UK NGfL website. Low regard by teachers, being revised to become a Managed Learning Environment Classroom 2000 (C2k): procurement and implementation of a managed service infrastructure for all NI schools, including Internet connectivity. Free to schools C2k is a huge investment, local and wide area networking, 10 year programme (£300 million) Average of 1 ‘connected’ computer per 10 pupils

13 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Classroom 2000: Progress 12,000 laptops distributed 1000 data projectors to primary schools 2 Megabit broadband installed in all post-primary schools (aged 11+), ISDN being installed in all primary schools Viglen currently installing C2k solution in all primary schools, 80 per month, commenced January, to be completed December (around 10% complete) C2k solution involves networked computers, Internet access, peripherals, support

14 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Strategy for ICT … Classroom 2000: Progress C2k provides curriculum content, related to NI curriculum needs: 80 software titles primary(high quality eg Granada, Microsoft, RM etc), 180 post- primary, regional licences C2k for post-primary to commence in September Wide area services (mail, filtered Internet, Virtual Learning Environments, secure file transfer, remote access etc) to commence October; eventual MLE ETI represented on C2k Board and Education Technology Strategy Board ICT Strategy under review..

15 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 ICT and learning … Improving picture Development of ICT a high priority for many schools Close correlation between ‘ICT-strong’ schools and good leadership Increasing examples of good practice, but pupils have too narrow a range of ICT experiences in many schools Weaknesses in recording and assessment of ICT Progression of pupils’ ICT competence not well planned Accreditation schemes accelerate development of ICT within and across subjects

16 CMEC OECD Canada Seminar – April -02 Over-emphasis on task completion Evidence of too much drill and practice Good home use, high home ownership Weaknesses in teaching outweighed strengths in more than one-fifth of lessons (especially discrete ICT) Resources improving significantly Significant increase in teachers’ personal competence and confidence, many still reluctant to use ICT as a learning tool in subject work ICT being used more as a performance monitoring and management tool (CLASS system in almost all schools) ICT and learning …