MANAGING ICT
T IS always wise to check what you read.
I
Recent headlines announcing Twitter to
replace the study of history in new curriculum
appeared in a number of national newspapers
over the past few months.
It certainly grabs the reader’s attention.
Spicy headlines entice readers and sell papers
of course. However, when you dig beneath the surface,
the main story is rarely as sensational as the headlines
The three
suggest.
Rest assured, young people will continue to learn
about the great people and events that shaped our
world.
At the same time, it is only right they will also
make much greater use of technology. Surely, when
businesses, parents and children send emails, text
messages and use social networking as part of their
sides to ICT
daily lives, we must stop seeing technology as a threat
to the rest of the curriculum.
In fact, after the £5 billion investment in technology
in schools over the last decade, education ministers
are keener than ever that we “raise the bar” on what
we expect ICT to deliver for young people and their
families.
Whichever way you look at it, there has been an
enormous shift in technology in schools over the past
10 years.
We have moved from a situation in which many
schools were painstakingly collecting vouchers from
supermarket schemes to acquire a new computer to a
point where today all schools have access to broadband
internet via a suite of PCs.
The computer-to-pupil ratio has improved from
one to 19 a decade ago to almost one to three today.
Laptops and interactive whiteboards are commonplace
in many classrooms.
As a result of this commitment, in many respects
the UK is a world leader in ICT in education. Each
January, ministers and officials from more than 50
countries converge on London to attend two major
ICT in education events, namely the Learning and
Technology World Forum (formerly Moving Young
Gareth Mills and Margaret Wright from
Minds conference) and the BETT show at Olympia.
BETT is the largest education and technology exhibition
of its kind with more than 30,000 attendees and 600
the Qualifications and Curriculum Development
exhibitors.
What they come to see and hear about is the
Agency’s curriculum team discuss the three
innovative use of technology to support learning.
Technology guru (does he have another job?) Stephen broad strands to ICT learning
Heppell said: “BETT is the premier meeting place
for those building 21st century learning with new
technology. This community assembles annually from
all around the world to swap ideas.” to be more critical of their acceptance of materials on
However, there is no room for complacency. Here the web. He equipped them with a set of strategies to
in the UK, the digital communications and technology question and validate information for future use. Here,
sectors are worth over £52 billion a year and in a global the pupils learnt important life-skills.
market place competition is intense. The British curricula, like in most European
To thrive in this environment Britain must continue countries, recognises that ICT literacy cannot be
to lead the way in innovation, technology and learning. defined primarily as the mastery of technical skills.
It can only do this by nurturing its technology industries, The concept of ICT literacy in Britain is broad and
and the skills and talent that support them. And that, of includes cognitive skills including critical-thinking and
course, has to start in schools. problem-solving.
One of the ways we seek to do this is through an
entitlement for every child to enjoy high quality ICT
Specialism
Pressure?
teaching through the national curriculum. In spite of the The second strand of ICT is the specialist pathway.
negative headlines, it is only right that today’s young This is often the route for those who are especially
people today are properly prepared for the challenges interested or have a talent for ICT. They may choose to
of tomorrow and that their education is technologically go on to further study or a career in the software design,
enriched. computing or IT industry.
Broadly speaking, there are three main strands of These pathways involve choosing from a suite
ICT learning within the national curriculum. Let’s look of ICT qualifications, including GCSE, A Level, a
I want to belong to a union that understands
at each one. Diploma or one of a number of vocational awards.
a modern teacher’s workload. Voice gets on
While the specialist route may not be for
Information handling
with negotiating, arbitrating, and consulting
everyone, there is ample opportunity for all children
First there is the strand of ICT that addresses the between the ages of five and 14 to get a taste of
on my behalf, giving me the freedom to get
essential information handling and communication what specialist ICT or computing might offer them on with what matters most – my job.
skills that we all need in our everyday lives at home, at in the future.
school and at work. For example, within the national curriculum,
This forms the heart of the national curriculum children might experience programming robots, or
for all young people. It includes the use of ICT to writing routines in lego-technic, logo or via the use of
For over 40 years, Voice has been
undertake research, to analyse and manipulate data, and other control technology. This allows them to find their
speaking up for professionals
to communicate, collaborate and present information. talent and make informed choices about pursuing ICT
working in early years, childcare
All children, from the earliest age, are taught how further.
to search for, find and select information. This might
and education. Our members
involve the use of search engines, online databases or
Across other subjects
trust us to guide them through
using data structures on networks. They are taught how Third, there is the strand of learning that embeds ICT
the issues affecting their lives
to use software to interrogate information, looking for into all other subjects to better reflect the way that
trends and patterns in data. traditional disciplines are pursued in modern times.
inside the classroom and out.
They think about audience and purpose when using For example, courses looking at the visual arts include
Isn’t it time your voice was heard?
ICT to present ideas. Importantly, they are also taught digital photography and manipulation of still and
to be discriminating users of technology. It is not good moving images.
enough to simply be taught the technical skills, but they Music courses involve the use of digital recording,
must also be taught the cognitive and critical skills to sampling and composition tools. In science, sensors
ask questions about the veracity of the information they and other data-logging tools are used to observe and
find and use. measure data in experiments.
In an interesting piece of research, a group of 14- In design technology, students are introduced to
year-old students at Wortley High School in Leeds were computer aided design and manufacturing tools. In
asked to look at three websites. The subject matter of geography, they will use mapping software and GIS
these sites included Victorian robots, Martin Luther systems. ICT is embedded meaningfully across all
King and the Holocaust. subjects and becomes an integral part of studying
As part of the experiment, none of the websites were subjects in the 21st century. SecEd
what they initially seemed. The robot site was a good-
Call our friendly team
natured spoof. The other two were fronts for racists and • Gareth Mills and Margaret Wright are from the
Holocaust deniers. QCDA’s curriculum team.
01332 378 008
Initially few of the students spotted any problems
with the validity or reliability of the sites and many said
Further information
Visit our website at
they would cut and paste information from the sites for A short video case study featuring more information on
www.voicetheunion.org.uk
use in homework or other projects. the Wortley High School websites project can be viewed
Later in the project, the teacher encouraged them on Teachers TV at www.teachers.tv/video/5425
SecEd • March 11 2010 11
10-11 Managing ICT .indd 11 8/3/10 17:24:17
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