Preliminary findings: Overview
Culture change and 'whole-institution development'
Primary schools
The evaluation provides clear evidence of the success of the ICT Test Bed project's focus on 'whole-institution development' in the primary sector. This has enabled a change in culture that has embedded the use of ICT in everyday routines of practice. It has encompassed both innovations in teaching and learning and in the way that staff (teachers, teaching assistants and technical support staff) collaborate in planning and developing ICT resources for classroom use and/or to support learners.
Secondary schools
In secondary schools the impact on whole-institution development is particularly strong in relation to improved management of information and better access to data at all levels (from overall figures down to the individual child) to inform decision-making. While teachers and students report increased confidence in their ICT skills and satisfaction with levels of equipment, observation and interview data reveal considerable variations in the use of ICT for teaching and learning between subject departments as well as frustrations experienced by some students.
All schools
In both primary and secondary schools, culture change has been driven forward by the vision and leadership of senior management teams. There is also considerable evidence of a high level of collaboration between schools, which was initiated by the demands of managing the project but is now embedded in work practices. In one cluster the primary headteachers have worked extremely closely with one another to great advantage. The area where there has been least progress in both primary and secondary schools is the development of an infrastructure for electronic links between schools and students' homes.
Further education colleges
In the three further education colleges, where the majority of the ICT Test Bed funding was located within selected curriculum areas, there have been spectacular changes in the teaching practices and culture of some course teams. This is particularly noticeable in those areas, such as hairdressing and plumbing, which have not traditionally used ICT. Whole-institutional change was not the aim in the colleges. However, all three invested in greatly improved management information systems (MIS) and this has had the effect of involving staff in recording information electronically with clear benefits to senior managers. Investment in virtual learning environments (VLEs), although initially problematic, is now leading to a changed approach to teaching and learning in the ICT Test Bed curriculum areas, with provision of online resources and formative assessment materials. This is not, however, college-wide. In the 2005 survey of all ICT Test Bed college staff, only 9% stated that they use the VLE daily. As in primary and secondary schools, there is a clear relationship between this kind of embedded change and day-to-day involvement of the senior management team in promoting ICT and supporting middle managers within the chosen curriculum areas. All three colleges now have closer links with the ICT Test Bed schools in their cluster, but because of their different governance it is not clear to what extent that will be sustained beyond the life of the project.
All ICT Test Bed institutions
Further evidence of sustained culture change is provided by the maturity modelling process which has measured the rate of change in ICT Test Bed institutions against all five areas of development. The analysis showed that the rapid rate of increase in ICT maturity achieved by ICT Test Bed institutions in the first year, which had slowed in year two, continued into year three, albeit again at a slower pace. Hence, there was no evidence of a plateau in development in year three. In 2004-05 (year three), the institutions had continued their upward trajectory across all six models, including the curriculum model. This slowing but continual change is to be expected: change is more difficult, and therefore, less achievable as the integration of the systems becomes more complex.