ICT and workforce development
Changing patterns of teachers' work
Primary schools
Access to high levels of ICT has had a major impact on teachers' work. Most ICT Test Bed primary teachers have their own laptops and find these indispensable used either on their own or in conjunction with whole-class technologies. Many teachers use the personal laptop they take home in the evenings to run the interactive whiteboard in their classroom. This gives them flexibility and choice in where they prepare their teaching, complete pupil records and carry out other administrative work.
It is important to note that the procurement and distribution of laptops for teachers' own use requires a thorough initial needs analysis and plans for upgrading need to be built in. Teachers who are novices require advice rather than being left to choose their own laptop. In one case laptops with a low technical specification were purchased and many teachers hardly used them.
Most schools have developed good email links and have developed a culture in which staff utilise this means of communication readily and regularly. Even small primary schools have found it valuable to be able to record information or a concern at the moment it happens. The within-school use of email between staff is dependent on a change in methods of communication and its uptake varies considerably between primary schools; in some it has become the norm and children are no longer asked to carry messages to other teachers.
In all clusters there is the potential to allow password-protected access to the school network and MIS systems from outside the school, but primary schools have found that teachers do not need this facility since they can transport software and files necessary for planning lessons on their laptop or memory stick. For school managers (heads/deputy heads/assistant heads/heads of year, etc), this facility has proved occasionally valuable.
Secondary schools
Despite variations in the levels of ICT interest, competence and skill, in many of the ICT Test Bed secondary schools the introduction of high levels of ICT resources has acted as a catalyst, promoting greater sharing through excitement and ownership, 'enriching' the departments and contributing to team-building. Many departments have developed their own local recording and assessment systems through departmental discussions pending the transition to a central MIS system. These open data systems have initiated a new openness on information between members of the departments, encouraging joint responsibility and corporate planning.
Senior managers - and indeed all teachers - can arrange to obtain password-protected access to the school's MIS from home but, in practice, managers say they prefer to do this kind of work during school time.
Further education colleges
Tutors in ICT Test Bed curriculum areas in the colleges are working much more closely together as a result of the new ICT resources. In one college, tutors in three curriculum areas were given responsibility for mentoring their colleagues in other teams outside ICT Test Bed.
Staff are collaborating on course administration tasks, for example, tutors record student progress electronically on the VLE in a much more transparent process than the old paper-based system.
All ICT Test Bed institutions
The strategy of simultaneously installing whole-class technologies into all classrooms in ICT Test Bed schools, and the selected course areas in the colleges, created a corporate and professionally supportive ethos both within and between institutions. In most cases, access to traditional whiteboards was removed when the new equipment was installed and/or in use, in effect forcing teachers to engage with it immediately. There was strong professional support from working together on the same problems. The demands were enormous and teachers and college tutors invested a great deal of time and effort in the enterprise. None expressed regrets and almost all have grown in ICT expertise and self-esteem.
Producing and sharing resources
Primary schools
Many primary teachers have spent considerable time producing teaching materials for whole-class technologies. They are able to store resources on the school's network, either in a personal workspace or a shared area, and this has encouraged sharing resources and ideas. The need to develop expertise and resources very quickly has led to task sharing in order to make the work manageable. This is especially true in sharing good visually attractive 'drag and drop' and animated activities in Key Stage 1 or where teachers change the age group they are teaching and need a bank of resources quickly available.
There is a potential for time saving, although resources need tailoring to meet the needs of different groups of students. Already, there is a clear gain when teachers change classes or a supply teacher is employed. In one cluster the science co-ordinators developed a suite of resources for joint use back in 2004, and similar work has since been carried out by other specialist groups. The actual extent of the sharing of such resources will be a focus for research in the final year of the project.
Secondary schools
Secondary teachers are making choices between creating and 'owning' resources and using ready-made resources. These are influenced by individual teachers' perceptions of the need for flexibility and time constraints, as well as their inclination for challenge and desire for personal satisfaction.
A major impact of ICT Test Bed has been in enabling schools and departments to purchase a full set of commercially produced resources from the outset rather than purchasing modules on a piecemeal basis. This has helped planning and enabled teachers to be fully aware of the structure and nature of the resource. Technology facilitates multiple copies and searching techniques and is saving significant time in comparison to more traditional resource banks.
Some schools are employing professionals to produce curriculum materials, often in what are called 'content creation teams'. Content is now being developed with particular pedagogical approaches in mind, as well as for different locations and contexts for learning. By contrast, however, staff in some departments are becoming reliant on one or two particular pieces of software.
Further education colleges
FE lecturers are gathering materials from a wider range of sources than before and using their new skills to adapt and refine them. The range and amount of available material makes reviewing a very difficult task and a common solution is to rely on a restricted range of sources and often to develop one's own materials. The FE sector has an ever increasing bank of resources including the National Learning Network (NLN) materials, but as yet there is no effective ways of searching across all resource banks to find materials for specific subjects, levels and groups of learners. This is perhaps why there is very little use of materials such as the NLN materials.
A tutor is often the only person teaching a particular course module or unit and this limits opportunities for sharing resources. However, ICT Test Bed has engendered some sharing of materials, mainly for GCSE and AS-level between colleges and cluster secondary schools.
In ICT Test Bed colleges, the blended learning approach allows integration of the new tools, techniques and equipment with traditional tools and methods. There is a trend towards colleges employing content developers to work with staff and help them improve the quality of the materials they are creating. In one case, this is a resource shared with schools in the cluster and has led to some interesting collaborative projects. In all three colleges, ICT Test Bed teams are creating video resources for use in teaching and learning.