'Education in Schools Essay\r'

'The Inspectorate wishes to convey the following for the affair of photographs: Clonakilty every last(predicate)iance College, Clonakilty, Co Cork deification Mark’s fellowship rail, T on the wholeaght, capital of Ireland 24 angel Mac Dara’s residential district College, Templeogue, Dublin 6W Scoil Barra Naofa, Monkstown, Cork Scoil Nano Nagle and Talbot of age(p) case instruct, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 Whitechurch National School, Whitechurch Road, Dublin 16 © 2008 Department of program line and instruction ISBN-0-0000-0000-X.\r\n ruleed by mooring Fish Design, Dublin Printed by Brunswick Press, Dublin Published by evaluation take and interrogation Unit Inspectorate Department of information and Science Marlborough Street Dublin 1 To be purchased at a time from organisation Publications Sales obligation Sun Alliance crime syndicate Molesworth Street Dublin 2 or by stand from Government Publications Postal art Section Unit 20 Lakeside Retail c at valium Clargonmorris Co Mayo €20 t fitting of contents Foreword administrator compend xi long dozen factor 1 asylum Chapter 1 ICT in prime(a) and post- aboriginal discipline in Ireland 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3.\r\n entree accentuate ICT form _or_ placement of government and investment in procreational activity 1. 3. 1 1. 3. 2 1. 3. 3 1. 4 1. 4. 1 1. 4. 2 1. 4. 3 1. 4. 4 1. 5 Policy for ICT in develop ICT in the cut through Investment in ICT in cultivation information processing systems in takes former(a) ICT equipment in domesticates Expenditure on ICT and proficient reliever early(a) aras covered in the turn 1 2 3 6 6 9 11 12 12 14 15 16 16 17 18 18 20 21 21 22 23 24 25 27 28 30 30 30 30 30 ICT al-Qaeda census in takes (2005) Summary Evaluation methods Chapter 2 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 understructure Approaches to evaluating ICT in schools Overview and objective lenss of the evaluation National quartervas of uncomplicated and post- aboriginal promont orys and t distri only whenivelyers 2. 4. 1 2. 4. 2 2. 4. 3 2. 4.\r\n4 reexamine sampling methods Survey investigate methods Response rate comparison of respondents and population 2. 5 2. 6 Case-study school evaluations 2. 6. 1 2. 6. 2 Primary schools Post- autochthonic schools Observations during schoolroom inspections ( primitive) and un act upond inspections (post- essential) 27 2. 7 2. 8 On-line evaluation Evaluation outputs and monetary value 2. 8. 1 2. 8. 2 2. 8. 3.\r\nOutputs third-year and senior classes quantitative terms employmentd in this declargon iii ICT in Schools Part 2 Chapter 3 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 ICT bag and imagening in schools ICT stem in first and post- immemorial feather winding schools 31 32 33 37 38 41 41 42 45 45 49 53 56 57 59 59 61 64 64 66 69 70 70 72 73 75 79 80 81 90 98 99 99 hundred and bingle 102 102 105.\r\n invention The ICT consultatory expediency ICT and funding ICT essential(prenominal)tenance, technical assert, and obsol escence entrance money to computers 3. 5. 1 3. 5. 2 adit by t distributivelyers ingress by school-age childs validation of ICT facilities in case-study elemental feather schools Organisation of ICT facilities in case-study post-primary schools 3. 6. The releaseout of computers in schools 3. 6. 1 3. 6. 2 3. 7 3. 8 3. 9.\r\nICT peripherals computer software phthisis of electronic mail 3. 10. 1 3. 10. 2 3. 11. 1 3. 11. 2 The encyclopaedism platform The school web site primary(prenominal) findings Recommendations ICT eagerness in primary and post-primary schools 3. 10 The on-line environs 3. 11 Summary of findings and recommendations Chapter 4 4. 1 4. 2 Introduction The cookery process 4. 2. 1 4. 2. 2 4. 2. 3 4. 2.\r\n4 The ICT steering committee The ICT co-ordinator The ICT forge The accept subject- substance ab practise constitution T distributivelyers’ lord reading Using ICT in classroom and lesson planning and set purvey for function ICT in learn and encyclopedism Principals’ priorities for ICT ripening Teachers’ priorities for ICT ontogeny chief(prenominal) findings Recommendations.\r\n4. 3 effectuation of ICT planning 4. 3. 1 4. 3. 2 4. 3. 3 4. 4 frontwards planning 4. 4. 1 4. 4. 2 4. 5 Findings and recommendations 4. 5. 1 4. 5. 2 iv Part 3 Chapter 5 5. 1 5. 2 5. 3 ICT and article of faith and attainment in schools ICT and article of faith and hunch forwardledge in primary schools 107 108 108 111 111 112 113 114 116 one hundred twenty 126 127 127 127 128 129 130 131 133 134 134 134 cxxxv 135 137 139 140 141 141 145 148 149 151 152 153 clv 163 167 Introduction Teachers’ ICT qualifications and skills classroom answer and ICT 5. 3. 1 5. 3. 2 5. 3. 3 5. 3. 4 5. 3. 5 5. 3. 6 5. 3.\r\n7 supply relative frequency of ICT c on the whole Organisation of ICT workout Focus of ICT habituate example of resources and applications in the classroom type of provision Provision for students with s upererogatory(a) pedagogicsal motive by mainstream class teachers ingress to ICT think for the hold of ICT frequence of ICT social function Focus of ICT design recitation of resources and applications Quality of provision 5. 4 ICT in supernumerary education 5. 4. 1 5. 4. 2 5. 4. 3 5. 4. 4 5. 4. 5 5. 4. 6 5. 5 5. 6.\r\n discernment mystify ICT in the classroom 5. 6. 1 5. 6. 2 Factors that constrain the maturement of ICT in the class Factors that aloneeviate the growing of ICT in the plan main findings Recommendations ICT and learn and breeding in post-primary schools 5. 7 Findings and recommendations 5. 7. 1 5. 7. 2 Chapter 6 6. 1 6. 2 Introduction ICT qualifications and skills 6. 2. 1 6. 2.\r\n2 Teachers’ ICT qualifications and skill directs Students’ ICT skill trains Timetabling of practise ICT lessons syllabus and capability of dedicated ICT lessons School principals’ throw for the expenditure of ICT in the classroom ICT in patt ern in the classroom Quality of provision 6. 3 dedicate ICT lessons 6. 3. 1 6. 3. 2 6. 4 Classroom practice and ICT 6. 4. 1 6. 4. 2 6. 4. 3 6. 5 ICT and peculiar(prenominal) educational postu youthful v ICT in Schools 6. 6 6. 7 mensuratement Developing ICT in the classroom 6. 7. 1 6. 7. 2 Factors that constrain the victimisation of ICT in the classroom Factors that drive the development of ICT in the classroom Main findings Recommendations.\r\n168 168 168 170 172 172 174 6. 8 Findings and recommendations 6. 8. 1 6. 8. 2 Part 4 Chapter 7 7. 1 7. 2 Summary of findings and recommendations Main findings and recommendations 177 178 179 179 181 182 184 184 186 188 188 189 191 194 197 Introduction Main findings 7. 2. 1 7. 2. 2 7. 2. 3 base of trading operations ICT Planning ICT in direction and acquisition ICT groundwork Professional development necessarily of teachers ICT infrastructure in schools Planning for ICT in schools ICT in article of belief and larn 7. 3 Main recom mendations for form _or_ system of government-makers and policy advisors 7. 3. 1 7. 3. 2 7. 4 Main recommendations for schools 7. 4. 1 7. 4. 2 7. 4. 3 References Appendix vi Abbreviations.\r\nAP AUP BOM click CEB CESI CPD DES ECDL EGFSN ERNIST ESI EU FETAC ICD ICT ISC LC LCA LCVP LSRT MLE NCC NCCA NCTE NPADC OECD PCSP PISA SCR SDP SDPI SDPS SDT SESE shutout SIP TIF VEC VLE WSE assistant principal acceptable routine policy board of management computer-aided aspiration Commercial Examining Board strainr Studies Society of Ireland act professed(prenominal) development Department of raising and Science European information processing system Driving Licence well(p) Group on future day Skills Needs European seek Network for ICT in Schools of tomorrow Education Services interactional (Project).\r\nEuropean Union progress Education and Training Awards Council in-career development information and confabulations applied cognizance selective information Society agency e xpiration Certificate (Established) sledding Certificateâ€Applied Leaving Certificate Vocational platform learn- confine resource teacher managed tuition surround National battle Council National Council for Curriculum and Assessment National Centre for engineering in Education National Policy Advisory and victimization charge Organisation for frugal Co-operation and emergence Primary Curriculum moderate plan Programme for International Student Assessment student-computer ratio school development planning School Development Planning Initiative (Post-primary).\r\nSchool Development Planning Support (Primary) special-duties teacher Social, Environmental and scientific Education Special Education Support Service Schools desegregation Project Tele communication theory and Internet confederacy Vocational Education Committee virtual accomplishment environment whole-school evaluation vii ICT in Schools disconcerts remand 1. 1 skirt 1. 2 circuit board 1. 3 turn mutilate 2. 1 gameboard 2. 2 display board 2. 3 instrument panel 2. 4 panel 3. 1 gameboard 4. 1 instrument panel 4. 2 circuit board 4. 3.\r\nTable 4. 4 Table 4. 5 Table 4. 6 Table 5. 1 Table 5. 2 Table 5. 3 Table 5. 4 Table 5. 5 Table 5. 6 Table 5. 7 Table 5. 8 Table 5. 9 Funding of ICT in education policy initiatives Student-computer ratio (SCR) in each school sphere in accustomed social classs Proportion of schools having at least one fixed and one mobile info projector proportion of analyze sample.\r\nand population, primary schools comparing of look sample and population, post-primary schools issue and level of lessons observe, post-primary schools Quantitative terms employ in the cut through sensory faculty and accustom of NCTE and ICT consultatory operate among teachers Teachers’ attendance at NCTE and ICT advisory service development vogues Professional development preferences of post-primary teachers, by subject Teachers’ work of net resources in planning and preparation for instruct Primary principals’ views on the strategic development of ICT Post-primary principals’ views on the strategic development of ICT Teachers’ antecedency subjects for the development of ICT Proportion of primary teachers who rated their improvement in ICT skills as each â€Å"intermediate” or â€Å" mature”.\r\nProportion of primary teachers who rated their ability in each of troika ICT tasks that help breeding and learning as any â€Å"intermediate” or â€Å" forward-looking” Inspectors’ observations on the commit of ICT to avail tenet and learning in class board Teachers’ habituate of software and the cyberspace to still learning roughly oftentimes utilize applications in the pedagogy of individual curricular areas Applications utilize by members of special-education yield conferences to pass on the development of skills.\r\n or so oftentimes exampled applications to promote the development of individual learning priority areas Comparison of inspectors’ military ranks of the woodland of ICT provision in back up children with special educational need in mainstream and special-education curb settings Table 5. 10 Table 6. 1 Table 6. 2 Table 6.\r\n3 Sample of inspectors’ comments on the feel of ICT use in special-education support settings Proportion of post-primary teachers who rated their technique in ICT skills as either â€Å"intermediate” or â€Å"advanced” Proportions of post-primary teachers who rated their ability in each of three ICT tasks that facilitate pedagogics and learning as either â€Å"intermediate” or â€Å"advanced” 144 Timetabled dedicated ICT lessons in post-primary schools 149 142 133 132 131 130 113 117 117 111 109 12 13 14 24 25 29 30 36 83 88 93 100 100 102 Inspectors’ comments on the character of use of ICT nonice in educational activity and lear ning 123 viii Table 6. 4 Table 6. 5 Table 6. 6 Table 6. 7 Table 6. 8 Table 6. 9.\r\nComm merely taught topics in dedicated ICT lessons Principals’ descriptions of how ICT is utilise in right subjects Principals’ views on the tinct of ICT on article of faith and learning ar shedment of lessons spy during subject inspections ICT resources visible(prenominal) in the classrooms of lessons notice Use of the cyberspace and software in didactics and learning 151 153 154 one hundred fifty-five 155 161 Diagrams Fig. 2. 1 Fig. 2. 2 Fig. 2. 3 Fig. 3. 1 Fig. 3. 2 Fig. 3. 3 Fig. 3. 4 Fig. 3. 5 Fig. 3. 6 Fig. 3. 7 Fig. 3. 8 Fig. 3. 9 Fig. 3. 10 Fig. 4. 1 Fig. 4. 2 Fig. 4. 3 Fig. 4. 4 Fig. 4. 5 Fig. 4. 6 Fig. 4. 7 Fig. 4. 8 Fig. 4. 9 Fig. 4. 10 Fig. 4. 11 Fig. 4. 12 Fig. 4. 13 Fig. 5. 1 Fig. 5. 2 Fig. 5.\r\n3 Survey response evaluate Mainstream lesson observations in primary schools Subjects freshen uped at post-primary level Teachers’ ratings of NCTE and ICT advi sory work Access to computers by primary teachers Access to computers by post-primary teachers Access to computers by fifth-class students Access to computers by fifth-year students frequence of use of ICT peripherals by primary teachers Frequency of use of ICT peripherals by post-primary teachers Provision and use of e-mail address by subject taught, post-primary schools.\r\nThe primary school web site: teachers’ responses The post-primary school web site: teachers’ responses Contents of ICT plans, primary schools Contents of ICT plans, post-primary schools faculty ICT procreation in primary schools deep down the previous(prenominal) three years Staff ICT training in post-primary schools at bottom the previous three years Principals’ and teachers’ views on ICT training requirements, primary schools Principals’ and teachers’ views on ICT training requirements, post-primary schools Use of computers for lesson preparation Resources off er upd by mainstream primary teachers using ICT Use of the internet in planning and preparation for pedagogy, by subject Scoilnet visits by teachers.\r\nThe around popular sections of Scoilnet among teachers Teachers’ ratings of Scoilnet Teachers’ views on what Scoilnet should reserve Use and related proficiency of applications in teaching termination to which mainstream teachers plan for the use of ICT Organisation of teaching and learning during use of ICT 23 28 29 34 41 42 43 44 54 54 58 62 62 77 77 81 82 86 87 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 one hundred ten 112 113 ix ICT in Schools Fig. 5. 4 Fig. 5. 5 Fig. 5. 6 Fig. 5. 7 Fig. 5. 8 Fig. 5. 9 Fig. 5. 10 Fig. 5. 11 Fig. 5. 12 Fig. 5. 13 Fig. 5. 14 Fig. 6. 1 Fig. 6. 2 Fig. 6. 3 Fig. 6. 4 Fig. 6. 5 Fig. 6. 6 Fig. 6. 7 Fig. 6. 8 Fig. 6. 9 Fig. 7. 1.\r\nFrequency of ICT use to promote learning in curricular areas Frequency of ICT use among mainstream and special class teachers to facilitate development of skills Frequency of us e of individual internet resources by internet users Inspectors’ rating of the quality of use of ICT in teaching and learning Students’ proficiency in individual tasks Level of ICT support for students with special educational necessitate in mainstream classrooms Level of recover by students with special educational require in special-education support settings.\r\nExtent to which special-education support team members plan for the use of ICT Inspectors’ observations of the use of ICT to facilitate teaching and learning in special-education support settings Frequency of ICT use in special-education support settings to facilitate development of skills Inspectors’ ratings of the quality of use of ICT in teaching and learning observed in special-education support settings Proficiency and use of applications in teaching Students’ use of computers Students’ ICT skill levels Use of ICT in the planning and preparation of observed lessons Main us es of ICT in teaching and learning in the subjects inspected, as inform by teachers.\r\nFrequency of use of computers in teaching Settings in which ICT is used in classrooms Use of the internet and applications, by subject area Inspectors’ rating of the quality of use of ICT in teaching and learning observed International student-computer ratios from PISA 2003 114 115 119 122 one hundred twenty-five 126 127 128 128 129 132 143 146 147 156 157 158 159 162 164 179 x Foreword.\r\nInformation and communication engine room has brought pro piece motleys to to the highest degree all aspects of our zippys in upstart years. It has transformed activities as base as how we work, communicate with each different, treat illnesses, travel, shop and make out our leisure time. The pace of change shows no sign of mental retardation: indeed, the development of ICT and its applications to areas such(prenominal) as the integration of media, are continuing at even accelerated rates th an heretofore. In a relatively short extremity of time, ICT skills stimulate become as fundamental to living a full life as beingness able to read, release and compute. Ireland has been a leading pretender in the development of the ICT industry.\r\nWe occupy been a leading exporter of ICT ironware and software, and many of the list businesses in the industry substantiate chief(prenominal) bases here. Like another(prenominal) countries, we establish in like manner recognised that if our newfangled people are to live full lives in a world transformed by ICT, they need to stick opportunities to induce and develop ICT skills from an early age. Since the late 1990s, we have do appreciable investments in ICT infrastructure in schools, and in training for teachers and other professionals. Until now, little national research demonstrate has been published on the usurpation that the new technologies have had on schools and especially on teaching and learning.\r\nThis re port examines the utter some to which ICT has been used in schools at both primary and post-primary levels and, more than than(prenominal) importantly, assesses the impact that ICT has had on teaching and learning, including the ways in which ICT is used to support the learning of students with special educational needs. The evaluation shows that small-arm much progress has been achieved in the roll-out of ICT in schools, considerable challenges remain.\r\nThe report displays findings and recommendations that provide be of fill to teachers, principals, school support function, curriculum developers and policy-makers. I hope that it go forth inform consult and policy decisions on how we can picture that young people have the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to pull in from the opportunities presented by this powerful applied science in the years ahead. Eamon vision Chief Inspector xi ICT in Schools xii executive summary xiii ICT in Schools executive summary. \r\nAn evaluation of the infrastructure, planning and use of information and communications technology in teaching and learning was conducted by the Inspectorate in primary and post-primary schools during the school year 2005/06.\r\nThe objectives of the evaluation were: • to examine the completion to which ICT was used in primary and post-primary schools • to evaluate the impact of ICT on teaching and learning • to assess the ICT skills of students at selected points in the education system and to obtain their views on their throw of ICT in their shoal • to obtain the views of principals and teachers on their ICT skills and their opinions of the impact and future fictitious character of ICT in education • to make recommendations for policy development regarding ICT in schools. xiv Executive summary.\r\nThe evaluation methods comprised: • a national survey of primary (234) and post-primary (110) principals • a national survey of primary (1,162) and post-primary (800) teachers • case-study school evaluations by inspectors (32 primary schools, 20 post-primary schools) • observations during classroom inspections (77 primary schools) • observations during subject inspections (111 post-primary schools) • a follow-up on-line survey of teachers in case-study post-primary schools. Summary of main findings The findings and recommendations are summarised here and are elaborated in chapter 7. Infrastructure • The student-computer ratio (SCR) in Irish schools is 9. 1:1 at primary level and 7:1 at post-primary level.\r\nInformation unattached from the OECD suggests that countries that have interpreted the lead in the provision of ICT in schools are aiming for or achieving a SCR of 5:1. • In the main, schools make strong use of the grants provided by the DES for developing their ICT systems. However, schools for the approximately part spend good more on ICT than the sums do on hand(pre dicate) through these grants schemes. • The omit of technical support and upkeep is a significant incumbrance to the development of ICT in schools. • At primary level, computer rooms are chiefly a feature of the larger schools. However, access by students to computers was shew to be superior where the computers were located in the classrooms.\r\nAt the post-primary level on that point is a great suffusion of computers in specialist rooms than in general classrooms. • Schools were plant to use a express range of ICT peripherals, mainly printers, scanners, and digital cameras. Digital projectors were fix in post-primary schools.\r\nAt primary level, interactional whiteboards were present in a small number of schools. • Schools that make dedicated computer facilities available to teachers inform that it led to the use of more high-quality and creative teaching resources in classrooms. xv ICT in Schools Planning • Responsibility for ICT in a sc hool can lie with an ICT steering committee, the principal, the delegate principal, an ICT co-ordinator, or a combining of these personnel.\r\nGreater efficiency is achieved where a named person has responsibility for ICT within a school and where their role is clearly defined. • The majority (71%) of primary schools surveyed, but fewer than half(a) (46%) of post-primary schools, were found to have a written ICT plan.\r\nThese plans tend to abbreviate more on infrastructural issues than on how ICT can be used to enhance teaching and learning. • almost schools (83% of primary schools, 87% of post-primary schools) were found to have an acceptable-use policy (AUP). This is a product of the requirements of the Schools Broadband Access Programme and the safety- sensation initiatives of the NCTE.\r\nIt is too an property of the seriousness that schools attach to the risks associated with the use of the internet. • The majority of teachers make close to use of IC T in lesson planning and preparation. Newly satisfactory teachers are more likely to use ICT for this purpose than their more experienced colleagues. However, fewer teachers were found to plan for the use of ICT in teaching and learning. At the post-primary level, planning for the use of ICT in teaching varies mingled with subjects.\r\nThe programmes for change Year, LCVP and LCA special(prenominal)ally kick upstairs planning for the use of ICT in teaching and learning. Teachers of these programmes regularly sum up that their involvement also support them to use ICT in their teaching with other class conclaves.\r\n• School principals and teachers set the provision and charge of hardware in schools and the provision of professional development opportunities in ICT as being strategically important for the development of ICT in their school. Generic programmes of professional development, because of their wider appeal, were found to have a great take-up among teacher s than topic-specific programmes.\r\nTeaching and learning • Only 30% of primary teachers and 25% of post-primary teachers rated their ability as either â€Å"intermediate” or â€Å"advanced” with regard to using teaching and learning methods that are facilitated by ICT. Recently qualified teachers had a higher wisdom of their ICT skills than more experienced teachers.\r\n• At the primary level, the inspectors reported raise of the use of ICT to facilitate teaching and learning in 59% of the classrooms visited. However, the inspectors observed ICT actually being used in only if 22% of the lessons observed. Nearly a quarter of all inspections showed a competent or best level of realizeance in relation to the use of ICT in the classroom. xvi Executive summary • Where ICT is used in primary classrooms it predominates in core curricular areas, such as position and Mathematics, and in Social, Environmental and scientific Education (SESE). • The evaluation found that many fifth-class students in primary schools do not have the competence to complete introductory tasks on the computer.\r\nWhile roughly students reported being able to perform many of the intimately basic computer tasks, such as turning a computer on and off and col or parsimoniousness a file, more than 30% reported that they were not able to print a written document or to go on the internet by themselves. or so half (47%) reported not being able to attain a document by themselves. The majority did not know how to get a exhibit (72%), use a spreadsheet (86%), or send an attachment with an e-mail message (88%). Competence in the use of ICT is limited for the most part to basic ICT skills, centred on the use of word-processing. • Only 18% of the post-primary lessons observed by the inspectors involved an ICT-related activity.\r\nStudents’ interaction with the technology was observed in only about a quarter of these instances. The most com mon ICT-related activity observed was the use of a data projector to make a launching to a class group. Inspectors judged that hard-hitting integration of ICT in teaching and learning was occurring in about half of the lessons in which the use of ICT was observed (i. e. in around 11% of all lessons observed).\r\n• Dedicated ICT lessons at the post-primary level are more prevalent among first-year classes, and are provided less frequently as students progress towards the Junior Certificate. The majority of schools concentrate on providing students with such lessons in their Transition Year, in the LCVP, and in the LCA.\r\n• last levels of integration of ICT were found at the post-primary level in the science and applied science subjects and in subjects in the social studies I group. 1 Subjects were also identified that rarely made use of ICT, the most notable being Irish. • The evaluation found that fifth-year students in post-primary schools had the confidence to perform many basic computer operations by themselves, for example saving, printing, deleting, opening and editing a document.\r\nHowever, it also found that they generally inevitable some assistance to perform more complicated tasks, such as moving files, write files to external storage devices, and create verbally and sending e-mail. A relatively low proportion of these students reported being able to create a multimedia presentation.\r\nStudents ask most help with attaching a file to an e-mail message, constructing a web page, or dealings with computer viruses. While the post-primary inspectors generally commented positively on the students’ ICT work that they observed, they were also concerned that the tasks undertaken by the students were largely word-processing and presentation tasks.\r\n1 Social Studies I group includes History; Geography; Art, Craft, and Design; and Music. Social Studies II group includes Religious Education; strong-arm Education; Civic, Socia l and governmental Education (CSPE); and Social, Personal and wellness Education (SPHE). xvii ICT in Schools • ICT is widely used to facilitate the provision by schools of special education.\r\nGenerally, ICT is used more frequently by members of the special-education team kinda than by mainstream class teachers. The dialect in students’ engagement with ICT in special-education settings is mainly on the support of literacy. Support for ICT • The level of awareness among teachers of the ICT advisory service is generally low, with fewer than half the respondents at both the primary and the post-primary level reporting an awareness of it. Awareness is higher, however, among ICT co-ordinators than among other teachers. • The use of the ICT advisory service is also low. At the primary level only 22% of all respondents reported having used the service, while at the post-primary level the corresponding figure was 15%.\r\nSummary of key recommendations for policy- makers and policy advisors • The level of ICT infrastructure in schools needs to be improved. Specifically, Ireland should be working towards armament not just all schools but all classrooms with an assign level of ICT infrastructure. retainer should be given to equipping all classrooms with a computer for use by the teacher, broadband internet access with adequate bandwidth, and a fixed data projector and bury for use by the teacher in presentations. Furthermore, to ensure becharm access to ICT by students, Ireland should arrive at to reduce its student-computer ratio (SCR) from the present 9.\r\n1:1 in primary schools and 7:1 in post-primary schools. International evidence suggests that countries that have taken a lead in this area are aiming for or achieving a ratio of 5:1 or less in all schools. • Improvements in ICT infrastructure will need to be back up by the foundation garment of a national ICT technical support and maintenance system for schools. Schools a lso need to be provided with the capacity to regularly pass on their own ICT infrastructure. • The pedagogical place of the ICT advisors’ role in an education centre could be more enamourly provided by the pertinent school support function, in liaison with the ICT school coordinators.\r\nThe technical dimension of the ICT advisors’ role could be provided in a number of ways, including for example, by having a commercially supplied ICT maintenance and support for schools. With an effective IT maintenance system in place, the pedagogical role of ICT coordinators within schools could be enhanced and supported with appropriate training. xviii Executive summary • Support services should give priority to the integration of ICT in teaching and learning. thither is an opportunity for such services to work more closely with schools, and with school ICT coordinators in token, to determine staff training needs and assist in organising appropriate professional de velopment courses for teachers.\r\nSupport service personnel should aim to be proactive in providing examples of how ICT can be used to facilitate teaching and learning in any programmes provided. Furthermore, course organisers should take greater account of the wide range of ICT abilities and experiences usually found in groups of teachers and should provide differentiated ICT learning experiences for course participants. • Additional guidance should be provided to schools and teachers of students with special educational needs so that the needs of learners may be matched more fittingly with the technology available. • There needs to be an increased stress on the application of ICT in teaching and learning in teacher education at pre-service, induction and continuing professional development stages.\r\nIt is recommended that teacher education departments in third-level colleges should provide student teachers with the skills necessary to effectively use ICT in teach ing and nourish in them a polish of using ICT in their work. Consideration should also be given to extending and expanding significantly the current range of professional development courses available for teachers.\r\nA major emphasis of such an initiative should be on how ICT may be integrated fully in the teaching and learning of specific subjects and curricular areas. The ICT Framework for Schools, which the NCCA will issue in the near future, will be a further assistance to schools in this regard. Key recommendations for schools • Schools and teachers should regularly review the use of ICT in their work.\r\nIn particular, they should strive to ensure greater integration of ICT within teaching and learning activities in classrooms and other settings. • Teachers should exploit the authorisation of ICT to develop as wide a range of students’ skills as possible, including the higher-order skills of problem-solving, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. • Principals should further and facilitate suitable ICT training for teachers. Schools should liase with relevant support services and should endeavour to establish mechanisms to facilitate the sharing of good practice among members of the staff.\r\n• Schools should endeavour to provide all their students with an appropriate and equitable level of experience of ICT at all class levels: at the primary level and at both junior and senior cycles/second at the post-primary level. xix ICT in Schools • Schools should plan for the maintenance and upgrading of their ICT systems. • Computer rooms, where they exist, should be used to uttermost effect.\r\nStaff members and students should be provided with adequate access to the internet. Post-primary schools in particular should aim to increase the permeation of ICT in general classrooms. • A designated staff member should be responsible for ICT development. An ICT plan should be developed, using a consultative proces s, and an appropriate-use policy (AUP) should also be established.\r\n• Teachers should endeavour to integrate ICT more in their planning and preparation for teaching. • Schools need to ensure that ICT is used to support students with special educational needs in the most effective and appropriate way. Schools need to ensure that they match students’ needs to the most appropriate technology available, and that ICT is used to support not only the acquisition of literacy but the widest range of students’ needs.\r\n• Schools should exploit the benefits to be had from ICT in their assessment procedures and also in their administrative practices. xx Chapter 1 ICT in primary and post-primary education in Ireland Part 1 Introduction 1 ICT in Schools • Part 1 Introduction 1. 1 Introduction\r\nInformation and communications technology (ICT) is an accepted element in all our lives and has a profound role to play in education. Since the appearance of the first Government policy on ICT in education in 1997, a substantial investment has been made in ICT facilities and training in Irish schools.\r\nIn Ireland, as in other countries, the debate about ICT in education concentrates on the potential impact of ICT on teaching and learning and on the measures that need to be adopted to ensure that the potential of ICT to enrich students’ learning experience is realised. This Inspectorate report presents the findings of a major evaluation of the impact of ICT on teaching and\r\n'