A round table discussion with representatives from the four nations.
Doug Brown (DfES)
Laurie O’Donnell. LTS Scotland (via Video Conference)
John Anderson, Dept of Education, Northern Ireland
Keith Davies, Wales
The discussion will centre arond the following questions:
- Do you have a personal vision of a school of the future - primary and secondary?
- Across the UK there are huge variations in the extent of centralized decision-making and the level of school autonomy. Is it possible to get the benefits of both these approaches without the disadvantages?
- Does every child in the UK have the same entitlement to a range of ICT experiences? If not, should we attempt to define and deliver such an entitlement?
- We are all anxious not to reinvent the wheel and duplicate effort, but is there a case for the production of tools and resources which have a genuine regional focus?
- In what ways is the digital divide an issue for your administrations, and how, if at all, are they addressing it?
- Is there a consensus in your country about the role of learning platforms and the professional and cultural development they will require of practitioners?
- If yes - How do you think the professional development and cultural change, which will be necessary if the potential of learning platforms is to be fulfilled, can be achieved?
- With all the interest in learning platforms – do you have a view on what they might look like for learners at different ages?
UPDATE:
The whole of this session is available to Naace members as a podcast. Log on to the Naace website and search for, “podcast” to find instructions to access the feed.
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Laurie O’Donnell. LTS Scotland: -
Key successes are reviewing our curriculum; signed a major contract to provide a national intranet - a joined up set of learning tools, VLE etc., we hope this is prepare young people for an information economy.
John Anderson, Dept of Education, Northern Ireland
Other than the 7 pounds in weight I’ve lost in the last few weeks … we have been working in NI with curriclum reform, we are not in the implementation phase. This opens up amazing opportunties especially when we look at competencies and look to formative assessment. We are also re-organising our secondary schools, a heated issue is the loss of selection. Then there is the reform to create just one Local Authority. We are looking to create a multifaceted reform, entitlement to online teacher development and elearning courses for pupils. Our managed service is also being refreshed. There are resonences - maintaining a managed service when we have to provide choice both for teachers and pupils. There is still concern around schools with poor leadership, management and provision.
Doug Brown, DfES
There is a lot of learning going on between the different countries. Creating a national network for instance is a common theme. The managed service is one of the big things. ICT is now being mainsteamed in the thinking of the whole of the DfES. We believe we don’t that the content that we need for the personalised agenda. Knowledge architecture - there are some real challenges here. It’s not just ablut the technology, it’s a culture issue. what does it mean to be an e-mature learner, or e-mature teacher. What does it mean to support schools in an e-mature world.
Laurie - You have to strike the right balance. There needs to be some things that have to be bought centrally. Content that everyone is using (NI has been exemplary here), VLEs, etc. As you move down, autonomy lies at the level of implementation. This has to happen at a local level.
John - not a question of managed service against local choice. There is now maturity in this discussion. People have begun to realise that it is not a dogma debate. It’s a debate about when it makes sense. You only need to get one 40th of aggregation in GB, to get the value for money that NI has got.
Leon Cych - talking aobut a top down model, but only just touched on a bottom up structure. The fear is we would be all VLE’d up and no one will use it. How far have you considered this?
Laurie - important point. There is a central role to facilitate implementation. Every pupil has the right to a teacher who is confident. We have implemented the concept of ‘master-class’. Our master-classers support teachers in adopting new technologies and approaches. The local circumstance dictates the priority.
Doug - totally refute that. We have 23,000 flowers blooming, some not as bright as other. Whe we see good practice we should say to the others, wake up. We should disseminate that. There’s lots of good practice. Part of out problem is that we are not top-down enough. What we are trying to do is to provide leaderhip.
John - Top down and bottom is not the right phrase, embedding is more important. There is a lot to be done at every level.
What do the panel expect to see in a school that has implemented personalised learning?
Doug - we are now in a position where the technology can make learning personalised.
Children must have personal learning experiences - Challenge in the technology is that we are not really understand what that means, and producing the software that help the tayloring that experience. Material needs to do more than address the content, assessment etc. Teachers give personal response to moments in learning, ICT needs to take the barriers away to enable personalisation. Some schools have created models of support for parents at home to support their children.
John - expect to see young people to exercise meaningful and worthwhile choices. We need to get rid of the barriers that stop children using the technology.
Laurie - Learners at the centre, then focus on the outcomes.
Brian Durrant - in the mission of transforming teaching and learning, we must understand the necessary and sufficient conditions needed - the environment etc. The most difficult is changing teachers. My observation is the best way is through other people. The most effective thing we have done in London is to put people in the field. Two points, itn’t it ironic that we are reducing the number of people in LAs, second point is that LAs are being undermined by school autonomy when they are best placed to aggregate?
John - these people who influence teachers are teachers. So how do we do that?
Laurie - i refer to my previous point on ‘master-class’. Key thing in changing teachers but they will only change given the right circumstances. Create the conditions so that teachers can be change-agents. It’s not the teachers its the structures.
Learning Platforms for younger children, how might we do this?
Doug - we do have some around the country. There are bits, the issue is not at year 5 that a pupil has an e-portfolio for ever, but an opportunity to allow pupils to reflect on their practice and learning. This has to be appropriate. It might be just a space to save their work on the network.
John - You must apply the same principles to those of older pupils, but in the right context.
Laurie - a space to draw together work.
Should we define an entitlement for children in ICT?
Laurie - probably opposed. It is likely to become a ticklist. A better approach is to look at higher level outcomes - responsible citizens, etc etc. Don’t start with the technology.
Doug - agree, this is about learning not ICT. There should be a learning entitlement.
John - happy with that, we need to debate how we get rid of barriers.
Ian for Buckenhamshire - We are shortly to receive money for learning platform, should we aggregate on CPD or the platform?
Doug - we do not spend enough on CPD. Some real challenges as a whole. The issue is about CPD for ICT, but for learning. Schools need to be aware that they have money for CPD - revenue and capital pot. If you look at the documents and do all the maths, you can work out how much the ICT element is, but schools must decide the priorities.
Is there anything that Naace should be doing?
Laurie - Naace must stay at getting the right end of the stick. It is about being the learning organisation.
Doug - totally agree with Laurie. you must be very clear that it is a learning agenda. I want to challenge Naace to say what is exemplar practice? It’s getting global. “Education services can be our biggest export”, Gordon Brown talking of the economy.
John - You can test everything by asking whether Naace is modelling the model? Naace might model peer-review as a suggestion. To develop a methodology for this.
[...] I’m still at home in Nottingham before I begin the trek down to Torquay but I feel like I am already there. I can look at the photos posted already to the conference photo blog. Gareth has been blogging the ‘The Next Three Years - Emerging ICT Agendas‘ Check out the really interesting sound-bytes in the comments. Doug Brown - DFES We have 23,000 flowers blooming, some not as bright as other. Whe we see good practice we should say to the others, wake up. We should disseminate that. There’s lots of good practice. Part of out problem is that we are not top-down enough. What we are trying to do is to provide leaderhip. [...]
I really wish I was in Torquay for the conference, but this is almost as good! Gareth - you’re providing an excellent service here; it’s so useful to be able to follow at least some of what’s going on.
Keep up the good work!
Wales has a lot to offer and celebrate and it was disappointing that throughout the discussion Wales was not mentioned and there was no Welsh representative on the panel.