Session Information
16 SES 01A, Pedagogical Practices and ICT Use around the World: Findings from the IEA International Comparative Study SITES2006 (Part 1)
Symposium to be continued in 16 SES 2A
Time:
2008-09-10
09:15-10:45
Room:
B4 415
Chair:
Tjeerd Plomp
Discussant:
Karl Steffens
Contribution
In a country of 47.4 million people of diverse origins, cultures, and languages, where only 20% of schools meet the three basic prerequisites of telecommunications connectivity, namely, of grid electricity, exchange telephone lines and two or more computers, why and how should ICT form one of the government’s priorities in education in South Africa? These are questions that the new dispensation is grappling within a context of multiple and competing, priorities in post-apartheid education. The country has a higher enrolment rate in education than most developing countries and there has been three-fold increase in national spending on education (from R31.8-billion to R105.5-billion in 2007) since 1994. Despite this spending, poverty-related educational challenges remain. However, in a land of contrasts, many independent schools (comprising 2.3%) are well-resourced and often use cutting edge technology in their educational delivery.
The Ministry of Education published the White Paper on e-Education: Transforming Learning and Teaching through Information and Communication Technologies in August 2004 (Department of Education, 2004). This single policy document presents a framework of the strategic, political, pedagogical, and developmental facets of implementing e-education in South Africa. This policy on e-education and other policies on education reflect the requirements and development needed for a competitive society within the global community. However, it is not known to what extent, these policies are being implemented, and if so if these are being implemented effectively.
South Africa participated in the SITES module 1, and with the data now available for South Africa for SITES module 3, it is possible to examine the extent to which ICT has been implemented and in particular to analyse the integration of ICT in subjects which are regarded as top priorities by the Ministry of Education, namely mathematics and science. In particular the support provided by the schools is a key factor within the developing context where instructional leadership in general is not strong. Hence the vision of the principal and type of support given the mathematics and science teachers, is important to analyse. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to evaluate the extent to which governments’ ICT policies in education have been implemented, the role of the school leadership in this implementation and the effects in mathematics and science classrooms.
References
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