Session Information
16 SES 08 B, Teacher Development
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-30
08:30-10:00
Room:
NIG, HS 3E
Chair:
Johan van Braak
Contribution
In recent years, educational policymakers in most European countries have placed considerable emphasis on the importance of teachers being able to make effective use of new technology in their teaching. This has certainly been the case in the UK: as early as 1995, Cochrane claimed that 'in future their will be two kinds of teacher; the IT literate, and the retired' (Cochrane, 1995). Although competence frameworks relating to ICT in initial teacher education in the UK have been subject to radical change over the past decade, the ability to deploy new technology effectively in subject teaching has been a constant requirement since the 1998 version of the Standards for Qualified Teacher Status (DfEE, 1998).
Throughout the past decade, the discourse of proficiency in ICT has been expressed in the form of minimum standards of competence. Annex B, the 1998 version of the competence requirements relating to ICT contained over a hundred such competence statements, stretching to over 15 pages (DfEE, 1998). More recently, competence has been defined partly by the requirement for student teachers to pass an online 'basic skills' test in ICT (TDA, 2007).
Less attention has focused on the characteristics of teachers, student teachers, (and initial teacher education providers) who are deemed to be 'good at ICT'. The central research question of the paper focuses on the question of what characteristics constitute excellence in ICT practice, and what tests, experiences and competence frameworks are likely to contribute to the development of teachers who are 'good at ICT'.
Do the characteristics of being 'good at ICT' vary between different curriculum subjects or are they the same for all teachers? Is it about the breadth of ICT applications used, frequency of use, degree of technical excellence in using particular applications, improvements in pupil outcomes or pupil engagement in learning? It is argued that more thoughtful consideration of this question may help to avoid some of the mistakes, mis-investments and unhelpful policies and regulations which have limited the progress made towards creating an education work force which is accomplished and effective in maximising the educational potential of new technology. (In 2008, in spite of substantial investment and considerable pressure, only one in five student teachers in the UK felt that they had been very well prepared to use ICT in their teaching -TDA, 2008).
Method
The paper provides an overview of policies, investments, competence frameworks and reseach studies relating to the development of teachers' and student teachers' ability to use ICT effectively in their subject teaching in the UK over the past decade. This includes several funded projects in which the author has been involved.
Expected Outcomes
The paper argues that although some investments and policies have been helpful in enabling UK teachers to use ICT more effectively in their classroom teaching, other initiatives have been harmful or counter-productive and have served to discourage teachers from using new technology in their teaching. The paper attempts to analyse the factors which are characteristic of more positive outcomes, and to point out mistakes and misjudgements which might be avoided in future policies and interventions in this field. It is felt that the findings will be of relevance to ICT policy and investment in most European countries.
References
Cochrane, P. (1995) Times Educational Supplement, 23 June. Department for Education and Employment (1998) Teaching: high standards, high status. Requirements for courses of initial teacher training, London, DfEE. Teacher Development Agency (2007)Professional Standards for Teachers: Qualified Teacher Status, London, TDA eacher Development Agency (2008)Newly Qualified Teacher Survey, 2008, London, TDA.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.