Jun 17 2009
Education is still in the Chalk Ages
This quote returns to haunt us…
Teachers often receive little or no subsequent training which, given the pace at which IT develops, means their knowledge soon becomes outdated. And because there is no mechanism by which teachers can continuously learn and communicate with one another, it is hard – except perhaps within the largest schools – for teachers to share experience and ideas.
THE FUTURE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN UK SCHOOLS,
McKinsey & Company, March 1997
Little has changed. We still have a CPD regime which employs an ineffective and wasteful model. A model which many research projects continually remind us fails to embed innovations. As society in general embraces technology to achieve change, education is not, despite millions of pounds of investment.
IDeA the Improvement and Development Agency for local government has established a secure online communications system which offers a range of features to enable users to form and communicate with their own groups. If only this were to be employed by education professionals it would empower them to lead their own development. A tool to change the approach from top down to bottom up – the way research tells us it needs to be.
Yes, there are tools like this being used, but only by a few, and with only short term funding. They are fragile and the informal ones, using existing free communication tools, are really not the answer when confidential discussions may be stored on servers anywhere in the world. Nor is there a coherent structure for the various elements which can be readily recognised and understood by users.
It needs the vision of a government to commit to the adoption of a UTILITY for the whole education service as suggested by the 1997 McKinsey report.
If it can be done for local government it can be done for education.
That alone will not kick start the activity. We need to move to ensure that all teachers use the tools not by coersion but because it improves their working lives and reduces burdens.
So what stops that happening? There is simply no requirement to use ICT despite all the investment. It is still possible for schools to, largely, duck the issue and continue as before.
How many awarding bodies offer fully online assessment systems?
By shifting assessment procedures online all teachers would have a need to log-on. Link that to the UTILITY and reward teachers for collaborating and then we have a true purpose which will drive the engagement.
“Teachers will not take up attractive sounding ideas, albeit based on extensive research, if these are presented as general principles which leave entirely to them the task of translating them into everyday practice—their classroom lives are too busy and too fragile for this to be
possible for all but an outstanding few. What they need is a variety of living examples of implementation, by teachers with whom they can identify and from whom they can both derive conviction and confidence that they can do better, and see concrete examples of what doing better means in practice.”
Inside the Black Box, Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam
The UTILITY could address the need identified in 1997 and enable teachers to collaborate at their convenience and with whom they choose. Fully developed, to include access to academics and government, it would also enable a truly democratic approach to flourish. It would require institutions such as subject assocations and government agencies to adapt as the profession gained direct access to legislators and academics. Some would still have a role others would be rendered irrelevant.
The 1997 McKinsey report was right, the tools are now available. Who has the vision to commit?
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Well said, Malcolm. Key thing here is your final comment – it’s not so much about who has the vision (as I believe the vision has been well established and shared) – the key thing from here is who has the internal fortitude to lead the vision, and withstand the pressures to desist and conform etc!
[...] this is obvious when pointed out but that still needs a mechanism for it to happen. It needs that utility, a common national or international grid which all can self manage and exploit. If the grid is to [...]