Computers in a class of their own

Schools have changed beyond recognition in the past decade. Where once individual schools and teachers devised their own lessons and methods of steering children towards examinations, the National Curriculum has now set everything in stone and at its heart is Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The study of technology is not just taught as a core subject but is meshed with all the other subjects, such as maths, science and design and technology.

So from primary level onwards, pupils learn to gather information from computer databases and CD-Roms, as well as traditional sources. They also use word processing and graphics programs to present information.

Technology appeals to curious young minds and can make learning more fun. But are computers affecting educational standards?

Computeractive donned its mortar board and looked inside the education system to find out.

Where are we now?
Karen Belper is a parent of twin 11 year-olds, as well as a writer on ICT. She is enthusiastic about the use of ICT in schools but has reservations.

"The problem is that without it being formalised within the National Curriculum, many schools would ignore ICT. Not because they don't see its worth but because they don't have the equipment or the teaching skills," she said.

The curriculum makes heavy demands of teachers and pupils. A browse around www.nc.uk.net reveals the kinds of skills and tasks that form the basis of ICT use in schools.

Teachers are expected to employ a wide range of computer programs and technologies as teaching aids, which presents its own problems.

Maybe the teacher in charge of IT in a school isn't so comfortable with new technology. Maybe the school doesn't have enough PCs to go round so ICT means a weekly one-hour trip to the computer suite, rather than it becoming an integral part of every lesson.

Maybe this new way of working isn't to everyone's taste; with pupils gaining unmediated research access to thousands of websites, how are they to know who is an acknowledged expert and who a crackpot?

It's also much simpler to go online and cut-and-paste somebody else's essay on the Corn Laws rather than doing all that tedious reading yourself, right?

PCs provide some answers and some fantastic opportunities but they present some serious problems for educationalists too.

Teaching expertise
Dave Gordon is IT co-ordinator at a large Sussex comprehensive. "I qualified as the staffroom IT expert in that I had some knowledge. Most teachers, particularly those older than me [40] knew nothing," he explained.

"I don't mind having to learn as I go along, but I do mind that it's taken so long for teachers to get the starter training they need, to give them the confidence to use IT in their lessons.

"I also mind that there aren't enough computers in schools, which obviously slows down the acquisition of computer skills."

Government figures last year showed apparently impressive leaps forward in schools' adoption of ICT, but Gordon has his doubts as he rakes through them.

"Are we meant to jump in the air because there is now one PC for every six pupils in secondary schools; one in nine in primary? This obviously means that most of the time pupils don't have access to a computer," he said.

"More than 240,000 teachers have completed ICT training since 1999, but there are probably twice that number of teachers in the UK at any time. Some are computer literate, some are completely clueless and all of them need ongoing training."

Playing catch up
A 2001 report by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), the government unit charged with developing ICT in education, found that the more widely a school used ICT across the curriculum, the better its exam results.

When good resources were combined with good teaching, the results increased dramatically. This has been a cause of frustration in many schools because the equipment and teacher training that could boost results is sadly lacking.

Government watchdog Ofsted monitors standards in education and, although last year it found that use of ICT had improved, it said that standards of training for both teachers and pupils left much to be desired.

"Only about 20 to 25 per cent of schools use ICT across their curriculum and administration," admitted Becta. "Within the other 75 per cent there are individual teachers using it well but otherwise it is pretty patchy."

The truth is that some schools are more equal than others. "Whether you get the hardware, software and training depends on which Local Education Authority you fall into," explained Gordon.

Another factor is which schools are more able to take up the slack: a failing inner-city school or a fee-paying one where parents can raise money?

"IT yields enormous benefits in poorer schools, yet many are stuck in a poverty trap," said Gordon. "They can't afford the kit so their pupils are denied the benefits and become even more disadvantaged."

Old versus new
When computers are used properly the effect on young minds is remarkable but they do not replace more traditional teaching methods. Belper is guardedly evangelistic about computers in the classroom.

"Computers are fun, flexible learning tools, leading us to new ways of working," she explained. "Kids love interactive learning games and, once they get going, they can be left to play for hours."

So who needs a teacher? "That's the strength and the drawback; that's not teaching," warned Belper.

"A child sitting reading a book for long periods alone is terrific, but that's not teaching either. The child is acquiring ideas but needs to talk to other pupils and bounce off the mature mind of a teacher to make further sense of those ideas."

One of the most attractive aspects of learning on a computer is that the child can explore information easily.

"Our first experience of IT in education was CD-Roms: kids go off on any of half a dozen paths, then to sub-paths and so on. It's a voyage of exploration within set boundaries," said Belper. "The internet is even more exciting; it can be a lateral-thinking machine for sparking off new ideas."

But without an adult to guide, it can also represent several hours wasted in ill-focused, unguided surfing.

Time-wasting is not the only worry. Schools and universities have become concerned about students passing off work found on the internet as their own.

Nick Custis lectures in media studies and pointed out that there are lots of websites where students can buy old exam answers. He warns his students that cheats don't benefit from plagiarism.

"My dictionary defines plagiarism as 'theft', so it's wrong. It also says 'to take or use somebody's thoughts', so it's stupid as well, and you'll probably get caught because it's pretty easy to spot differences in style and sophistication of argument," he explained.

"Then again, if you got your essay from the web, what's to stop your classmates doing the same? Don't forget how easy it is for teachers to check online, by putting chunks of your text into a search engine such as Google and running a search."

Making the grade
The reassuring thing, according to Gordon, is that computers really won't change much in education.

"I see two enormous strengths of the PC. First, it's a fabulous research tool. If you're studying ancient Egypt there are terrific CD-Roms available, or you can visit the British Museum's website and 'see' the death masks, pottery and so forth," he said.

"Secondly, it's great for exposing you to new ideas and influences. Searching for 'Charles Dickens' on the web will throw up dozens of opinions, essays and historical titbits that will inform your study."

But the most vital tool, as always, lies between the ears of the learner. The task of sourcing, analysing and accepting or rejecting information on the basis of its credibility is good practice for students.

"There's more material available than ever before. But you have to filter, discuss and appraise that material, and then move on to form your own ideas. It's old-fashioned thinking and reasoning," said Gordon.

Computers empower pupils, and any parent watching children use a computer knows that learning can be fun.

Their study is made more effective by using tools, such as Word and Excel, that allow them to store and index notes, organise their study time and construct more elaborate and cross-referenced pieces of work.

These are skills and applications which they can carry through to their working lives. All they need is their own interest, and an adult on hand to steer them gently back on course now and then.

Keeping track of truants
Truancy is a huge problem. With 50,000 pupils absent without leave each day, the cost of an under-educated generation, wasted teaching resources and the petty crime that often accompanies those long, empty days spent outside the school gates can only be guessed at.

The government wants to get 15,000 pupils back into schools by the year end, and www.truancycall.co.uk tries to nip the problem in the bud.

Instead of the school secretary making continual calls to check why children are absent from school, Truancy Call automatically telephones, emails or sends text messages to parents on the first day a pupil is absent without explanation.

The system calls until early evening and resumes the next day until the parent calls back. Kidbrooke School has improved its attendance by three per cent since it adopted the system.

Valery Jarret, services manager at Kidbrooke, said: "The system has helped us educate parents on the importance of regular attendance.

"While the government's focus is on penalising parents of truanting children, we have taken measures to ensure that we are working with the parents to establish the underlying reasons that may be contributing to a child's lack of attendance."

Who needs a teacher?
Software developer Ramesys has an innovative response to Britain's teacher drought and it doesn't involve flying 747-loads of teachers in from New Zealand.

Colchester's Philip Morant School is employing the software in its ICT Learning Centre. When a teacher is absent, the Centre lets 120 students access online lessons, assigned by the department head.

There are none of the interruptions of supply teaching, and pupils have the direct support of a teacher and fully-trained teaching assistants.

The system, a venture between www.ramesys.com, HP and Microsoft, gives staff wireless-enabled notebook PCs which let them communicate with each other and access the school network from anywhere in the school buildings.

Steve Smith, a Ramesys representative, said: "The trick is to ensure that teachers are empowered by ICT, creating solutions that solve classroom problems and reduce workloads. This is what the Learning Centre provides."

Belper sees the advantage of 'distance' teaching, but only for the right age groups of sufficiently self-motivated pupils. "Given a teacher of some sort in the room to maintain discipline, this has possibilities," she said.

Make a date with Janet
If you thought IT and education were only recent bedfellows, think again. Among the most eager early adopters of the internet were universities that wanted to share documents and access each other's research materials.

In the late 1970s networks were fragmented, as universities developed several regional links. The first Joint Academic NETwork (Janet) was created in April 1984, serving about 50 sites.

By the late 1980s there were more than 200 sites. In January 1991, Janet joined the rest of the internet in opening its resources to more institutions across the country.

Over the past decade, constant upgrading of the network has maintained Janet's position as the quick and reliable way for UK universities to pool information and research.

Learn how to help schools
Labour's commitment to IT in schools was always going to run up against financial problems. Putting a computer on every UK school desk and connecting them to broadband isn't cheap.

Tools for Schools (www.tfs.org.uk) has a very British approach to the problem: charitable giving. It takes obsolete computers from companies and redistributes them to schools, and you can do your bit to help.

Go to www.calm-uk.com or www.recycling-it.co.uk to see how your old kit can serve a better purpose when you have moved on to a more advanced computer.

Think too about old programs: if your child has grown out of that Bob The Builder game don't leave it mouldering in the attic, give another child a chance to use it.

EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES

Curriculum Online
Labour's new tool for schools is this one-stop online catalogue of digital learning resources. Resources include lesson plans, CD-Roms, interactive videos, simulation software and assessment material.
www.curriculumonline.gov.uk

Department for Education and Skills
The DfES was established with the purpose of creating opportunity, releasing potential and achieving excellence for all.
www.dfes.gov.uk

Becta
The place to find out what the government has in store for ICT in schools.
www.becta.org.uk

National Curriculum
The National Curriculum pages outline what the strategy is for ICT as a core subject, and explains in detail how it underpins the other curriculum subjects.
www.nc.uk.net

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has details on key skills and work schemes for ICT as a standalone subject and throughout the curriculum.
www.qca.org.uk

BBC
There are thousands of education sites online but, if you bookmark no other, bookmark the BBC. It's an excellent place to find courses, revision and study materials.

School pupils should follow the links to www.bbc.co.uk/schools and their younger siblings to www.bbc.co.uk/schools/preschool and thence to www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies.
www.bbc.co.uk/learning