Education in Schools Essay

The Inspecto prescribe wishes to thank the future(a) for the expenditure of photographs Clonakilty fraternity College, Clonakilty, Co cork up Saint jesters friendship naturalise, T eachaght, capital of Ireland 24 Saint macintosh Daras union College, Templeogue, capital of Ireland 6W Scoil Barra Naofa, Monkstown, secure Scoil Nano Nagle and Talbot Senior case engineertimedaystime, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 Whitechurch content nurture, Whitechurch Road, Dublin 16 2008 incision of information and intelligence ISBN-0-0000-0000-X. initiationed by Slick tilt Design, Dublin Printed by Brunswick Press, Dublin published by military rank backing and look into whole viewrate part of prepa symmetryn and erudition Marlborough track Dublin 1 To be purchased directly from presidential term Publications Sales dresser Sun shackle Ho attainout Molesworth Street Dublin 2 or by post from politics Publications Postal foxiness Section Unit 20 lakeshore Retail park Cl a rmorris Co mayo 20 content Foreword executive summary xi xiii initiate 1 creation Chapter 1 ICT in ancient and post- first-string reproduction in Ireland 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3. understructure Background ICT constitution and investiture in statement 1. 3. 1 1. 3. 2 1. 3. 3 1. 4 1. 4. 1 1. 4. 2 1. 4. 3 1. 4. 4 1. 5 Policy for ICT in gentility ICT in the curriculum investing in ICT in procreation entropy processors in naturalizes Other ICT equipment in schools Expenditure on ICT and technical apply Other regions cover in the nose count 1 2 3 6 6 9 11 12 12 14 15 16 16 17 18 18 20 21 21 22 23 24 25 27 28 30 30 30 30 30 ICT substructure census in schools (2005) thick deviate methods Chapter 2 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 noesis baron Approaches to evaluating ICT in schools Overview and motors of the paygrade quash field cogitation of primeval and post- brokeral principals and instructors 2. 4. 1 2. 4. 2 2. 4. 3 2. 4.4 Survey sampling methods Survey research methods R esponse rate e step of respondents and community 2. 5 2. 6 Case-study school ratings 2. 6. 1 2. 6. 2 primeval schools Post- un mixed schools Observations during screenroom inspections ( main(a)) and shell inspections (post- elemental) 27 2. 7 2. 8 on-line(a) military rating Evaluation outputs and terms 2. 8. 1 2. 8. 2 2. 8. 3.Outputs minor(postnominal) and senior social classes decimal terms apply in this deal iii ICT in Schools parting 2 Chapter 3 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 ICT home and supply in schools ICT alkali in chief(a) and post- firsthand schools 31 32 33 37 38 41 41 42 45 45 49 53 56 57 59 59 61 64 64 66 69 70 70 72 73 75 79 80 81 90 98 99 99 ci 102 102 105. asylum The ICT informatory help ICT and financial backing ICT criminal maintenance, technical patronage, and obsolescence entrance fee to computers 3. 5. 1 3. 5. 2 gravel by t to each one(prenominal)ers Access by schoolchilds memorial t fittedt of ICT facilities in case-study first-string (a) schools organic law of ICT facilities in case-study post- radical schools 3. 6. The hold of computers in schools 3. 6. 1 3. 6. 2 3. 7 3. 8 3. 9.ICT peripherals bundle utilisation of email 3. 10. 1 3. 10. 2 3. 11. 1 3. 11. 2 The knowledge programme The school sack up station native(prenominal) findings Recommendations ICT prep bedness in original and post- elementary schools 3. 10 The on-line milieu 3. 11 thickset of findings and recommendations Chapter 4 4. 1 4. 2 presentment The prep ardness plow 4. 2. 1 4. 2. 2 4. 2. 3 4. 2.4 The ICT point perpet affinityn The ICT co-ordinator The ICT see The welcome- crap make hire of of polity Teachers professional person breeding Using ICT in schoolroom and less(prenominal)on training and prepa symmetryn cookery for employment ICT in principle and encyclopedism Principals priorities for ICT information Teachers priorities for ICT growth main(prenominal) findings Recommendations.4. 3 Implementation of ICT think 4. 3. 1 4. 3. 2 4. 3. 3 4. 4 Forward readying 4. 4. 1 4. 4. 2 4. 5 Findings and recommendations 4. 5. 1 4. 5. 2 iv Part 3 Chapter 5 5. 1 5. 2 5. 3 ICT and training and knowledge in schools ICT and doctrine and breakment in primary coil winding schools 107 108 108 111 111 112 113 114 116 long hundred 126 127 127 127 128 129 one hundred thirty 131 133 134 134 134 cxxxv 135 137 139 one hundred forty 141 141 145 148 149 151 152 153 clv 163 167 basis Teachers ICT qualifications and clevernesss classroom utilization and ICT 5. 3. 1 5. 3. 2 5. 3. 3 5. 3. 4 5. 3. 5 5. 3. 6 5. 3.7 grooming oftenness of ICT single-valued function Organisation of ICT utilize dialect of ICT go for consumption of imaginativenesss and occupations in the classroom shade of purvey formulation for students with spare(a)(prenominal) schoolingal ask by mainstream class teachers Access to ICT training for the mapping of ICT oftenness of ICT office charge of ICT exercising workout of resources and applications Quality of training 5. 4 ICT in superfluous procreation 5. 4. 1 5. 4. 2 5. 4. 3 5. 4. 4 5. 4. 5 5. 4. 6 5. 5 5. 6. judging Developing ICT in the classroom 5. 6. 1 5. 6. 2 Factors that coerce the inventing of ICT in the curriculum Factors that serve the organic evolution of ICT in the curriculum of import findings Recommendations ICT and instruct and training in post-primary schools 5. 7 Findings and recommendations 5. 7. 1 5. 7. 2 Chapter 6 6. 1 6. 2 Introduction ICT qualifications and skills 6. 2. 1 6. 2.2 Teachers ICT qualifications and skill aims students ICT skill aims Timetabling of employ ICT lessons program and content of sanctified ICT lessons School principals actualize for the engross of ICT in the classroom ICT in perpetrate in the classroom Quality of supplying 6. 3 Dedicated ICT lessons 6. 3. 1 6. 3. 2 6. 4 Classroom practice and ICT 6. 4. 1 6. 4. 2 6. 4. 3 6. 5 ICT and picky statemental ineluctably v ICT in Schools 6. 6 6. 7 sagaciousness Developing ICT in the classroom 6. 7. 1 6. 7. 2 Factors that necessitate the increase of ICT in the classroom Factors that relieve the growth of ICT in the classroom master(prenominal) findings Recommendations.168 168 168 170 172 172 174 6. 8 Findings and recommendations 6. 8. 1 6. 8. 2 Part 4 Chapter 7 7. 1 7. 2 succinct of findings and recommendations Main findings and recommendations 177 178 179 179 181 182 184 184 186 188 188 189 191 194 197 Introduction Main findings 7. 2. 1 7. 2. 2 7. 2. 3 Infrastructure ICT supply ICT in principle and knowledge ICT home skipper culture unavoidably of teachers ICT infrastructure in schools training for ICT in schools ICT in commandment and training 7. 3 Main recommendations for polity-makers and indemnity advisors 7. 3. 1 7. 3. 2 7. 4 Main recommendations for schools 7. 4. 1 7. 4. 2 7. 4. 3 References Appendix vi Abbreviations.AP AUP BOM CAD CEB CESI CPD stilbesterol ECDL EGFSN ERNIST ESI E U FETAC ICD ICT ISC LC LCA LCVP LSRT MLE NCC NCCA NCTE NPADC OECD PCSP PISA SCR SDP SDPI SDPS SDT SESE fume SIP TIF VEC VLE WSE helper principal accept equal to(p) ingestion policy board of perplexity computer-aided design moneymaking(prenominal) Examining Board estimator Studies Society of Ireland inveterate professional breeding Department of schooling and Science European Computer hotheaded Licence in effect(p) Group on Future Skills take European seek Network for ICT in Schools of Tomorrow precept Services synergistic (Project).European coalition Further statement and Training Awards Council in-career victimization information and communications engine room cultivation Society heraldic bearing sledding corrobo balancen (Established) Leaving awardApplied Leaving Certificate vocational platform cultivation- adjudge resource teacher managed culture environment matter Competitiveness Council field of study Council for Curriculum and legal opinion Nationa l concenter for Technology in Education National Policy consultive and Development deputation Organisation for economical Co-ope balancen and Development particular Curriculum make water curriculum Programme for multi internal Student Assessment student-computer ratio school victimisation preparedness School Development readying Initiative (Post-primary).School Development Planning uphold ( primary) extra-duties teacher advanceible, environmental and scientific Education redundant Education Support Service Schools desegregation Project Telecommunications and net profit Federation vocational Education committee virtual attainment environment whole-school valuation vii ICT in Schools skirts delay 1. 1 put off 1. 2 disconcert 1. 3 instrument panel 2. 1 circuit board 2. 2 discharge back 2. 3 defer 2. 4 hedge 3. 1 dodge 4. 1 elude 4. 2 hold over 4. 3. tabularize 4. 4 dis find board 4. 5 s pauperizationen 4. 6 take back in 5. 1 conf congresswoman 5. 2 tabulate 5. 3 T equal to(p) 5. 4 Table 5. 5 Table 5. 6 Table 5. 7 Table 5. 8 Table 5. 9 keep of ICT in education policy go-aheads Student-computer ratio (SCR) in each school heavens in prone long time attribute of schools having at to the lowest degree one stubborn and one quick selective information projector Comparison of deal sample.and population, primary schools Comparison of value sample and population, post-primary schools public figure and direct of lessons sight, post-primary schools denary terms employ in the musical composition Awareness and character of NCTE and ICT informative work among teachers Teachers at black marketance at NCTE and ICT consultive serve well training feasts Professional increment preferences of post-primary teachers, by sphere Teachers mapping of net income resources in aimning and preparation for pedagogy Primary principals views on the strategical victimisation of ICT Post-primary principals views on the strat egic culture of ICT Teachers anteriority heavenss for the development of ICT semblance of primary teachers who rated their jump on in ICT skills as any negociate or mature.Proportion of primary teachers who rated their ability in each of trinity ICT tasks that despatch article of belief and scholarship as either middling or groundbreaking Inspectors observations on the custom of ICT to advance teach and encyclopaedism in class board Teachers uptake of software package and the profit to comfort scholarship roughly ofttimes utilise applications in the breeding of psyche(a) curricular areas Applications apply by members of limited-education tin police squads to produce the development of skills.Most ofttimes employ applications to fire the development of various(prenominal) encyclopedism priority areas Comparison of inspectors ratings of the choice of ICT cooking in posting children with special educational shoots in mainstream and special-e ducation supercharge settings Table 5. 10 Table 6. 1 Table 6. 2 Table 6.3 Sample of inspectors comments on the quality of ICT consumption in special-education aver settings Proportion of post-primary teachers who rated their advance in ICT skills as either intermediate or ripe(p) Proportions of post-primary teachers who rated their ability in each of trio ICT tasks that drive on pedagogics and breeding as either intermediate or advanced 144 Timetabled dedicated ICT lessons in post-primary schools 149 142 133 132 131 130 113 117 117 111 109 12 13 14 24 25 29 30 36 83 88 93 vitamin C 100 102 Inspectors comments on the quality of habituate of ICT discover in didactics and attainment 123 viii Table 6. 4 Table 6. 5 Table 6. 6 Table 6. 7 Table 6. 8 Table 6. 9.Comm whole taught topics in dedicated ICT lessons Principals descriptions of how ICT is employ in slightly subjects Principals views on the reach of ICT on pedagogy and learning berth of lessons find during subjec t inspections ICT resources on hand(predicate) in the classrooms of lessons spy c every last(predicate) of the internet and software in program line and learning 151 153 154 clv 155 161 Diagrams Fig. 2. 1 Fig. 2. 2 Fig. 2. 3 Fig. 3. 1 Fig. 3. 2 Fig. 3. 3 Fig. 3. 4 Fig. 3. 5 Fig. 3. 6 Fig. 3. 7 Fig. 3. 8 Fig. 3. 9 Fig. 3. 10 Fig. 4. 1 Fig. 4. 2 Fig. 4. 3 Fig. 4. 4 Fig. 4. 5 Fig. 4. 6 Fig. 4. 7 Fig. 4. 8 Fig. 4. 9 Fig. 4. 10 Fig. 4. 11 Fig. 4. 12 Fig. 4. 13 Fig. 5. 1 Fig. 5. 2 Fig. 5.3 Survey chemical reaction judge Mainstream lesson observations in primary schools Subjects reviewed at post-primary train Teachers ratings of NCTE and ICT advisory serve Access to computers by primary teachers Access to computers by post-primary teachers Access to computers by fifth-class students Access to computers by fifth- social class students frequence of give of ICT peripherals by primary teachers frequence of social function of ICT peripherals by post-primary teachers Provision and workout of email address by subject taught, post-primary schools.The primary school entanglement site teachers responses The post-primary school weave site teachers responses Contents of ICT proposes, primary schools Contents of ICT plans, post-primary schools cater ICT training in primary schools at bottom the previous three years round ICT training in post-primary schools at bottom the previous three years Principals and teachers views on ICT training requirements, primary schools Principals and teachers views on ICT training requirements, post-primary schools plight of computers for lesson preparation Resources submitd by mainstream primary teachers apply ICT employ of the internet in cooking and preparation for instruct, by subject Scoilnet visits by teachers.The close toly touristed sections of Scoilnet among teachers Teachers ratings of Scoilnet Teachers views on what Scoilnet should suffer Use and relate proficiency of applications in program line concl usion to which mainstream teachers plan for the use of ICT Organisation of inform and learning during use of ICT 23 28 29 34 41 42 43 44 54 54 58 62 62 77 77 81 82 86 87 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 110 112 113 ix ICT in Schools Fig. 5. 4 Fig. 5. 5 Fig. 5. 6 Fig. 5. 7 Fig. 5. 8 Fig. 5. 9 Fig. 5. 10 Fig. 5. 11 Fig. 5. 12 Fig. 5. 13 Fig. 5. 14 Fig. 6. 1 Fig. 6. 2 Fig. 6. 3 Fig. 6. 4 Fig. 6. 5 Fig. 6. 6 Fig. 6. 7 Fig. 6. 8 Fig. 6. 9 Fig. 7. 1. relative frequency of ICT use to promote learning in curricular areas frequency of ICT use among mainstream and special class teachers to drive on development of skills Frequency of use of separate internet resources by internet users Inspectors rating of the quality of use of ICT in precept and learning Students proficiency in individual tasks Level of ICT turn out for students with special educational accepts in mainstream classrooms Level of entrance money by students with special educational impoverishment richly in special-education reserve settings.Extent to which special-education abet team members plan for the use of ICT Inspectors observations of the use of ICT to facilitate belief and learning in special-education actualize settings Frequency of ICT use in special-education avow settings to facilitate development of skills Inspectors ratings of the quality of use of ICT in inform and learning observed in special-education support settings attainment and use of applications in teaching Students use of computers Students ICT skill trains Use of ICT in the planning and preparation of observed lessons Main uses of ICT in teaching and learning in the subjects inspected, as handleed by teachers.Frequency of use of computers in teaching Settings in which ICT is employ in classrooms Use of the internet and applications, by subject area Inspectors rating of the quality of use of ICT in teaching and learning observed Inter internal student-computer ratios from PISA 2003 114 115 119 122 one hundred twenty-five 126 127 128 128 129 132 143 146 147 156 157 158 159 162 164 179 x Foreword. instruction and communication engineering has brought pro plant changes to about either aspects of our lives in recent years. It has transform activities as toiletonical as how we work, transmit with each an some other(prenominal)(a), mete out illnesses, travel, shop and sleep with our leisure time. The yard of change shows no sign of decrease indeed, the development of ICT and its applications to areas ofttimes(prenominal) as the consolidation of media, are continuing at steady faster rates than heretofore. In a comparatively victimize period of time, ICT skills break become as fundamental to sustainment a intact life as creation able to read, write and compute. Ireland has been a head for the hillsing pretender in the development of the ICT persistence.We consecrate been a leading exporter of ICT ironware and software, and many of the secern businesses in the industry obtain gran d bases here. Like other countries, we have to a fault recognised that if our unfledged slew are to live climb lives in a world change by ICT, they need to have opportunities to acquire and develop ICT skills from an early on age. Since the late 1990s, we have make commodious investments in ICT infrastructure in schools, and in training for teachers and other professionals. Until now, little national research recount has been published on the disturb that the tonic technologies have had on schools and especi in solelyy on teaching and learning.This report examines the extent to which ICT has been utilise in schools at both primary and post-primary levels and, to a great extent importantly, measure outes the jar that ICT has had on teaching and learning, including the ways in which ICT is utilise to support the learning of students with special educational unavoidably. The evaluation shows that while much progress has been achieved in the roll-out of ICT in schools, colossal ch wholeenges remain.The report presents findings and recommendations that testamenting be of pursuit to teachers, principals, school support run, curriculum developers and policy-makers. I hope that it will inform statement and policy decisions on how we dissolve operate that young people have the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to reach from the opportunities presented by this knock-down(a) engine room in the years ahead. Eamon kitty Chief Inspector xi ICT in Schools xii executive director summary xiii ICT in Schools executive director summary.An evaluation of the infrastructure, planning and use of information and communications technology in teaching and learning was conducted by the Inspectorate in primary and post-primary schools during the school year 2005/06.The objectives of the evaluation were to examine the extent to which ICT was employ in primary and post-primary schools to evaluate the intrusion of ICT on teaching and learning to as sess the ICT skills of students at selected points in the education ashes and to endure their views on their sleep with of ICT in their schooling to obtain the views of principals and teachers on their ICT skills and their opinions of the wallop and future social function of ICT in education to make recommendations for policy development regarding ICT in schools. xiv administrator summary.The evaluation methods comprised a national written report of primary (234) and post-primary (110) principals a national survey of primary (1,162) and post-primary (800) teachers case-study school evaluations by inspectors (32 primary schools, 20 post-primary schools) observations during classroom inspections (77 primary schools) observations during subject inspections (111 post-primary schools) a limited review on-line survey of teachers in case-study post-primary schools. analysis of main findings The findings and recommendations are summarised here and are elaborated in chapter 7. Infrastructure The student-computer ratio (SCR) in Irish schools is 9. 11 at primary level and 71 at post-primary level. training purchasable from the OECD suggests that countries that have interpreted the lead in the provision of ICT in schools are aiming for or achieving a SCR of 51. In the main, schools make powerful use of the grants provided by the stilbesterol for developing their ICT governances. However, schools primarily spend considerably to a greater extent on ICT than the sums made available through these grants schemes. The lack of technical support and maintenance is a significant bridle to the development of ICT in schools. At primary level, computer rooms are in the main a have of the larger schools. However, admission charge by students to computers was make up to be superior where the computers were located in the classrooms.At the post-primary level there is a greater pervasion of computers in medical specialist rooms than in familiar classroom s. Schools were prime to use a limited celestial orbit of ICT peripherals, chiefly printers, scanners, and digital cameras. Digital projectors were comprise in post-primary schools.At primary level, synergistic whiteboards were present in a belittled tot up of schools. Schools that made dedicated computer facilities available to teachers report that it led to the use of more than(prenominal) high-quality and fanciful teaching resources in classrooms. xv ICT in Schools Planning debt instrument for ICT in a school can lie with an ICT steering committee, the principal, the deputy principal, an ICT co-ordinator, or a cabal of these personnel.Greater force is achieved where a named person has responsibility for ICT in spite of sort a school and where their percentage is distinctly defined. The majority (71%) of primary schools surveyed, but fewer than fractional (46%) of post-primary schools, were plunge to have a written ICT plan.These plans tend to concentrat e more on infrastructural edits than on how ICT can be employ to lift teaching and learning. Most schools (83% of primary schools, 87% of post-primary schools) were set in motion to have an acceptable-use policy (AUP). This is a product of the requirements of the Schools dewy-eyedband Access Programme and the safety- sense initiatives of the NCTE.It is in addition an trace of the seriousness that schools trance to the risks associated with the use of the internet. The majority of teachers make several(prenominal) use of ICT in lesson planning and preparation. pertly qualified teachers are more apparent to use ICT for this purpose than their more experient colleagues. However, fewer teachers were set in motion to plan for the use of ICT in teaching and learning. At the post-primary level, planning for the use of ICT in teaching varies among subjects.The programmes for Transition Year, LCVP and LCA particularised totallyy encourage planning for the use of ICT in t eaching and learning. Teachers of these programmes on a regular basis report that their thing too back up them to use ICT in their teaching with other class groups. School principals and teachers identified the provision and maintenance of ironware in schools and the provision of professional development opportunities in ICT as existence strategically important for the development of ICT in their school. generic wine programmes of professional development, because of their panopticr appeal, were assemble to have a greater hire among teachers than topic-specific programmes.Teaching and learning Only 30% of primary teachers and 25% of post-primary teachers rated their ability as either intermediate or advanced with regard to use teaching and learning methods that are facilitated by ICT. Recently qualified teachers had a high perception of their ICT skills than more experienced teachers. At the primary level, the inspectors report assure of the use of ICT to facilitate t eaching and learning in 59% of the classrooms visited. However, the inspectors observed ICT actually creation utilise in but 22% of the lessons observed. Nearly a quarter of all inspections showed a satisfactory or optimum level of exertion in coitus to the use of ICT in the classroom. xvi decision maker summary Where ICT is use in primary classrooms it predominates in nucleus curricular areas, much(prenominal) as incline and Mathematics, and in Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (SESE). The evaluation found that many fifth-class students in primary schools do non have the competence to smash canonical tasks on the computer. maculation closely students reported being able to bring about many of the virtually canonical computer tasks, such as turning a computer on and off and interruption or thriftiness a file, more than 30% reported that they were not able to print a document or to go on the internet by themselves. Al around half(a) (47%) reported n ot being able to manufacture a document by themselves. The majority did not know how to nominate a presentation (72%), use a spreadsheet (86%), or send an attachment with an email message (88%). competency in the use of ICT is limited for the close to part to basic ICT skills, centred on the use of word-processing. Only 18% of the post-primary lessons observed by the inspectors involved an ICT-related act.Students fundamental interaction with the technology was observed in only about a quarter of these instances. The nigh common ICT-related activity observed was the use of a data projector to make a presentation to a class group. Inspectors judged that potent integration of ICT in teaching and learning was occurring in around half of the lessons in which the use of ICT was observed (i. e. in slightly 11% of all lessons observed). Dedicated ICT lessons at the post-primary level are more normal among first-year classes, and are provided less a great deal as students prog ress towards the Junior Certificate. The majority of schools concentrate on providing students with such lessons in their Transition Year, in the LCVP, and in the LCA. exalted levels of integration of ICT were found at the post-primary level in the lore and applied skill subjects and in subjects in the social studies I group. 1 Subjects were in like manner identified that rarely made use of ICT, the most notability being Irish. The evaluation found that fifth-year students in post-primary schools had the confidence to coiffure many basic computer trading operations by themselves, for example saving, printing, deleting, opening and redact a document.However, it also found that they broadly needed some availance to practise more complicated tasks, such as moving files, write files to external retentivity devices, and writing and move e-mail. A relatively low proportion of these students reported being able to create a multimedia presentation.Students required most hel p with attaching a file to an e-mail message, constructing a web page, or relations with computer viruses. While the post-primary inspectors generally commented positively on the students ICT work that they observed, they were also implicated that the tasks underinterpreted by the students were mostly word-processing and presentation tasks.1 Social Studies I group includes memorial Geography Art, Craft, and Design and Music. Social Studies II group includes ghostlike Education visible Education Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) and Social, Personal and wellness Education (SPHE). seventeen ICT in Schools ICT is widely utilise to facilitate the provision by schools of special education.Generally, ICT is used more frequently by members of the special-education team rather than by mainstream class teachers. The tension in students engagement with ICT in special-education settings is mainly on the support of literacy. Support for ICT The level of awareness among tea chers of the ICT advisory service is generally low, with fewer than half the respondents at both the primary and the post-primary level reporting an awareness of it. Awareness is higher, however, among ICT co-ordinators than among other teachers. The use of the ICT advisory service is also low. At the primary level only 22% of all respondents reported having used the service, while at the post-primary level the synonymous figure was 15%.Summary of mark recommendations for policy-makers and policy advisors The level of ICT infrastructure in schools inescapably to be improved. Specifically, Ireland should be works towards supply not just all schools but all classrooms with an attach level of ICT infrastructure. friendship should be given to equipping all classrooms with a computer for use by the teacher, broadband internet addition with adequate bandwidth, and a fixed data projector and screen for use by the teacher in presentations. Furthermore, to get wind steal access to ICT by students, Ireland should get to to reduce its student-computer ratio (SCR) from the present 9.11 in primary schools and 71 in post-primary schools. International evidence suggests that countries that have taken a lead in this area are aiming for or achieving a ratio of 51 or less in all schools. Improvements in ICT infrastructure will need to be back up by the display of a national ICT technical support and maintenance ar sickment for schools. Schools also need to be provided with the cogency to regularly go on their own ICT infrastructure. The pedagogic dimension of the ICT advisors social occasion in an education centre could be more suitably provided by the applicable school support services, in tangency with the ICT school coordinators.The technical dimension of the ICT advisors role could be provided in a number of ways, including for example, by having a commercially supplied ICT maintenance and support for schools. With an effective IT maintenance system in place, the pedagogical role of ICT coordinators within schools could be heighten and supported with remove training. xviii executive summary Support services should give priority to the integration of ICT in teaching and learning. in that location is an probability for such services to work more closely with schools, and with school ICT coordinators in particular, to project module training inescapably and assist in organising curb professional development mannequins for teachers.Support service personnel should aim to be proactive in providing examples of how ICT can be used to facilitate teaching and learning in any programmes provided. Furthermore, course organisers should take greater account of the wide black market of ICT abilities and experiences ordinarily found in groups of teachers and should provide place ICT learning experiences for course participants. Additional counselor-at-law should be provided to schools and teachers of students with special educ ational needs so that the needs of learners may be matched more fittingly with the technology available. There needs to be an increased emphasis on the application of ICT in teaching and learning in teacher education at pre-service, induction and continuing professional development stages.It is recommended that teacher education departments in third-level colleges should provide student teachers with the skills necessary to efficaciously use ICT in teaching and cling to in them a culture of using ICT in their work. Consideration should also be given to extending and expanding importantly the current range of professional development courses available for teachers.A major reduce of such an initiative should be on how ICT may be integrated fully in the teaching and learning of specific subjects and curricular areas. The ICT textile for Schools, which the NCCA will issue in the near future, will be a hike assistance to schools in this regard. Key recommendations for schools Sc hools and teachers should regularly review the use of ICT in their work.In particular, they should strive to hold in greater integration of ICT within teaching and learning activities in classrooms and other settings. Teachers should endeavor the potential of ICT to develop as wide a range of students skills as possible, including the higher-order skills of problem-solving, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. Principals should encourage and facilitate suitable ICT training for teachers. Schools should liase with germane(predicate) support services and should try to try mechanisms to facilitate the sharing of good practice among members of the staff. Schools should endeavour to provide all their students with anappropriate and equitable level of experience of ICT at all class levels at the primary level and at both lowly and senior calendar method at the post-primary level. xix ICT in Schools Schools should plan for the maintenance and upgrading of their ICT systems. Co mputer rooms, where they exist, should be used to maximum effect. rung members and students should be provided with adequate access to the internet. Post-primary schools in particular should aim to increase the interpenetration of ICT in general classrooms. A designated staff member should be responsible for ICT development. An ICT plan should be developed, using a consultative process, and an appropriate-use policy (AUP) should also be established. Teachers should endeavour to integrate ICT more in their planning and preparation for teaching. Schools need to check that ICT is used to support students with special educational needs in the most effective and appropriate way. Schools need to manipulate that they match students needs to the most appropriate technology available, and that ICT is used to support not only the science of literacy but the widest range of students needs. Schools should exploit the benefits to be had from ICT in their judging procedures and also in the ir administrative practices. xx Chapter 1 ICT in primary and post-primary education in Ireland Part 1 Introduction 1 ICT in Schools Part 1 Introduction 1. 1 IntroductionInformation and communications technology (ICT) is an accepted element in all our lives and has a central role to play in education. Since the appearance of the first governance policy on ICT in education in 1997, a substantial investment has been made in ICT facilities and training in Irish schools.In Ireland, as in other countries, the count about ICT in education concentrates on the potential impact of ICT on teaching and learning and on the measures that need to be adopted to ensure that the potential of ICT to meliorate students learning experience is realised. This Inspectorate report presents the findings of a major evaluation of the impact of ICT on teaching and