Stagnation in ICT in Irish Education

The Department of Education and Science consistently acknowledges in public the potential of ICTs to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the Irish school system. The Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin has also publicly acknowledged the wonderful work that many teachers do in using ICT for teaching and learning, when she launched the Digital Schools Initiative in February 2006.

However we have to balance these public utterances against the reality of no ICT policy or strategy in place in the DES since the Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Irish Education -Three Year Strategic Action Plan 2001-2003 expired. No funding has been given to schools to maintain, upgrade or replace outdated hardware since 2002.

Is it any wonder that Ireland is now at the bottom of league tables in the OECD Report Education at a Glance 2006? This report highlights the fact that in five countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico and the Slovak Republic, one in five students
have rare or no use of computers in their homes. It is extremely important that emphasis is placed on access to ICT within schools in these countries to counterbalance the lack of usage in homes. There is a very clear warning for Ireland in this report that without investment in technology in schools a large proportion of the population will get left behind in the knowledge society of the future. The digital divide is already there and widening, between Ireland and its partners within the EU and within the OECD; now we are in danger of allowing a digital divide to open up within the country too!

A report from Eurostat entitled ‘The Digital Divide in Europe’ ranks Ireland 24th out of 25 EU member states for use of the Web by school and college students. Irish students use the internet less than their European counterparts and their access to technology remains limited. Just 57 per cent of Irish students use the internet, compared to an EU average of 85 per cent across all 25 member states. Only Greece ranks below the Republic in the league table, with a score of 55 per cent, while Finland scored 97 per cent. The report was based on data collected by the agency in the second quarter of 2004.

Schools are being requested by the DES to develop an educational system in which ICTs play an integrated role, enhancing the quality of teaching and learning for all students and across all subject areas.But this request is being undertaken in a policy vacuum!

The NCCA articulated the following vision of ICT literacy for all students in a discussion paper Curriculum, Assessment and ICT in the Irish Context (2004). Our students will leave school as capable independent learners, able to use ICT confidently, creatively and productively, able to communicate effectively, able to work collaboratively, and to critically evaluate, manage and use information.

The discussion paper identified a set of guiding principles for teaching and learning with ICT and provided the basis for developing an ICT framework as a cross-curricular scaffold for planning and teaching with ICT.

This framework is for all students from primary to the end of the junior cycle (compulsory education). The framework outlines a comprehensive set of learning outcomes for each of the three levels. The only thing missing is any reference to what schools need in order to implement the laudable learning outcomes in the document, funding!

Clear policy and planned funding on an annual basis is required if schools are to have any chance of implementing ambitious schemes devised by NCCA or NCTE. Coupled with the question of funding would be:

• in-service training for teachers
• replacement policy for outdated equipment on
an industry standard
• provision of technical support on a regional
basis through the network of education centres
• development of indigenous software for the
Irish curriculum
• incentives for teachers to develop ICT skills
• appointment of ICT co-ordinators in a full
time capacity

The current state of ICT in the educational system should serve as a wake up call to the DES. Unless action is taken quickly, the current malaise will become terminal. The flickering embers kept awake by an increasingly disillusioned band of enthusiasts will be quenched and Ireland will continue to languish at the bottom of every league table for the foreseeable future.