With our experience of working with staff in schools and by providing professionals with senior experience of specific and cross-curricular ITC, the task of staff training can be flexible and the results relevant and productive.
Training is carried out through an approved provider according to Government directives.
Education Authorities and Schools are invited to contact us to discuss specific needs or the development of planned intentions.
Our services are available to schools where the exploration of existing resources is required in order to clarify development plans. This may involve an analysis of hard/software, networks, Intranet and Internet connectivity, staff, subject areas, timetabling and rooms.
A review of training and ITC curriculum content can be arranged using our experienced Ofsted Inspectors.
Information of Relevance
Assessment of a teacher's ITC competence is the subject of the TTA's document, Annex B.
What are the likely criteria? Click here to go to Annex B Reduced content version
There are companies and consortia which have successfully bid to provide training under the lottery funded teacher and library scheme. List of approved Providers are available from the New Opportunities Fund Site, www.nof.org.uk
Limited choice of Local Providers for most areas.
£230 million (£460.00 per teacher) from 1999-2002, to train all teachers of all subjects at all levels. Schools will have to match the amount.
Schools will be asked to provide a strategic plan for professional needs and development of teaching and library staff.
Funds given in "tokens" to take up training with the recognized companies.
A CD-ROM produced by ICT is to be made available for staff to identify their training needs. The list of skills and knowledge required is likely to be based on the "15 pages of the current ICT skills in the Initial Teacher Training National curriculum". See "Answers" link above.
Copies of the CD-ROM and answers to related technical problems can be obtained by ringing 0845 606 0323 or by E-mail request at publications@ttalit.co.uk
1
INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY IN SUBJECT TEACHING
INTRODUCTION
This curriculum is different from those for primary and secondary English, mathematics and science because it does not relate to a particular subject. It is concerned with the ways in which Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can be used effectively in the teaching of other subjects in the pupils’ National Curriculum.
ICT is more than just another teaching tool. Its potential for improving the quality and standards of pupils’ education is significant. Equally, its potential is considerable for supporting teachers, both in their everyday classroom role, for example by reducing the time occupied by the administration associated with it, and in their continuing training and development. It covers the wide range of ICT now available, e.g. computers, the Internet, CD-ROM and other software, television and radio, video, cameras and other equipment. While it is recognised that many teachers will also be responsible for developing pupils’ IT capability using ICT, that is not the focus of this document.
With the introduction of the National Grid for learning, it becomes even more important for
newly qualified teachers (NQTs) to be confident and competent in using ICT effectively in their
teaching. The ITT curriculum will also form the basis of the Lottery-funded training for serving
teachers in the use of ICT.
The curriculum is in two sections.
Section A EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS
This section sets out the teaching and assessment methods which, as part of all courses, all trainees must be taught and be able to use. This curriculum focuses on teaching and assessment methods which have a particular relevance to the use of ICT in subject teaching. Trainees must be given opportunities to practise, in taught sessions and in the classroom, those methods and skills described in this section.
Section B. TRAINEES’ KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF, AND COMPETENCE WITH, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The relevance of different aspects of the specified content will depend on the subjects and ages of the pupils being taught, and providers should pay particular attention to those aspects which are most relevant in each case. The TTA will provide, separately, more detailed subject-specific exemplification which can be used in conjunction with this document.
12. Trainees must demonstrate that they are competent in those areas of ICT which support pedagogy in every subject, including that they:
a. can employ common ICT tools for their own and pupils’ benefit, e.g. word processing, e-mail,
presentation software, data handling and can use a range of ICT resources, at the level of general
users (rather than as network or system managers), including:
i. the common user interfaces, using menus, selecting and swapping between applications, cutting, pasting and copying files, and cutting copying and pasting data within and between applications;
ii. successfully connecting and setting up ICT equipment, including input devices, e.g. a mouse, touch screen, overlay keyboard, microphone and output devices e.g. printers, e.g. connecting a printer to a computer with the correct driver; connecting an overlay keyboard, screens and loudspeakers;
iii. loading and running software;
iv. file management;
v. seeking and using operating information, including from on-line help facilities and user guides;
vi. coping with everyday problems and undertaking simple, routine maintenance, with due consideration to health and safety;
vii. understanding the importance of passwords and the general security of equipment and access to it and ensuring that it works;
b. know and understand the characteristics of information, including:
i. that information must be evaluated in terms of its accuracy, validity, reliability, plausibility, bias;
ii. that information takes up memory and that there are implications when saving and compressing files;
iii. that information has to be stored somewhere;
iv. that ICT systems can present static information or changing information;
v. that information can be directly and dynamically linked between applications;
vi. that applications and information can be shared with other people at remote locations.
13 Trainees must demonstrate in relation to the subject and age(s) of pupils to be taught that they:
a. know how to use ICT to find things out, including, as appropriate for the subjects and the age of
pupils to be taught:
i. identifying sources of information and discriminating between them;
ii. planning and putting together a search strategy, including framing useful questions, widening and narrowing down searches;
iii. how to search for information, including using key words and strings and logical operators such as AND, OR and NOT, indexes and directories;
iv. collecting and structuring data and storing it for later retrieval, interpretation and correction;
v. interpreting what is retrieved;
vi. considering validity, reliability and reasonableness of outcomes;
b. know how to use ICT to try things out, make things happen and understand how they happen as
appropriate for the subject(s) and the age of pupils to be taught:
i. exploring alternatives;
ii. modelling relationships;
iii. considering cause and effect;
iv. predicting patterns and rules recognising patterns, and hypothesising;
v. knowing how to give instructions;
vi. sequencing actions;
vii. defining conditions e.g. "if this happens, do that..";
viii. understanding how feedback works and the difference between things that do and do not rely on feedback;
c. know how to use ICT to communicate and exchange ideas as appropriate to the subject(s) and the
age of pupils to be taught:
i. presenting ideas, including: identification of audience and purpose; deciding the best means with which to communicate;
ii. exchanging ideas, including identifying the most appropriate medium, and information.
14 Trainees must demonstrate that they know those features of ICT which can be used, separately or together, to support teaching and learning in subjects, including:
a. speed and automatic functions - Back to Top of page
The function of ICT which enables routine tasks to be completed and repeated quickly, allowing the user to concentrate on thinking and on tasks such as analysing and looking for patterns within data, asking questions and looking for answers, and explaining and presenting results, as appropriate to the subject(s) and age of pupils being taught, including how ICT can be used to:
i. measure events at long or short time intervals in order to compress or expand events which would normally take very short or long periods of time, and illustrate them to pupils at speeds appropriate to their pace of learning;
ii. measure and record events which might otherwise be impossible to gather within a classroom environment;
iii. explore sequences of actions and link the sensing of events with the control of actions;
b. capacity and range - the function of ICT, as appropriate to the subject(s) and age of pupils to be taught, to access and to handle large amounts of information; change timescales, or remove barriers of distance; give teachers and pupils access to and control over situations which would normally be outside their everyday experience, including:
i. the range of forms in which ICT can present information;
ii. the range of possible appropriate ICT sources, including local sources such as CD-ROM, and remote databases such as the Internet and the National Grid for Learning;
iii. how to judge the accuracy of the information and the credibility of its source;
iv. how ICT can be used to gain access to expertise outside the classroom, the school and the local community through communications with experts;
c. provisionality - the function of ICT which allows changes to be made easily and enables alternatives to be explored readily, and as appropriate to the subject(s) and age of pupils to be taught:
i. how to make best use of the ability to make rapid changes, including how to create text, designs and models which may be explored and improved in the light of evaluation;
ii. how to judge when and when not to encourage exploration and change using ICT;
iii. how saving work at different stages enables a record to be kept of the development of ideas;
d. interactivity - the function of ICT which enables rapid and dynamic feedback and response, as appropriate to the subject(s) and age of pupils to be taught, including how to determine the most appropriate media to use.
15 Trainees must demonstrate that they are aware of the potential of ICT to enable them to prepare and present their teaching more effectively, taking account of:
a. the intended audience, including matching and adapting work to subject matter and objectives, pupils’ prior attainment, reading ability or special educational needs; recognising the efficiency with which such adaptations can be made using ICT;
b. the most appropriate forms of presentation to meet teaching objectives,
16. Trainees must demonstrate that they:
a. know and understand the ICT requirements of the pupils’ National Curriculum in relation to the phase(s) and subject(s) to be taught;
b. are familiar with the standards as set out in the pupils’ National Curriculum for IT, relevant to the phase for which they are training to teach, and know the level of IT capability they should expect of pupils when applying ICT in the subject(s).
17. Trainees must demonstrate that they know how each of the following is relevant to the specialist subject and phase for which they are training:
a. generic procedures and tools, including
i. understanding the key features and functions used within the subject;
ii. using ICT to prepare material for pupil use;
b. reference resources, including;
i. how to search reference resources;
ii. how to incorporate the use of reference resources into teaching;
c. the ICT specific to the subject; e.g. graphics packages and scanners in art; computer-aided design
(CAD) software and computer-controlled equipment in Design and Technology; sequencing software
and midi keyboards in music; dynamic geometry software in mathematics;
d. the major teaching programs or "courseware" to ensure that material is matched to the pupils’
competences;
i. where content and activities are presented in sequence to teach specific topics;
ii. where teaching activities are combined with assessment tasks and tests.
18. Trainees must demonstrate that they are aware of:
a. the current health and safety legislation relating to the use of computers, and can identify potential
hazards and minimise risks;
b. legal considerations including those related to:
i. keeping personal information on computers, as set out in the Data Protection Act;
ii. copyright legislation relating to text, images and sounds and that relating to copying software;
iii. material which is illegal in this country;
c. ethical issues including:
i. access to illegal and/or unsuitable material through the Internet;
ii. acknowledging sources;
iii. data confidentiality;
iv. the ways in which users of information sources can be (and are) monitored;
v. material which may be socially or morally unacceptable.
19. Trainees must demonstrate that they know how to use ICT to improve their own professional efficiency and to reduce administrative and bureaucratic burdens, including:
a. using ICT to aid administration, record-keeping, reporting and transfer of information;
b. knowing about current classroom-focused research and inspection evidence about the application of
ICT to teaching their specialist subject(s), and where it can be found;
c. knowing how to use ICT to join in professional discussions and to locate and access teaching plans,
material and other sources of help and support, including through the National Grid for Learning;
d. knowing how ICT can support them in their continuing professional development.