Let the press help solve missing link?

You are a keen teacher and you want to use ICT. You have learnt from the national training school funded by the New Opportunities Fund. You are eager to put it all into practice, especially what you have learnt about the Internet. You have seen sites where the children can exhibit their work proudly to the world. You are convinced that this will increase motivation. Only one thing is wrong - the Internet link to the school does not work. It hasn’t worked for three months. The LEA, keen to be of service, is responsible for the line and is charging the school pound;100 per month for the non-existent service.

Where next?

You don’t consider that you’re important enough to go directly to the council office so you go to the head. The head tells you that he shares your annoyance but that to make too much of a fuss at this time could imperil some negotiations going on at LEA level about building a new block. The impasse continues and the gross inefficiency goes unchallenged. If the water supply was cut off for this length of time it would be imperative to have it re-instated. This is almost as important. Distance yourself but make sure that the problem is aired properly - your local newspaper would probably be interested in featuring the problem. Most councils react to pressure from the public.

New lengths of holding pupils back She rushed home with her shiny new business studies folder in her bag. She was amazed and thrilled to see the new computer on the lounge table. Her father had said that he would buy one for her when she started the course. He had and there it was. She opened up the machine and immediately did the assignment that she had been set. Thrilled by the speed of the machine and the freedom it gave her, she tackled the next assignment too and finished it. Next day she proudly presented the beautifully printed assignments to her tutor. Why didn’t he look pleased? “You have done the work that I was going to do with the group today.” She apologised. “The best thing you can do is to write it out in longhand. I’ll get you a pen.”

Where next?

This is one of those stories that people assume is exaggerated. It happened. “Educare” in Latin means to draw out but some people can hold back. There is so much wrong here: an attempt to hold students of different abilities together; filling time rather than setting individual targets. A suggestion that the teacher looks at techniques for creating more learner autonomy would probably be resented but might bear fruit. Boud, D. (1995) Developing Student Autonomy in Learning. London: Kogan Page Caught a virus? Invest in the cureI The headteacher explained patiently that there was no point in sending him an email since his school was riddled with viruses and the Internet Service Provider (ISP) - he named a well-known company - did not protect them because the company was developing its own protection. Regretfully, therefore, the school did not allow the use of email.

Where next?

Email has altered relationships and structures within business. Chief executives take pride in answering much of their email, arguing that it keeps them in touch with the currents and undercurrents in the business. Unfortunately, that has not happened as widely in schools. Many heads still hide behind the secretaries or, in trendier schools, their PAs. Getting a response to an email sent to some secondary heads will have a slightly better success rate than sending a semaphore message. Few give the excuse that the headteacher above has given; others give the “old dog new tricks” excuse. Research has shown that the mark of a good ICT school is that it is managed by a headteacher who has embraced ICT enthusiastically. Attachments to email can cause problems, standard emails rarely do. Good anti-virus software will solve the problem, so excuses about viruses should not be allowed to curtail one of the most powerful ICT tools.

www.becta.org.ukschoolssmanagersindex.html When there is too much of a good thing Meet the ICT visionary. He makes Professor Stephen Heppell look like a Luddite. He is the agent provocateur of the ICT strategy, lobbing bombs. At every opportunity he presents ICT as the catalyst that will bring about change - the agent of revolution. The trouble is that all the moderates in the school have been frightened away by the sulphurous pronouncements. They are scared into inaction by the constantly reiterated vision of a future that will destroy their jobs, belittle their achievements and denigrate their skills. They cannot cope with: “But of course in two years there will beI” Where next?

Anyone who lives in tomorrow’s world soon loses touch with the present. There is a continuum from the Luddite to the ICT fanatic. As in politics the extremes can meet. The Luddites listening to the extremist can be confirmed in their view. The extremist can be made to feel even more righteous listening to the Luddites. If the ICT extremist is on the fringes of the staff then they can be used in some task that will absorb their energies, like writing papers on their subject in the school of the future (but don’t send them in to us!). If they have more responsibility, such as ICT co-ordinator, then the problem is more serious - their ability to put off the unconvinced is increased. They have to be set some specific and practical short-term goals.

www.dfes.gov.uka-zhome.html The purpose of this column is to encourage good practice, learning from mistakes, rather than to apportion blame. If you know of any genuine examples of bad practice, please email details to Jack Kenny at jack.kenny@who.net All material that we use will preserve anonymity.