initial teacher education and technology in action

Initial Teacher Education &

Technology in Action

Miles BerryUniversity of Roehampton

Vocation

Profession

Professional

Vocational

Vocation Vocational

ProfessionalProfession

Apprenticeship

“I guess it basically means having the attitude that there’s always a better/smarter/faster way to do what you just did and what you’re currently doing. Apprenticeship is the state/process of evolving and looking for better ways and finding people, companies and situations that force you to learn those better/smarter/faster ways.”

Marten Gustafson in Apprenticeship Patterns, Hoover and Oshineye, 2009

QTS standards Q16 Have passed the

professional skills tests in numeracy, literacy and information and communications technology (ICT).

Q17 Know how to use skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT to support their teaching and wider professional activities.

Q23 Design opportunities for learners to develop their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.

Q25a Use a range of teaching strategies and resources, including e-learning...

You make appropriate use of a range of applied technology to support your teaching.

ICT Skills TestThe IT test, by contrast, was introduced at a time of great concern about teachers’ basic IT skills: today new teachers tend to have strong IT skills and the vast majority pass the IT test easily… We will drop the IT test, which is no longer needed.

Subject knowledgeSome of the teachers in the survey were able to use ICT effectively to enhance their teaching, but lacked the skills and knowledge to use it to improve pupils’ learning. Deficiencies in teachers’ subject knowledge and expertise in teaching ICT were most apparent at Key Stage 2 where more technically challenging applications such as control and using spreadsheets are required. Some teaching and support staff, therefore, still lacked the necessary expertise and confidence to be fully effective.

Ofsted (2009), The Importance of ICT

Teaching Digital NativesMarc Prensky, 2010

They do not want to be lectured to. 

They want to be respected, to be trusted, and to have their opinions valued and count. 

They want to follow their own interests and passions. 

They want to create, using the tools of their time. 

They want to work with their peers on group work and projects (and prevent slackers from getting a free ride). 

They want to make decisions and share control. 

They want to connect with their peers to express and share their opinions, in class and around the world. 

They want to cooperate and compete with each other. 

They want an education that is not just relevant, but real.

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

ICT Education Skills Audit 2010(Roehampton University Intake)

PostgraduateUndergraduate (Y1)

Learning Styles

Images River Beach, Beppie K, Hans and Adwriter

Learning together

“The ideal situation would have you in a small team of fellow apprentices, journeymen, and a master”

Apprenticeship Patterns, Hoover and Oshineye, 2009

On placement 1"The school I was placed in had great ideas for ICT but these were not always put into practice. The impression I got from the teachers were they were planning activities to tick the boxes for the ICT co-ordinator but didn't really understand what was required and were confused by what the ICT co-ordinator wanted...  A lot of them also struggled with working Word... which was quite surprising. I also noticed that a lot of the children would type something up and then say they were finished and promptly delete it. When I asked why they'd deleted it they said they didn't think they'd need it."

On placement 2“My teacher made it very clear that she did not see the point of [the RBC’s VLE] and asked how it would improve children's learning. When I questioned her on the strategy for the school on how they were implementing [it], it was clear that there was no overall strategy. They did not even share the resources and external links between year groups! I sat in on a training course that was purely about the functionality, no discussion was had on how you could really use it as a learning tool. Such a shame that so much money is spent without a clear strategic view on learning.”

On placement 3“It is pleasing that after three lessons in Scratch, with extracurricular work by some of the children who caught the Scratch bug, the class finally seemed to really get it.... Their enthusiasm and excitement when building scripts for the bouncing ball, and then the bat, in the Pong lesson, was palpable, and some got carried away, trying to achieve things for which they were perhaps not ready, while others focused on the aesthetics, turning the ball into a bouncing starfish and the stage into an undersea aquarium, with some clever uses of new stage and importing graphics. I did not teach them to do this. They figured it out by themselves.”

For more details…

m.berry@roehampton.ac.uk

milesberry.net

@mberry