Portfolio Task 3

The ambiguous embrace: twenty years of IT (ICT) in UK primary schools. (Robertson, 2002)

In the 1980’s education was seen to be introducing ICT into primary schools with links to children’s pending economic success. Two decades later reports showed that the use of ICT in primary schools was extremely limited. It would have been difficult at this time to have really grasped the importance that ICT would have today and will have in another two decades. Perhaps if there were the realisation of the success and economic importance that ICT has proved to have, maybe it would have had a more significant role in education at this early stage.

During the 1980’s an estimated £490 million was spent on IT hardware in schools. By the mid 90’s the equipment had aged considerably and so limiting advances, otherwise possible. A major downfall of our ever-increasing ICT repertoire is how quickly it becomes outdated.

Over the two decades the potential of where ICT could take education, the enhanced experience through interactivity and so the enrichment to education was slowly being recognised. In saying this though, there was evidence that proved that schools were failing to exploit this potential. Possibly practitioners were unaware of the extent of this potential and focused more time on core subjects, that over centuries have continuously proved to support children’s pending economic success. As a new skill to children and practitioners alike the subject knowledge and experience required for successful teaching was lacking with no clear expert (between the teacher and children) to lead the way.

The paper sings the praises of ICT and openly questions the continued lack of practitioner support for it. It focuses on the initial introduction of ICT into schools and compares it to where we are now and how it features in the potential future economic success of those children passing through the education system today. It reinforces the continued argument that ICT needs to be firmly embedded in the practitioners repertoire and so it can be taught as it’s own entity as well as an aid to further education in other areas of the curriculum.

Does ICT contribute to powerful learning environments in primary education? (Smeets 2005)

Education should be creative and allow children to learn using a variety of learning styles and skills that are transferable between their lessons, school and home life. A strong case is made for the support of ICT in order to achieve this. ICT can help to make education real and relevant providing authentic learning situations, and ICT will promote a range of positive behaviours such as higher order thinking and co-operative learning, linking to significant research in education by Vygotsky. I agree, however it suggests that the above can only be achieved with ICT, which isn’t the case. I feel that the skills gained in ICT lessons can be effectively linked with other subjects, allowing children to see the link between transferring skills by being shown how ICT fits into every aspect of their lives. Can some of the benefits of ICT not be obtained in another way, and so to increase variety in teaching and learning?

The continued argument of the teacher’s skill is raised, as a practitioner’s experience and confidence is directly linked to their teaching. If children are seen to be more expert than their teachers then there is no one to extend their learning and help them progress and develop.

The physical locality of computers greatly impacts on teaching, ideally every classroom would have a computer available for each child, which could be used at any time, computer suites are often shared between many classes, limiting the time available to each class.

The research suggests that slowly ICT is raising its profile and that more practitioners are incorporating ICT into their lessons. A drawback is the limited experience of practitioners as new resources are continually available. Schools should carefully choose which equipment to invest in and then have all practitioners fully trained, allowing them to quickly solve problems with the equipment.

Perhaps at this point in time ICT does not contribute to powerful learning environments in primary education; at least not to it’s potential. But the introduction of ICT has been a steep learning curve and it could be that too much was expected too soon. Majority of schools now have IWB’s, computers in the classroom and access to a computer suite and access to picture, video camera’s and microphones, to aid learning styles and abilities. If we re-address this in a decade’s time perhaps we will be where we thought we would be today.



The two articles addressed above complement each other in their struggle to raise the awareness; that ICT is not being used to it’s potential in our primary schools today. I think they are better suited if they combined their efforts. Robertson provides a background to ICT and the journey and struggles over the past two decades to get practitioners to realise the potential and get computers in schools. Although I believe no one could have truly predicted the way in which ICT has expanded and grown in that time. It comments on the lack of true inclusion for ICT, but recognises the initial struggles of cost and outdated equipment and lack of practitioner experience and confidence. So as Robertson has addressed how we have gotten here, Smeets focuses on the here and now. How is ICT actually being used, what does it support (e.g. co-operative learning, differentiation and higher order thinking) and exactly how this is being implemented in our classrooms with our children today, with reference to availability, locality and teacher interpretation. In reading both together it highlights inconsistencies within the education system, reminding us that it needs to be continually addressed and revised to keep up with technological advances and particularly looking at the requirements for children’s future economic success and the skills they will require.

There seems to be much focus on schools being behind the times and that ICT is still not being integrated enough, but as Robertson and Smeets both highlight difficulties that ICT has had in schools are we in a place to criticise? As Smeets research indicates, the schools in this study are all at similar levels. This could be partly due to the generation of the majority of current teachers being ICT immigrants. Possibly over the next decade as more ICT natives move into schools we could see a rise in standards of ICT in our primary schools, as what practitioners don’t know they can’t teach.

(Image from google images: http://www.calmet.com/ict/images/ICT-Logo2.gif)