ICT in Schools: Effect of government initiatives

Implementation in Primary Schools and Effect on

Literacy
June 2002

HMI 712

E-publication

Report from the Office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools

© Crown copyright 2002

Office for Standards in Education

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Contents

Implementation in Primary Schools and the Effect on Literacy _____________ 4

Teaching and learning _________________________________________________________ 4
Pupils’ achievement ___________________________________________________________ 6
Implementation in schools_______________________________________________________ 7
Management _________________________________________________________________ 7
Staff development _____________________________________________________________ 8
Accommodation and resources __________________________________________________ 8
ICT in Schools: Effect of government initiatives

Implementation in Primary Schools and the Effect on Literacy

1. This report focuses on the effect of information and communication technology

(ICT) on literacy in primary schools. It is based on evidence from primary school
visits made as part of the inspection of government ICT initiatives between May and
December 2001. This contributed to the main report, ICT in Schools: Effect of
government initiatives, which is available from the OFSTED Publications Centre
(07002 637833) or via the OFSTED web site (www.ofsted.gov.uk).

Teaching and learning

2. The use of ICT in primary schools is increasing and becoming a much more
regular and effective feature of teaching and learning. The effect of NGfL in bringing
about this change is considerable. As a result of funding provided by the National
Grid for Learning (NGfL), together with funding from a range of other sources such
as parents’ fundraising, the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB), Education Action
Zone (EAZ) and school budgets, many schools have significantly increased the level
of their of up-to-date ICT resources.

3. The use of ICT specifically to support the national literacy strategy is

increasing, albeit slowly. In the most effective practice, teachers are using whole-
class activities, with or without the use of ICT, as a forerunner to tasks that require
pupils to work in pairs or individually at computers. Many teachers are finding it
easier to use ICT during a literacy hour or daily mathematics lesson when a projector
and screen is available for whole-class instruction. Typically, the whole-class
activities – shared reading or writing, word-level work, or oral and mental maths –
are followed by pupils using computers in pairs or individually. Teachers end the
lesson with a plenary to recap and extend the work done in the lesson. In the best
examples, the literacy or numeracy focus is clear and the use of ICT is well chosen
to match the objectives of the lesson. For example:
In a Year 1 literacy hour the teacher used a prepared presentation in the ICT suite to enable
pupils to practice phonics with a focus on initial sounds and CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant)
words. The pupils then worked independently at computers to consolidate their learning. The
lesson was directly linked to the National Literacy Strategy. The activities challenged pupils
well, both in terms of increasing their literacy knowledge and understanding, and by reinforcing
their ICT skills.

4. Teachers are becoming much more confident in using a wider range of ICT
resources to improve pupils’ writing. In some of the most common and effective
literacy activities, teachers use carefully chosen texts to demonstrate the importance
of improving sentences from simple to complex or compound by adding adjectives
and clauses, for instance. While editing text is quite common, generating new text is
less so despite its importance in whole-class shared writing, a significant component
of the National Literacy Strategy.

5. Increasingly, this whole-class teaching approach is helped by the availability of

good data projectors. For example, a Year 4 literacy lesson in the ICT suite featured
teaching to the whole class using a projector followed by pupils working individually
or in pairs on their own computers. The whole-class teaching reinforced pupils’
understanding of the suffixes ‘al’ and ‘ic’. The individual or paired work concentrated
on writing a newspaper article about imaginary school events:
The teacher used the projector very confidently to lead the session on suffixes. She gave pupils
questions that required them to distinguish between correct and incorrect suffixes. Pupils used
‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’ cards to indicate their choice of answer and then mini-boards to
write down answers to harder questions. This opening session made good use of the
technology to engage all pupils, quickly check their understanding of suffixes and give the
teacher time to assess the responses.
Pupils worked very well on their newspaper article. They concentrated hard on their word-
processing and were able to change the type face and font size quickly and confidently. The
pupils had a clear understanding of headings, subheadings, paragraphs and sentences. They
had taken digital photographs the previous day and the support assistant was helping them to
import the pictures into their text. This was good instruction and support by extending the
pupils’ knowledge of importing pictures from the software to importing from an external source.

6. Teachers increasingly make effective use of presentational software as an aid

to teaching, as in this Year 5 literacy lesson in which the pupils were writing diaries
with the aim of using the past tense, first person and connectives as part of a
memorable event they had experienced:
The teacher used presentational software and a projector to reinforce appropriate sentence
composition. A piece of text was shared by all to enable pupils to identify the tenses of verbs
and connectives in the sentences. The use of ICT enabled words to be highlighted and
underlined to emphasise the teaching points.
The layout of the ICT suite enabled pupils to quickly turn to their computers and practise similar
pieces of text to the one used by the teacher. The pupils chose their own style of highlighting
and underlining and they proceeded with the task confidently. A lot of learning took place during
this part of the lesson with pupils discussing past tenses with one another and the teacher
making a note of pupils who were less confident.
The teacher proceeded to lead a shared writing session. The teacher typed in text while pupils
offered suggestions and pointed out errors. Some particularly good demonstrations by the
teacher showed pupils how to italicise particular words, how to use the spellchecker, and how
to select a font and size of lettering. The discussion included the use of different words and
punctuation in line with the context in order to improve the writing.

7. There is, however, an imbalance in the use of ICT resources across the core
curriculum. Apart from designated ICT lessons, usually in computer suites, the
application of ICT is more common for literacy-based activities than for numeracy.
Although mathematics quite often features in ICT work on graphs, data analysis or
spreadsheets, this is not directly linked to specific mathematics objectives.

8. Teachers are more comfortable teaching ICT skills to pupils and using literacy
and numeracy work to practise and improve these skills rather than applying ICT
skills to meet literacy or numeracy objectives. This distinction is quite often reflected
by primary school timetables that give more emphasis to the development of ICT
skills than application. Many schools use a systematic approach, often based on the
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority scheme of work, to teach ICT skills,
knowledge and understanding. However, teachers are much less clear when and
when not to use ICT to support other subjects of the curriculum. Where teachers
have good subject knowledge, and there is clear subject leadership and guidance,
they are more able to decide on the appropriate use of ICT to enhance pupils’
learning in literacy. Nevertheless, the application of ICT across the curriculum
remains an uncertain area for many schools.

9. There are exceptions to this broad picture, such as those schools that timetable
computer suites for literacy hours and daily mathematics lessons. Also, some
schools regularly use integrated learning systems (ILS) systematically to study,
practise and test pupils’ literacy skills. For example, in one school:
All classes were timetabled for two lessons in the ICT suite each week, one lesson for ICT skills
and the other for application of those skills in other subjects. The regular use of ILS software in
one of these weekly lessons enabled teachers to match the software to specific literacy and
numeracy objectives covered in classroom lessons, and then extend pupils’ understanding
through good practice examples and test questions.

Pupils’ achievement

10. While there is strong evidence of pupils’ ICT skills improving across the primary
years, the effect of these skills on their literacy achievement remains much less
clear. At best, schools are making good use of resources to raise significantly pupils’
achievements in ICT by giving appropriate attention to developing and applying their
knowledge, skills and understanding. The gap between the best and the weakest
provision, however, is widening with too many schools still having difficulty managing
ICT resources, not benefiting from NOF-funded training and, as a result, struggling to
increase pupils’ ICT capability let alone apply such skills across the curriculum.

11. Where pupils’ achievement is good, this can be attributed to their gaining
confidence in using a mouse to control the cursor on the screen, for example to draw
pictures or type their names, at an early age in primary school. They use software to
gain familiarity with words, numbers and pictures and to be able to match one to the
other. At Key Stage 1, pupils are having increasing opportunities to use spelling
programs or undertake computer-based phonics exercises to practise and improve
their writing. Towards the end of the key stage, pupils are able to cut and paste text
and manipulate sentences to improve their writing composition. In one school, pupils
gained a good awareness of writing for an audience by e-mailing their stories to
pupils in a nearby school for completion. In another school, Year 2 pupils were
finding information about an author using a range of resources. The pupils had
researched authors in two previous lessons:
The pupils had contacted one author directly and she had provided them with resources and
posters. E-mail contact with another author had been established via a commercial web site.
The class looked at one of the works by an author and were taught how to log onto the web
sites of two other authors. The pupils then worked in three ability groups with the teacher and a
well-briefed teaching assistant. In the plenary, the pupils talked about the differences,
similarities, strengths and weaknesses of e-mail and written mail. The whole class shared the
e-mails sent by one group and the written records of another. The pupils’ response was
excellent. They showed a high level of independence and navigated the technology without
teacher assistance.

12. In Key Stage 2, pupils are experiencing a widening range of opportunities with
Internet use and multimedia activities, for instance, becoming more established in
many schools. In the best examples, pupils use search engines selectively to find
text and pictures to develop and incorporate into their own documents. Pupils at Key
Stage 2, and sometimes those at the end of Key Stage 1, are using an increased
range of applications compared with previous years. It is becoming increasingly
common for Key Stage 2 pupils to use ICT for displays and presentations. For
example, in one primary school, Year 6 pupils gave an effective presentation of a
story to Year 1 pupils using text, sounds and pictures. In another school, Year 6
pupils used desktop-publishing software to make folding brochures about their
school and included their own digital photographs. Key Stage 2 pupils increasingly
use computers for display and presentations and such use is particularly effective
when used alongside ICT resources such as digital cameras, projectors and
interactive whiteboards.
A Year 6 class in a middle school were developing materials for the school web site, based on
a recent geography field trip. Pupils worked in groups of four and displayed impressive levels of
confidence in using the software. Pupils combined various forms of information from different
sources, including the Internet. They included clips from their video diaries made on the trip as
well as digital photographs, and used commercial software to link features on a map of the area
visited to their text. They understood the need for structure and how different parts of their work
would be linked together. At the end of the lesson, ten minutes were set aside for a plenary to
allow each group to report on their progress. They used a data projector to demonstrate to the
rest of the class the work they had completed and what they planned.

Implementation in schools

Management

13. Where the use of NGfL funding and NOF-funded training is effective, it is
almost exclusively due to the strong leadership of the headteacher and ICT co-
ordinator. A strong lead from the headteacher is vital and in many cases, the ICT co-
ordinator is the driving force behind improvements in the school’s ICT teaching and
learning. The following example is drawn from a school that was revisited.
Jointly, the headteacher and co-ordinator have been very effective in leading the staff forward
in ICT initiatives. The effect of their efforts is very significant. The headteacher has taken a lead
role in seeking funding. She sees ICT as a tool which will raise the standard of pupils’
achievements. The ICT co-ordinator is now a member of the senior management team, so
there is a strong lead at management level for the promotion of ICT throughout the school.
Since the first visit to the school, when most initiatives were literacy based, very good progress
has been made to develop pupils’ ICT capability, now also involving extra-curricular initiatives.
ICT is now as prominent in numeracy as in literacy and there is evidence that it is supporting
learning in most subjects of the curriculum.

14. The management of resources and timing of NOF-funded training has been an
important factor in improving teachers’ personal and professional ICT skills. The best
planning has seen schools using NGfL and other monies to increase computer
provision before embarking on training, in order to allow newly acquired expertise to
be readily applied. Teachers have valued easy access to computers at school and
increasingly at home, to practise their skills. Personal access has been crucial for
many teachers in giving them the confidence to use ICT to plan their lessons and to
look for better ways to meet literacy and numeracy objectives. However, too many
teachers either still do not have their own computer or enough time to use school
computers to practise their skills and plan for the use of ICT across the curriculum.

15. Larger schools increasingly have more than one ICT co-ordinator in recognition
of the demands of the role. Other schools recognise the need to support co-
ordinators by identifying a team of staff to manage ICT issues. The acceptance that
the co-ordination of ICT demands subject and technical expertise and the ability to
provide professional support is very important. Too many demands are placed on
some ICT co-ordinators, most of whom have a full teaching commitment and few
opportunities for monitoring the subject adequately across the school. Headteachers,
senior managers and other subject co-ordinators need to be fully involved in ICT
development across the school. Literacy co-ordinators often need to take a more
significant role in the application of ICT to enhance learning in their subjects.

Staff development

16. NOF-funded training has had discernible effect on teachers’ use of ICT in the
classroom in half of the primary schools visited. Where training has not yet started or
has failed to meet the needs of teachers, the use of ICT is usually underdeveloped.
While it is helpful that most schools follow a systematic programme to develop
pupils’ ICT skills, the lack of confidence and subject expertise still haunts too many
teachers in too many schools.

17. Primary teachers generally value the personal contact of face-to-face training.
Where NOF-funded training has been delivered to primary schools by teachers or
other LEA personnel known to them, this has often been reassuring to staff and
beneficial, not only in improving their personal skills, but also in giving them insights
into possible uses of ICT across the curriculum. Many ICT co-ordinators have
themselves taken a lead in ICT in-service training and given considerable time to
train staff in their own time. This has been greatly valued by teachers and, in many
cases, encouraged staff to be very supportive of one another as they gain greater
understanding and learn new skills.

18. In far too many schools, however, the training has disappointed teachers and
has failed to meet their needs, whatever their level of ICT expertise. A common
failing has been the lack of differentiation in the training programmes, to extend the
highly competent ICT users, while also meeting the needs of those teachers who
have limited confidence. In particular, many teachers have received too little help in
how to use ICT to teach literacy, numeracy and other subjects of the curriculum. In
half of the schools visited, training has not met the pedagogical need of teachers to
apply ICT to lessons in other subjects.

19. Where training has not yet started or has failed to meet the needs of teachers,
the use of ICT is usually underdeveloped. In schools where this is the case, teachers
are only too aware that their lack of confidence and expertise is restricting pupils’
progress in using and applying ICT. Where there is a lack of appropriate training of
and weak ICT development generally in a school, the teachers have often fallen
behind colleagues in other schools in terms of their personal and professional use of
new technologies.

Accommodation and resources

20. Many schools organise ICT hardware and software in dedicated computer
suites. Where these can be accommodated, they are proving to be successful in
improving pupils’ ICT capability by enabling dedicated time for ICT lessons. Often,
however, these lessons are not complemented by sufficient use of ICT in other
subjects. Where schools are unable to do this, the use of mini-suites or clusters of
computers is often the preferred option, otherwise computers are distributed
between classrooms. The management of this latter arrangement is difficult, though
not impossible, and it demands very organised teaching to ensure that each pupil
has worthwhile time on the computer over a given period of time. In one school, with
one computer in each classroom, all computers were moved to the hall every half
term to form a temporary computer suite for teachers to concentrate on ICT skills.

21. Some schools have purchased laptop or hand-held computers to give more
flexibility of use in different classrooms. The use of wireless links to the school
network for Internet access is growing, especially where networking costs to
classrooms separate from the main school building are too high. But this approach
also enables more flexibility in the way that ICT is used across the curriculum, for
example by locating sufficient resources in the normal classroom to support work in
other subjects.

22. In many schools the availability of good technical support has made a
significant contribution to the reliability and quality of ICT resources. Where individual
or clusters of schools have employed a technician, this has often given teachers
confidence in knowing that help is readily at hand when needed. However, the lack
of technical support or a very slow response to ICT problems has often left teachers
feeling frustrated and rather dispirited when their carefully planned lessons are
disrupted by network problems or hardware faults. Such is the importance of
effective technical support for ICT in schools, that the quality of the provision can
have a direct influence on the extent and effectiveness of ICT use across the
curriculum.