‘The children we teach today are the adults who will be determining our own futures ‘tomorrow’, and it is our responsibility to enable them to make informed choices and to be in control of the technology they will use’ (Hayes, 2006, p.1).
This statement struck a chord with me as I believe that in an ever-growing society technology is becoming more and more important in every aspect of life. Every day most people will use a piece of technology within the first hour of their lives, whether it be a television, mobile telephone or computer. In the majority of careers people are expected to be able to use technology and this is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, teaching the children of the future how to use these tools and how they are made is of paramount importance. In this vision statement I will outline my vision of how ICT should be used within schools.
Curriculum:
Becoming a Foundation Stage or Key Stage 1 (KS1) teacher has given me the opportunity to learn two different curriculums and how ICT can be embedded within both. In a broad sense, ICT is specified as ‘Understanding the World: Technology’ (DFE, 2012) in the Early Years Curriculum. Although it has this section in a specific area of the curriculum, I believe ICT should be embedded within all areas of the curriculum to allow children to be able to apply their technology skills to everything. This will help them in their future lives to be able to use technology for a variety of purposes. The NAACE gives a wealth of ideas of how ICT is already embedded within all areas of the early year’s curriculum. If teachers are teaching ICT, then the children are likely to become motivated and have a sense of enjoyment, so the teachers are then also teaching ‘Dispositions and attitudes: Being excited and motivated’ (no date, line 10-11). This can be true of all areas of the early year’s curriculum as is highlighted in the NAACE document.
The National Curriculum was reviewed in 2013 and ICT changed to Computing. The reason for this was to go from a curriculum that taught ICT to one that was more rigorous and had more computational thinking and more chance to apply practical programming skills (DFE, 2013a, p.3). I believe this is very important in the teaching of this subject as it is often thought of as just teaching children how to use computers and iPads whilst forgetting that these children could be the new inventors of the future and may never have been taught how technology is made or works. ICT should be embedded within other subjects of the National Curriculum as again this will help children to adapt ICT skills to all areas of their lives. The National Curriculum outlines that ‘Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology’ (DFE, 2013b, p.178). I also think it can be linked to all subjects for example programming Beebots around a map of Great Britain (which can be seen on a previous blog post), which could be used in a Geography lesson.
Digital Literacy:
ICT can be used online or offline for many purposes. During different lessons ICT can be a tool to use to solve problems and find information. For example, if there is a question in History (or indeed any lesson), often children will turn to the internet to find out the answer to a question. From my own experience I have had a child who asked me a question and I did not know the answer. I asked him how we could find the answer and he asked if he could use the internet on the iPads. Together we sought the answer to the question and he used technology to solve his problem. Easingwood suggests that the internet can be used effectively to find information from a number of sites (2007, p.109). Therefore, ICT will be valued in my classroom as it is a means of finding out more information and exploring topics deeper. Extending on this, not only can the internet be used to find information but can be used to explore things for example virtual tours of places around the world (Easingwood, 2007, p.109).
Communicating through technology is becoming more and more important in the lives of children/adults and indeed everybody. This could be through iPads, iPhones and the internet which are all sources of communication through technology. If used effectively, I think it could be very beneficial for schools and my own practice. In one school I saw a scheme where the school was in partnership with a school in Ghana and they emailed each other regularly. The children were shown how to use email and were enabled to communicate with children from a completely different background on another continent. Activities and experiences like this help children to realise that communication through technology is a positive thing when used effectively. Easingwood suggests that communication is critical and children should not be passive recipients to ICT, they should have control over the computers and be able to learn how to use them for many purposes (2007, p.108). Therefore, in my classroom I would want to set up this type of communication for the children to ensure they know how to use technology effectively as a tool for communication. Furthermore, technology can be used as a tool for children with physical impairments (as can be seen on the previous blog post), to communicate using eye gaze or switches.
E-safety:
There are many positives to come out of an effective ICT curriculum in schools. However, the e-safety factor is often off-putting for teachers and a constant worry. To ensure that this will not become a worry of mine, I would ensure I follow all policies on e-safety that the school has in place and I would also like to encourage the schools I work in to download a tool that can stop children accessing pages that are not suitable. For example Hector the dolphin can be used to help reduce this risk. I would also teach the children in my class how to be safe on the internet and I would use the think u know website to do this available from: http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/5_7/hectorsworld/. Overall I will ensure I will keep my research up to date on e-safety to ensure my class can explore technology creatively but safely.
My Time:
During my time at university I have had chance to access a multitude of resources I can use within schools. Through my blog I have kept a log of these resources and linked them to how they can be used in practice. During the last session of university ICT I made a poster that ordered the main reasons behind why ICT is important in schools with my peers. Here is a link to our ‘Show Me’ poster with our highlighted points of importance:
I believe that it is very important to ensure minorities have access to an equal and balanced curriculum for inclusion for all. I also think ICT allows for communication amongst communities, schools and countries within a classroom as discussed earlier and also that publishing and valuing children’s work is also of paramount importance. This could be through assessment tools such as Tapestry or children showcasing their work using an online tool or iPad app such as iMovie. Therefore, I will value these things when in school to ensure I am providing this for all the children in my care.
I will ensure I always use technology within the classroom in a relevant way to enhance learning and to ensure children can adapt the use of ICT to everything that they do. I will give children time to explore and connect with technology as I realise it is not an easy thing to learn (Duffty, 2006, p.156). An Ofsted report in 2011 detailing the effectiveness of ICT within schools highlighted the need for teachers to have more professional development in ICT (DFE, 2011), and this is something that I think this course has given me: a broad knowledge of ICT and a wealth of ideas of how to use it within the classroom. Referring back to the initial quote of this vision statement, teaching of the children of tomorrow and enabling them to use ICT as well as understand it is my overall vision for my future teaching career.
Reference list:
Department for Education. (2011) Report Summary: ICT in schools 2008-11. Ofsted [online]. Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/ict-schools-2008-11 [Accessed 28th October 2014].
Department for Education. (2012) Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Foundation Years [online]. Available from: http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf [Accessed 24th October 2014].
Department for Education. (2013a) Consultation Report changing ICT to Computing in the National Curriculum. London: Crown Copyright.
Department for Education. (2013b) The 2014 Primary National Curriculum In England. No place: Shurville Publishing.
Duffty, J. (2006) Extending Knowledge in Practice: Primary ICT. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd.
Easingwood, N. (2007) ICT in the primary school. In: Moyles, J. (eds.) Beginning Teaching, Beginning Learning. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press. pp. 106-114.
Hayes, M. (2006) Introduction: Teaching For Tomorrow. In: Hayes, M. and Whitebread, D. (eds.) ICT in the Early Years. Maidenhead: Open University Press. pp.1-5.
NAACE. (no date) Where does ICT fit in at the Foundation Stage? What Early Learning Goals can ICT support? Primary NAACE [online]. Available from: http://primary.naace.co.uk/curriculum/earlyyears/foundation_ict.htm [Accessed 28th October 2014].