ICT Policy
Current ICT policy seeks to build on the progress that has been made over the past nine years in integrating ICT into every school in the country. From a situation in which ICT often seemed remote to the education mainstream, it is now seen as a central and integral part of the way forward.
ICT In Schools Programme
The ICT in Schools Programme commenced in 1998, following the publication of the three year programme IT 2000 - A Policy Framework for the New Millennium by the Department of Education and Science in November 1997.
This was followed from 2001 – 2003 with the Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Education Programme.
The Schools Internet Access Scheme ran in parallel to these two initiatives while Computer Networking Grants were paid in 2004.
Between 1998 and 2004, the Department invested some EUR157m under the Programme, comprising EUR108m in capital investment and EUR49m in current investment.
The core objectives of the ICT in Schools Programme are to ensure that
- all pupils have the opportunity to achieve computer literacy and to equip themselves for participation in the information society and
- teachers are supported to develop and renew their professional skills, so as to enable them to utilise ICTs as part of the learning environment.
The Schools IT 2000 project aimed to ensure that every pupil at primary and second level education had the opportunity to achieve computer and Internet literacy and be equipped for full participation in the information society. It had three main strategies for achieving its objectives:
- Development of a technology infrastructure: through the provision of multimedia computers and Internet access to schools
- Development of a skills infrastructure: through the provision of training to over 20,000 teachers in the use of ICT
- Development of a support infrastructure: providing advice and guidance to schools, supporting ICT-led innovation in teaching and learning, provision of curricular resources and information through the development of Scoilnet and the development of multimedia tools
Building on this success in policy implementation terms, the Department published “Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Irish Education– a three-year strategic action plan 2001 – 2003 (December 2000) which set out a three year strategic action plan for ICT in schools. While recognising some new areas and necessary shifts in emphases the core policy objectives and implementation priorities remained the same in both policies.
In broad terms, the Plan sought to advance the use of ICT in education by:
- Expanding the ICT capital provision to schools
- Increasing access to, and use of Internet technologies
- Further integrating ICT into the school curricula
- Improving professional development for teachers
In more specific terms, the objectives and strategies of the Plan were:
- augmenting the ICT capital provision to schools; with EUR78.72m capital grant aid for primary and second-level schools
- A significant lowering of the Computer/Pupil ratio
- expanding access to, and use of Internet technologies;
- Priority for special needs students
- EUR29.2m for support services including teacher training
- Locally based teacher training and the further development of the teaching skills to fully integrate ICT into learning and teaching
- A development of wiring-networking infrastructure in all schools and the introduction of broadband access to the Internet.
- The facilitation of Software/Multimedia Resources development for use in schools
- The development of ICT school plans to meet individual school needs
- The development of education Web resources primarily through Scoilnet
- A new scheme of innovative ICT projects
- Collaboration with other European countries
- Partnership with the social partners, industry and with the broader community
- Feedback from schools to determine future priorities
- A total investment of EUR107.92m was allocated under this Plan for the period 2001-2003.
Schools ICT Support Service
The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) was established in 1998 as the lead implementation agency for the Schools ICT Programme.
The NCTE was charged with overall responsibility for the national implementation of ICT policy including the provision of a range of school supports for ICT in primary and post primary schools and the direction of a regional ICT advisory service.
The NCTE was set up under a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department and Dublin City University (DCU) and is located on the DCU campus.
Since its establishment, the NCTE’s workplan has focused on the key operational responsibilities deriving from IT 2000 - A Policy Framework for the New Millennium and the Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Irish Education of the Department of Education and Science.
Over the past nine years the NCTE has implemented strategies to provide a national programme of teacher professional development in the use of ICT in collaboration with the Teacher Education Centres and other partners; worked with a regional network of ICT advisors to support ICT integration in local schools; supported all schools in relation to ICT planning and infrastructural development; championed school-based innovation in the use of ICT; developed Scoilnet and made digital resources available for teaching and learning; implemented initiatives to integrate ICT in special needs; provided ICT advice to the DES and jointly developed internet safety awareness campaigns with EC colleagues. To demonstrate and assess progress, the NCTE has carried out three national surveys of ICT in schools. The findings of these surveys show that consistent and very significant progress has been made over the past nine years.
A national census of levels of ICT infrastructure and usage in schools was carried out in 2005 by the NCTE. This new census provided an opportunity for Principals, to inform the NCTE as to what their current priorities and needs are in relation to the ICT infrastructure in their school and to inform NCTE about the ICT supports and services required going forward. The findings provide the most accurate and up to date information on the status of ICT in Irish schools and will inform future policy.
In the meantime, the NCTE is continuing to operationalise the DES ICT policy priorities. The strategy of the NCTE will be revised in line with the evolving ICT in Education strategy of the Department of Education & Science.
| |||||||||||||||
RSS Feed
