a. The planned ICT curriculum
Overview of this strand
This strand is concerned with the delivery of the planned ICT curriculum. This may be taught as a discrete subject, taught in the context of other subjects, or a mixture of both. This Framework does not recommend a particular approach (although where ICT is taught as a discrete subject there is an assumption that ICT capability will be applied subsequently in a variety of contexts across the curriculum) but is intended to enable schools to come to a judgement about whether an appropriate ICT curriculum is delivered to meet the national curriculum statutory requirements and to provide pupils with sufficient expertise to enable them to make effective use of ICT in other areas of the curriculum. There is an emphasis on effective planning and on consistent practices within the school which encourage pupils to demonstrate what they can do with ICT and apply their ICT capability in a wide range of learning experiences.
Typical evidence:
- The school’s ICT policy, schemes of work and programmes of study
- Individual subject or departmental schemes of work and/or ICT policy
- Pupils’ portfolios of work showing application of ICT in a variety of contexts
- Evidence from teachers about the range of use of ICT in their teaching and their expectations of pupils
- Evidence from school appraisal processes and monitoring of learning and teaching
- Comparisons of subject demands or expectations of ICT and skill levels of pupils
- School policy on external accreditation
- Formal and informal pupil interviews
- Accreditation targets and records
1. The development of pupils’ ICT capability
Questions schools should ask
- Is the ICT curriculum well planned and does it meet statutory requirements?
- To what extent do cross curriculum opportunities for pupils to use ICT contribute positively to the development of their ICT capability?
- Is there evidence of curriculum planning which distinguishes between pupils of varying abilities, aptitudes and interest in ICT?
- Is the curriculum well managed and coherent (particularly when a large number of teachers are involved in its delivery)?
- Does the curriculum provide a wide range of challenging and relevant experiences for pupils?
- Are there sufficient opportunities for pupils to be creative with ICT?
NAACE advice on implementing ICT
2. Application of ICT capability across the curriculum
Questions schools should ask
- How does the school make effective arrangements for pupils’ ICT capability to be applied in a variety of contexts across the curriculum?
- How effective is this cross-curriculum planning?
- Are there opportunities across the curriculum not only to apply existing ICT skills and knowledge but to develop new ones?
- Is there a wide range of ICT experiences available, or is the use of ICT limited to just a few basic applications?
(adapted from NAACE advice) Systematic planning should identify opportunities for pupils to apply, consolidate and extend their ICT capability across all subjects, making use of a range of technologies.
It is a requirement that ICT is used in all subjects. Ofsted inspectors will comment in the subject paragraphs that they write about whether these requirements are being met in subjects. Knowing what the statutory targets are is the first step towards improvement.
Many schools wishing to comply with these requirements will make the understanding, planning and delivery of these requirements part of the expectation of the role of the Head of Subject or ICT coordinator. This is not sustainable. The ICT self review framework ensures that ICT is a whole school issue, and not reliant on being championed by an individual member of staff. ICT Coordinators are well placed to offer support and guidance with this area of ICT development, but should not be 'lone artesans'.
Working with and supporting colleagues (adapted from NAACE advice)
One of the key characteristics of a good ICT coordinator or subject leaders is the ability to motivate colleagues. Whether in a primary or secondary school they will have the opportunity to work across the whole curriculum. As the notes on planning indicate, delivering an ICT entitlement to all pupils is complex. It can be achieved in a much wider variety of ways than for most subjects yet requires a strong input from many people.
The need for an ICT Coordinator or subject leader to work with and support other teachers is an important part of the role. Many staff have little experience of using ICT in their work and limited technical skill. Good interpersonal skills and a supportive, solutions-orientated approach will be key qualities of the successful ICT Coordinator.
- Working with teacher colleagues will cover a range of needs……
- Helping them plan ICT lessons and sometimes simply providing lesson plans
- Helping colleagues from other subjects incorporate ICT in their lesson plans and schemes of work
- Ensuring that these lessons are part of a coherent scheme of work for ICT which they understand and can internalise
- Ensuring they can access and deliver the ICT elements of lessons by providing support and training
- Chairing ICT user groups - such as representatives from departments or year groups - such groups will plan and ensure the delivery of ICT based activities
- Ensuring appropriate resources are available for all ICT activities - both by managing resources, managing access to resources (e.g. booking systems for ICT rooms) and by ensuring no activates are timetabled which cannot be resourced
- Working with school senior managers to manage and help deliver in-service opportunities
- Acting as an effective interface between senior managers and staff with regard to ICT
As well as teachers ICT coordinators will need to work with other colleagues. These include teaching assistants and technicians.
Working with teaching assistants (TA's) has many of the same support requirements as working with teachers. In addition, there are a number of different roles for LSAs which could require additional input. For example, they could be supporting pupils with particular special needs.
Increasingly TA's are being trained to become specialist supporters of ICT, including becoming competent in technical support roles previously the domain of the technician or ICT coordinator.
Working with technicians also requires many of the same skills as working with teachers. In addition there are a number of other areas:
- Managing their workload and work schedule
- Monitoring their work and ensuring they are fully occupied and their work is of high quality
- Negotiating and writing job descriptions
- Ensure they can support teachers by ensuring all the resources are available and working in their lessons
- Helping them identify areas where they need to work proactively - for example identifying future lesson resource requirements
3. The use of ICT to support learning and teaching
Questions schools should ask
- To what extent does subject planning identify where ICT can support learning and teaching?
- How consistent is this planning across the school?
- Do pupils expect to use ICT to support their learning in all subjects, or just in those where the teacher happens to be interested in ICT?
- Is the use of ICT embedded in curriculum schemes of work?
- What proportion of staff follow the recommendations in the school’s planned curriculum about the use of ICT?
- What is the quality of ICT experiences for pupils when they use ICT to support their learning and how well has this been planned?
- In what way is the curriculum flexible in order to allow for innovative use of ICT?
Curriculum planning should identify key areas where ICT can support teaching and learning, with staff using these plans in all subjects.
4. Matching capability to opportunities
Questions schools should ask
- Do teachers across the curriculum have a good awareness of the ICT capability needed by pupils to make effective use of ICT to support their learning in the subject?
- How well matched are subject expectations of ICT capability and the ICT capability that pupils bring to lessons?
- What evidence is there to show that ICT teachers, and others, have planned the ICT curriculum with knowledge of appropriate applications in other subjects which will help pupils to consolidate and progress?
The skills needed for pupils to access the wider curriculum with ICT should be mapped and developed to ensure that pupils can use ICT applications progressively across the curriculum.
5. Accreditation / recognition (where applicable)
The school should actively encourage and enable pupils to gain appropriate accreditation or recognition for their ICT capability.
Questions schools should ask
- Does the school have ways of celebrating pupils’ achievements with ICT?
- Where relevant (usually at secondary school level) does the school provide opportunities for pupils to gain appropriate accreditation for their ICT capability?
- Where opportunities are provided, is this left to the interest of the individual pupils, or is there a clear school expectation about ICT accreditation and are choices matched to pupil capability and interest?
- To what extent does ICT accreditation impact on learning across the curriculum?
b. Pupils’ actual ICT experiences
Overview of this strand
This strand is concerned with what pupils actually experience in their classrooms as opposed to the previous strand which is mainly about what is planned for them – the two may not be the same! The strand helps schools make judgements about the range and quality of pupils’ experiences.
Typical evidence:
- Evidence from teachers about their use of ICT in curriculum delivery
- Subject or departmental planning and delivery records
- Pupil assessment records
- Portfolios of pupils’ work
- Formal or informal discussions with pupils about their classroom experience with ICT
- Lesson observations and monitoring records
1. Breadth of development for ICT capability
Pupils should have positive and appropriate experiences in a wide range of ICT applications.
Questions schools should ask
- What is the range of ICT applications experienced by pupils?
- How does the school know the range of ICT applications experienced by pupils?
- Are the separate elements of knowledge, skills and understanding appropriately emphasised?
2. Breadth of other ICT experiences
There should always be a balance between the use of ICT to support and enhance teaching and pupils’ productive use of ICT for their own learning.
Questions schools should ask
- In what ways do teachers make effective use of ICT to support their teaching?
- To what extent do pupils use ICT appropriately to support their learning?
- What is the balance between the use of ICT to support teaching and pupils’ use of ICT in their learning and is the balance appropriate?
- Are the school’s curriculum plans for ICT applied consistently across all subjects?
- What opportunities do pupils have to be innovative in their use of ICT?
- Are pupils developing independence with ICT?
- Are pupils developing creativity with ICT?
- What opportunities do pupils have to support their learning with ICT beyond the school?
- How do you know about the wider opportunities the pupils experience in ICT?
3. Consistency of experiences
Pupils should have access to experiences that allow them to develop and use their ICT capability in a way that is consistently matched to their needs and ability.
Questions schools should ask
- What proportion of pupils have consistent ICT experiences to help them develop their ICT capability?
- To what extent are pupils’ experiences with ICT well-matched to their interests and abilities?
- Do pupils have opportunities to use ICT to support their learning in all curriculum areas regardless of teaching group and subject?
c. Curriculum leadership and review
Overview of this strand
This strand is concerned with the way in which the curriculum is led, developed and reviewed. The curriculum is rarely static and, in the context of ICT in particular, it must adapt and respond to increased resourcing, new technologies and applications as they are developed. Professional practice is constantly changing too, as teachers understand more about how ICT can support learning and teaching. Strong and effective curriculum leadership ensures that review and development take account of these changes.
Typical evidence
- The school’s policy for curriculum review
- The ICT policy
- Schemes of work
- Evidence of curriculum change over time as the school takes account of new technologies or new resources
- Evidence from staff about attitudes to curriculum change
- Evidence of changing pupil activities with ICT
- Evidence of curriculum review activities
- Minutes of governors' meetings
- Monitoring of learning and teaching
1. Curriculum Leadership
Subject leaders should routinely update their curriculum in the light of developments in technology and practice and ensure that staff keep abreast of these.
Questions schools should ask
- Who is responsible for ICT leadership at curriculum level?
- How effective is the ICT leadership in individual subject areas or departments?
- How is the ICT curriculum kept up to date as changes in technology are identified, or as new applications of ICT emerge?
- How are staff kept up to date with changes in the technology and new opportunities for applications in their subject area?
2. Curriculum development
Staff should foster and embrace the curriculum developments that the creative use of ICT enables.
Questions schools should ask
- Is there a culture of curriculum development which responds to changes in technology?
- Do staff embrace changes as they are identified?
- Is the school creative and innovative in the way in which it responds to technological change?
3. Review of the curriculum
There should be ongoing and systematic review of pupils’ ICT experiences covering both ICT capability and ICT use in other subjects.
Questions schools should ask
- Is the ICT curriculum reviewed and kept up to date, both within ICT as a taught subject, and across the curriculum?
- How are these reviews planned for and undertaken?
- Are pupils’ experiences with ICT kept under review and checked against what the technology will allow them to achieve?
- In what ways does curriculum review influence curriculum planning and design?
Related Resources
Secondary ICT
Curriculum Online
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