a. Awareness and understanding
Overview of this strand
This strand concerns the level of awareness and understanding by all staff, including senior managers, of the opportunities for extending learning with ICT beyond the school. Although not all schools are able to provide a full range of extended opportunities for learning, they are expected in some way to extend their provision beyond the traditional concept of the school, perhaps in partnership with local schools, the community and other organisations. The agenda is a broad one, and goes beyond issues related to ICT. However, ICT is a key element in the successful delivery of extended opportunities for learning which is why it is included in the ICT Self-review framework. All schools should be aware of the issues even if delivery is currently at an early stage of development.
Further sources of advice
If your school is linking this review to the Every Child Matters and Extended Services agendas you might find these links useful.
ECM Extended Schools
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/extendedschools/|Teachernet - Extended Schools]
http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/childcare/extendedschools/|Extended Schools, Surestart]
It will be for individual schools to decide how to make effective use of ICT as part of their strategy for delivering these policies.
Whenever schools are considering how to extend opportunities for learning though the use of ICT beyond the school, issues of equity are bound to arise. There is a digital divide which represents the difference between those who have easy access to ICT and are competent in its use and those who have little or no personal access to ICT. This represents a significant equal opportunities issue when schools encourage pupils to make use of ICT at home or in other places beyond the school.
Equity issues
The e-Learning Foundation publishes a definition of the digital divide:
“The Digital Divide is a sub-set of the social divide that exists in this country and is well documented.
The Digital Divide describes the gap in learning opportunities and support between schoolchildren who have access to a working computer and the ability to go online at home and those that lack these resources. Government surveys show that the gap is greatest in low income families and, linked to this, children of single parent families, and children in inner city and isolated rural areas.
The impact of the gap increases when a school develops a greater reliance on students being able to access the school network, the managed learning environment and Internet-based learning resources from home, but takes no action to ensure equity of home access.
Schools that address the Digital Divide deploy a range of schemes to ensure pupils have access to both hardware and connectivity at home and, where appropriate, elsewhere in the community, and proactively extend that access to the wider family.”
Further information about ICT equity issues can be found at:
Equity Campaign
1. Understanding
Staff should be committed to extending learning opportunities through the effective use of ICT and see this as a key element in raising standards. Effective communications should ensure that staff understand and support innovative solutions.
Questions schools should ask
- What proportion of staff in the school understand how ICT can support the wider school aim of extending learning opportunities beyond the school?
- Do staff understand that extending the reach of the school and improving the range of learning opportunities can be key elements in raising standards?
- How well do staff understand that ICT is a significant enabler in this respect?
- To what extent are staff aware of the principal issues and expectations relating to extending learning opportunities with ICT?
2. Pupils and families
The school keep pupil and family access to ICT under regular review. Pupil and family needs should be recognised and the school aware of opportunities to provide alternative access to ICT.
Questions schools should ask
- Does the school undertake regular research to provide reliable information on pupil access and use of ICT beyond the school?
- Does the school understand that effective access to ICT goes beyond answering the simple question “Does the pupil have a computer in their home?” and includes issues relating to the attitude of parents/carers to pupils’ work at home, parent/carer involvement in their child’s learning, and the provision of suitable facilities for working beyond the school?
- How does the school use information about out-of-school access to ICT when planning learning?
- To what extent do staff understand the equity issues surrounding ICT, including specific issues relevant to their local context?
3. The community
The school should be an active partner in responding to the community’s ICT needs. The school’s curriculum should take into account the contributions offered by the community to support pupils’ learning about and with ICT.
Questions schools should ask
- Does the school understand how the community can make a contribution to learning with, and about, ICT?
- Does the curriculum take into account the contribution the community can make to extending opportunities for learning with ICT?
- To what extent do staff understand the benefits of working with the community as a key resource in providing a range of extended learning opportunities with ICT?
- Have partnerships been established to secure benefits for both the school, and the community in relation to ICT?
- Has the school assessed the community’s ICT needs and considered how it might respond to these?
4. Partner organisations
The school should commit to extending learning through effective ICT partnerships with other organisations. Potential complementary partnerships should be actively explored.
Questions schools should ask
- Does the school understand how other external organisations can make a contribution to learning with ICT?
- Does the school understand the benefits of working with other external organisations as a key resource for extending learning with ICT beyond the school?
- To what extent have complementary ICT partnerships been established to secure benefits for both the school and other external organisations?
b. Planning and implementation
Overview of this strand
This strand is concerned with the way in which the school plans and delivers effective use of ICT to support its policy on extending opportunities for learning. It is closely related to the previous strand and is concerned with turning policy and understanding into practice. Note that in this Framework, the title of this element is 'Extending opportunities for learning' – the acid test for success will be whether the school’s policies in this area, and its use of ICT as part of the strategy, really has extended opportunities for learning for pupils.
Typical Evidence
- School improvement plan
- The school’s policy for ICT, particularly as it relates to supporting other whole-school initiatives
- The school’s policy for extending learning and the management arrangements for this
- Policies and guidelines within individual subject/curriculum areas which identify how teachers should respond to work undertaken outside school
- The school’s approach to equity issues and the arrangements made to ensure that no pupils are limited by their lack of access to ICT at home
- Evidence from families about how learning at home has been enhanced by the school’s approach
- Evidence of involvement with community groups and other external organisations
- Evidence of evaluation processes and their use for planning at whole-school, and subject/departmental levels
- Governors’ meeting minutes
- Discussions with pupils, parents/carers, community groups and partners
- Equipment loan schemes/polices
1. Leadership for extending learning
There should be a well planned whole-school approach to extending opportunities for learning with ICT with clear delegation of responsibility and accountability. Governors are actively involved in these activities.
Questions schools should ask
- Who has been given the responsibility for promoting and leading the vision on extending learning?
- How well planned and co-ordinated are the school’s actions?
- Is there a genuine whole-school approach or just actions by committed individuals?
- How are governors, pupils and parents/carers involved?
- How integral to the school’s planning for ICT is the concept of extending opportunities for learning?
2. Pupils
Systematic and equitable arrangements should be in place to enable pupils’ learning with ICT beyond the school. When planning, teachers should systematically build opportunities for pupils to extend their learning with ICT beyond the school.
Questions schools should ask
- How effectively do teachers plan opportunities for pupils to use ICT beyond the school to extend their learning?
- How positively do teachers respond when pupils submit ICT work undertaken outside school?
- What arrangements are in place to ensure all pupils can learn with ICT beyond the school?
- Is work undertaken outside school integrated effectively with school-based work?
- How does the school respond to new and emerging opportunities for learning with ICT beyond the school?
3. Families
The school should use ICT to promote a range of learning opportunities for pupils which engages their families in the learning process. Parents should have controlled access to some school and pupil data. Systematic information about how families can support pupils’ learning at home should be available.
Questions schools should ask
- How effective is the school in engaging families in pupils’ learning?
- To what extent are the school’s ICT facilities available for use by families?
- What information is made available to families about learning?
- Is information about pupils’ progress and achievements available to families electronically?
- How does the school know whether parental/carer and family engagement in learning is increased through the use of ICT?
4. The community
The school’s ICT-based learning resources should be available for appropriate use by the community. The school should use ICT to publicise and promote community information and engagement.
Questions schools should ask
- What arrangements are in place to enable the community to make use of the school’s ICT facilities?
- Is the school’s communication and engagement with the community enhanced though ICT?
- To what extend does learning in the school benefit from relevant input by the community?
- How is the community involved in developing and adapting ICT learning resources?
5. Partner organisations
The school should work with partner organisations on ICT-related activities which enhance pupils’ learning experiences and bring identified benefits to both partners.
Questions schools should ask
- How are partnerships with other organisations outside the school beginning to extend learning opportunities for pupils?
- Is the relationship with partners two-way – do the partners benefit from the relationship as well as the school?
- How does the school identify benefits for learning as a result of working in partnership with other organisations?
6. Evaluation
The school should systematically monitor and evaluate learning taking place beyond the school and its impact on a range of pupil outcomes. Feedback should be used to help with future planning.
Questions schools should ask
- How does the school monitor and evaluate the impact of extended learning with ICT?
- How effective is the school in understanding how learning has been extended through activities with ICT beyond the school?
- How is this information used to inform future planning and developments?
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