Ofsted published a report on the use of ICT in schools 2008-2011
Key findings
The overall effectiveness of
ICT was good or outstanding in over two thirds of the primary schools visited.
In contrast, just over a third of the secondary schools visited were considered
good or outstanding for the overall effectiveness of ICT. Many of the
weaknesses seen in the secondary school sample, including weak use of
assessment and the degree of challenge posed by the Key Stage 4 vocational
curriculum, echo findings similar to those of Ofsted’s previous ICT report.
Pupils’ achievement in ICT was
good or outstanding in over half of the primary schools visited over the three
years of the survey. Achievement was good or outstanding in 29 of the 74 secondary
schools visited, and was inadequate in almost a fifth. Achievement in the
secondary schools was adversely affected by the lack of effective challenge for
higher-attaining students and poor coverage of key aspects of the ICT
curriculum, especially at Key Stage 4.
Teaching of ICT was good or
outstanding in nearly two thirds of the primary schools visited. Teachers and
teaching assistants were increasingly confident in their own use of ICT and
able to support pupils more effectively. Weaknesses remained, however, in the
teaching of more demanding aspects of ICT such as control and data handling. In
just under half of the secondary schools visited, teaching and learning were
good or outstanding.
The use of assessment was a
considerable weakness in both the primary and secondary schools visited. Pupils’
use of ICT in other subjects was only occasionally tracked or recorded. For
those students in Key Stage 4 who were not receiving specialist ICT teaching
there was no systematic record of their learning in ICT and no means for
teachers or pupils to know whether they had gaps in their knowledge.
The ICT curriculum and
qualification routes provided by nearly half of the secondary schools surveyed
were not meeting the needs of all students, especially at Key Stage 4. In these
schools a single vocational examination course was taken by all students,
limiting challenge to the more able, or ICT was offered as an option to some
students with others not receiving the full National Curriculum. As a result, in
30 of the 74 schools visited nearly half of the students reach the age of 16
without a sound foundation for further study or training in ICT and related
subjects.
Very few examples were seen of
secondary schools engaging with local IT businesses to bring the subject alive
for their students. This was a particular issue for girls, many of whom need a
fuller understanding of ICT-related career and education options to inform
their subject choices at 14 and 16 years of age.
Leadership and management of
ICT were good or outstanding in over two thirds of the primary schools. In
these schools leaders had a clear and comprehensive understanding of the
contribution of ICT to the school’s wider development and improvement. In
outstanding secondary schools ICT was seen by the headteacher as an engine for
innovation and raising standards. In contrast, half of the secondary schools
surveyed in which leadership and management of ICT were no better than
satisfactory had common weaknesses that included insufficient attention given
to progress in ICT across the curriculum and lack of support for staff in
teaching more challenging topics.
In the majority of primary
schools there were regular audits of staff’s professional development needs.
The approach was less systematic in secondary schools, where inspectors saw very
few examples of any evaluation of the impact of training on the effectiveness
of teaching or on pupils’ learning.
Commissioning and procuring the
right equipment, infrastructure and software were becoming more challenging for
the schools visited as their vision for ICT developed. Schools surveyed were
engaging pupils, staff, governors and parents in helping to specify needs, but
only a few had evaluated the effectiveness of previous investment or developed
costed plans for rolling future investment.
Most of the schools either had
a virtual learning environment in full use or were in the process of installing
one. Where schools were making regular use of a virtual learning environment,
they had been able to enhance and enrich many aspects of school life, including
the quality of learning resources, communications with parents, and assessment
and tracking processes.
All the schools visited ensured
that pupils were well informed about the safe use of the internet and were able
to use it in a responsible and safe way in school. However, the need for
continued vigilance was emphasised by the fact that in discussions with
inspectors, pupils frequently raised the issue of the under-age use of social
networking sites. Staff training and support for parents need to remain a high
priority for schools.
Full Report can be found here
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