Naace Strategic Conference 2007

Clare Johnson, ICT Programme Director

This session will set the scene for the range of curriculum sessions in the Theme “Curriculum Choices, Pedagogy and Assessment” by reviewing research evidence and trends, current accountabilities and agendas, and begin to explore a definition of curriculum.

Evidence and practice will be drawn from a number of areas including QCA agendas and policy statements e.g. White Papers

Margaret Wright, Adviser for ICT, QCA

The Education and Skills white papers proposed reviews of the ICT curriculum and ICT general qualifications in schools, including GCSE and GCE A Level. In addition, two new qualifications were proposed, one for functional skills in ICT and another, the specialised diploma in ICT. These changes are due for implementation in 2008 and 2009. This session will explore the curriculum and qualifications proposals and prompt thinking about what they might mean for the learner.

Update:

Thanks to Leon for filming this session on this Learning 4 Life website (see comment)

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Credit: Leon Cych on behalf of Naace

Steve Beard, School Improvement Consultant (ICT), Shropshire CC

The session will demonstrate practical uses of Web 2.0 technologies in Shropshire Schools.

Lorna Thompson, Ex Headteacher, Ringwood Junior School and Mike Briscoe, Assistant Director – Institutional Policy and Development

The self-review framework is a very valuable tool to support school improvement.

The session will demonstrate how a large junior school has used the resources to support self evaluation and the identification of appropriate actions to move the school forward.

Lorna is an experienced headteacher who has extensive experience in the use of ICT in schools and has been part of a SLICT training team for three years.

She will be discussing how she has used this maturity model to ensure good ICT provision across the whole school.

In addition how useful it has been as a professional development tool to extend the aspiration and vision of the school governors and staff.

Jim Brant, Curriculum Adviser and Sue Walton, Project Director

This is a unique test that allows pupils to demonstrate their ICT capability by answering a range of problems.

Three years of pilot tests have been completed and many teachers and organisations have been consulted.

Based on this experience this session will explore:

What is the relationship between this new test and the national curriculum programme of study and level descriptions? How might the testing of ICT capability affect teaching in the classroom?

What can schools do to allow pupils the best possible changes of success?

Oscar Stringer, Animation for Education, Teacher and Filmmaker

Creativity can scare people, ICT can scare people (mostly grown up people) But there is a way forward ……

Creativity with ICT has huge educational potential. But where do you start? Oscar Stringer will shed light on ideas and approaches to using ICT creatively in the classroom.

Ben Walsh, History Teacher, Author and Trainer, Historical Association

History is extremely well supported in terms of electronic resources but embedding ICT into the teaching and learning of this (as with most subjects) has proved problematic. In this session we explore how using ICT in History has brought to light a surprising amount of common ground between the two subjects.

From technical skills to deeply philosophical questions about the nature of information through history. The use of ICT in History has created opportunities for learning which is exciting, powerful and even inspirational.

Notes of session:

Aim of session to achieve the impossible. Finding time to find out what other people do. ICT is one of the great literacy, with English.

Changing pedagogies

The past is not what it used to be either taking from the last session. It changed a long time ago. One of the great myths is that it is about dates. If you ask

One of the great changes is that ICT has opened up history. Professors often email back, maybe because he has a television series to plug. Not that difficult to get hold of the expert anymore.

HA running email conferences.

Also seeing an explosion of ‘people’s history. Eg. http://bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/

Getting at the history through the way it actually was  and the more subtle analysis – so much of our history is seen through a prism eg. a Victorian perspective on history. This is something that British Pathe has really opened up – http://www.britishpathe.com

There are others doing great work – The National Archive – http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk

Also see history in new forms – 3D VR environments eg. tudor Hackney – http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/tudorhackney/vrworld.asp

ICT and pedagogy in History
You can’t separate this –

The trouble with History in the curriculum is that you can still do well in history without technology. However history teachers have embraced technology

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk – some awful stuff, but a vibrant community

VLE – often imposed, without consultation is the message. It is being used well – wikis and discussion forums for keeping kids in revision mode. Online polls are used, for getting the discussion going. Forwarding new stories / web sites to student accounts.

History is …

Undoubtedly missing opportunities

Remarkable amount of common ground between History and ICT
- as subjects (what you need to know)
- as disciplines (effectively communicating what you think)

History: Methodology
Ongoing debate but basically scientific / empirical
Example of that is getting kids to look at a popular perception – not interested in whether it was right or wrong, but how right of wrong and the effects of these perceptions.

History: Pedagogy
Highly rated by OfSTED
HA/Becta events have explored much common ground between History and ICT
- NC levels – lost of synergies and common ground
- ICT Framework

History: Content

History content is Drama – it’s the human drama that sucks them in. But it also has it with an analytic bite and edge.

Interesting web 2.0 related questions
What’s the point of using podcasting if the content this boring?
Is the content equally valid?
Is wikipedia ‘the truth’?
Why is so important that kids that students ‘read’ the web.
History is a special case

Education is about the human not in the technology

Margaret Zglinski, Foundation Stage/Key Stage One ICT Consultant, Sandwell LA and Jonathan Keay, AST, Sandwell LA

Following a successful bid to the DfES for funds to support an ICT Foundation Stage Project, Sandwell LA has explored effective ways of using ICT to support the development of speaking and listening. This session aims to share practical resources an reflections from the classroom, along with the findings from the project and recent developments, as the work is continued into Key Stage One.

Tim Scratcherd, Senior Partner, The School House Partnership

Modelling is a higher order skill, with applications across the curriculum. Modelling using ICT remains under developed throughout the secondary curriculum in particular. This session will give a comprehensive overview of all five different categories of model, examine the relationship between models and modeling, and look at model building processes, through a range of practical examples.

Rachel Ager, County Adviser for ICT, Northamptonshire CC

This session will explore how we can and should value and build on the e-confidence children develop at home. This is set within the context of the Knowledge Society in which we now live. It will define the model of good practice that Northamptonshire has established which truly embeds ICT in the Foundation Stage Curriculum.

It will explore the challenges this model presents to schools as e-confident children move from the Foundation Stage through Key Stages 1, 2 and beyond