http://hdl.handle.net/2428/4774 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:14:46 GMT 2013-05-21T19:14:46Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/218816 Title: New Opportunities Fund (NOF) ICT Professional Development in Northern Ireland: The Teacher Perspective Authors: Galanouli, Despina Abstract: This study focuses on the challenges associated with introducing teachers to teaching innovations and specifically on teachers’ professional learning in the context of the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) ICT-training in Northern Ireland. The aims of the study were twofold: to evaluate the programme from the perspective of teachers and to examine its impact on the use of ICT by teachers in the classroom at both primary and post-primary levels. The research was based on two questionnaire surveys, which were administered to a sample of 900 teachers in schools across Northern Ireland. The first survey was undertaken at the start of the NOF ICT training initiative and the second one after its completion. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the questionnaires and additional interviews were conducted with teachers and key persons. The respondents’ profile in both surveys suggested that it was broadly representative of the groupings in the teaching community in terms of age, gender and type of school (primary and post-primary). The results indicated statistically significant differences between the male and female groups in ICT competence and use. Less predictable but equally significant differences between other groups such as those based on length of service, age and school type, were also found in relation to competence and use of ICT. The teachers’ attitudes, positive and negative, to NOF training revealed in the free response items indicated that the main negative attitudes included the delivery and content of the training (ranking first in both surveys); the lack of relevance of the training to classroom practice; the teachers’ desire for traditional training; and the feelings of inadequacy, stress and frustration the NOF training caused for the teachers. Important differences were found between the two training programmes: Learning Line and Learning Schools Programme, on a number of these items, probably reflecting the more face-to-face nature of the former in comparison to the latter. Interviews with key persons and teachers were also conducted for triangulation purposes and to probe deeper into issues arising from the surveys. The main implications of this research regarding teachers’ ICT use include taking account of the need to raise female teachers’ levels of confidence in their use of ICT; targeting the needs of older teachers, whose often conservative and long-established value systems may conflict with change, and exploiting the commitment of primary teachers to the importance of ICT in teaching in order to develop their confidence and capacity to innovate in the classroom. Regarding professional development, there is need for bottom-up initiatives, with clear strategies to highlight the various dimensions of ‘utility’ that ICT can offer teachers in classroom work. There is the need to ensure the convergence of this utility with teachers’ value systems (improving the pupil experience, outcomes etc) early in the initiatives and to ensure that there are clear mechanisms for support between colleagues. Providing or enabling tailored practical activities that translate directly to the classroom contexts of the teachers, and involving teachers during the planning, design and implementation stages of any professional development initiative, are also crucial if they are to have lasting impact and lead to sustainable practice. In summary, this work offers an important contribution to policy and practice in ICT in schools and to the field of professional development in education by evaluating the recent NOF training for teachers in Northern Ireland, from the perspective of teachers. It identifies why ‘top-down’, ‘one-size-fits-all’ models of training provision are often not effective in achieving their aims. The work provides suggestions for improving the quality of such programmes, centring on the involvement of teachers at all stages, including programme design. Description: Unpublished PhD thesis Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/218816 2008-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/213891 Title: The Experiences, Attitudes and Knowledge of Post-Primary School Teachers in one Education and Library Board to Teaching Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder/Asperger Syndrome Authors: Goodall, Craig Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/213891 2010-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/12638 Title: Classroom Assistants are Under-valued and Under-utilised Authors: Doherty, Rosemary Abstract: This research project was initiated through a personal interest and involvement in training and assessing classroom assistants. With the arrival of new standards for a new breed of classroom assistant – Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) – their role is developing dramatically. In order to investigate current practice in Northern Ireland views of classroom assistants, teachers and assessors of classroom assistants were sought. Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/12638 2004-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/7149 Title: Are schools truly providing a fertile soil to develop the ‘global child’ of the ‘Sonic Generation’? A Case Study of two Northern Ireland Schools in the SELB Authors: Hamill, Maria Abstract: ICT usage is a way of life for the ‘Sonic Generation’ which enjoys great diversity of ICT tools such as the World Wide Web, mobile phones, ipods, palmtop computers, play stations, DVDs and cabled network TV – all or most of which are in every home. Today’s child is a ‘global child’ whose perception of the world is increasingly shrinking as he keeps pace with fast-moving technology. The impact of ICT and new media usage on life outside of school has led to a complete demassification of the media and has spawned a whole new kind of culture. A culture that challenges schools in developing ICT skills in their pupils and one that requires teachers to expose children to open and distance learning systems. This case study of two Northern Ireland schools in the Southern Education and Library Board tests whether schools (primary and secondary) are truly providing fertile ICT soil for the ‘global child’ of the Sonic Generation’ and measures how far schools are in advancing towards virtual learning systems. The study involved reviewing the history of ICT development in Northern Ireland from the early 1980’s to the present day’s ‘emPowering Schools in Northern Ireland Strategy’ published by The Educational Technology Strategy Management Group (ETSMG) in 2004. Coutt’s (2001) Scottish-based study outlining a framework for reflection, planning and evaluation in school development in the use of ICT in learning and teaching provided the continuum against which the schools could be measured in terms of moving from a ‘traditional’ type school towards what he calls ‘Advanced Cyberschool’ status. Coutt’s framework also allowed teacher’s views on ICT to be placed into the category of ‘instrumental’, ‘tranformational’ or ‘revolutionary’. Coutt’s study has implications for Northern Ireland schools in that it was influenced by a series of centrally-funded initiatives across the United Kingdom that included target setting, network access and training for teachers –some of which Northern Ireland schools were involved in. Data was collected from quantitative surveys carried out amongst teachers and pupils and qualitative case study data and interviews conducted with ICT leaders in both schools. The study concluded that ICT is moving forward but at a slow pace. It further concluded that 40% of all pupils never receive or only ever receive ICT in all its forms once a month, therefore, in the main, schools are not truly providing a fertile soil for the ‘Sonic Generation’. Pupils make greater use of ICT at home, which teachers do not exploit to the full by making home/school links. Both schools fall into Coutt’s ‘traditional’ model of teaching and learning in their use of ICT but in particular the secondary where 44% of teachers never or only ever deliver ICT once a month. The secondary sector lags behind the primary in terms of teachers’ views and pedagogical developments in line with ICT and it is clear that the professional development of practicing teachers needs to be up-graded. Schools will have to build on what they have already begun and look to ‘The Way Forward’ as milestoned in the ‘emPowering School’s Strategy’in order to make a much more fertile ICT soil for the ‘Sonic Generation’. Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/7149 2005-11-01T00:00:00Z