Words of Wisdom Interview Claire Price

Edtech UK Magazine interviews Claire Price, on edtech before and after COVID.

Words of Wisdom

How would you describe edtech in your setting before COVID?

In February 2021 I was in an academy in a small MAT; I had been Principal of this academy since September 2020. MAT decisions had been made about centralised IT, but this was systems-based.

Conversations were about products or platforms and not about purpose. Students’ access to devices was poor in school and even worse in the home. Most students’ access to IT was via a smartphone. Most teachers did not use edtech in a systematic way. Positively, all teachers had school laptops issued in the summer term of 2020. During the first lockdown we bought, begged and borrowed as many laptops as we could to give to students to try to overcome digital poverty. We were fortunate, too, to be one of the early beneficiaries of the DfE’s laptop scheme. I think the picture across England was a real mixed bag. Many schools had chosen delivery platforms, but not yet exploited the full extent of how this could enhance teaching and learning. In Wales, where I had previously been headteacher, the Digital Competency Framework and the use of Hwb had provided Welsh educators with a completely different framework within which to work. Schools that had addressed the DCF well and were utilising Hwb extensively were probably in a better place to springboard edtech during the pandemic.

What did you put in place in the first lockdown?

The first lockdown was a perfect incubator for staff development and growing student expertise in digital technologies. We started lockdown having handed, or hand delivered, 3 weeks’ worth of paper-based resources to every student in the school. This gave us time to develop what was to become a digital learning strategy to be proud of! We developed our online learning cycle based on early research from best practice in China, and squirrelled away as much expertise, information, ideas and tips as we could to support the development of our teaching and learning. One of the real successes of the first lockdown was the professional generosity of teachers across the globe. I think this self-directed and self-sourced CPD will have a massive impact on how we organise professional learning in the future.

We amended our learning cycle so that opportunities for collaboration were integral to how we planned learning. This meant that student progress remained strong and it also had the effect of focusing on students’ mental health. By the end of lockdown one we had introduced a number of EdTech tools to support learning, assessment, communication and workload.

Words of Wisdom

My vision for EdTech is for it to be a tool of and for pedagogy. It can no longer be considered merely a platform by which to deliver traditional learning, it must be considered a tool to help revision learning.

During the pandemic, students have gained so many skills: independent learning, collaborative learning; self-assessment to direct learning. Schools must not go back to delivering subject knowledge and ignoring the power of creative and dynamic learning that mirrors young people’s drive to learn. EdTech is part of my future teaching and learning strategies, embedded within it rather than an additional strand, as it was in the past. Key to this vision is developing the ability to evaluate the use of EdTech in a move away from using platforms or software without clear rationale and thought. workload. As schools become more adept in how we implement EdTech, we should view it through the lens of teacher CPD, retention and wellbeing.

What is your vision for the future of edtech in the UK and why?

It is now timely to rethink our approach to EdTech to support all young people. The pandemic has intensified our focus on the impact of inequality for our children’s access to and outcomes in education. The governments of the UK should share what is working in their respective administrations so that all young people have access to robust infrastructure, high quality devices and be taught the tools and with the tools that will prepare them as 21st century citizens and workers.

To misquote Obama, it is not good enough that we have better wifi capacity in a coffee shop compared with in schools. The patchy distribution of access to IT across Britain should be addressed as part of the EdTech strategy. No child should have their disadvantage perpetuated into adulthood through lack of access to basic devices. Closing the experience gap is especially important for students with SEND.

Assistive technology should be part of the fabric of schools to provide equality of provision. This will enable all students to contribute to the digital economy in the future. Schools should be supported in developing a digital curriculum and effective ways in using technology to support learning; this should be delivered through a centralised stable unit that can also support teachers’ professional learning.

Claire Price works as a School Improvement Leader at Oasis and has worked as a Headteacher, Principal of the RSA Academy and is involved in WomenED.