Ict ofsted

Issue 1

What are the characteristics of the most effective teaching in ICT?

What are the characteristics of the most effective teaching in ICT? Activity 1 Write down three ways in which you could ensure effective teaching in ICT. Discussion point: Discuss these lists with your immediate colleagues and with the group.

Activity 2 Look at the next slide. It gives a list of many of the characteristics of highly effective teaching. This list was included in the report.

Discussion point: Did you and your colleagues identify all the points given? As a group and/or as individuals, select the top three things you need to concentrate on to improve teaching and to make it even better in school.

Sept2013

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What are the characteristics of the most effective teaching in ICT? The characteristics of highly effective teaching in ICT include:

teachers have excellent subject knowledge and teaching assistants are well informed and briefed planning is thorough and detailed, with particular attention to meeting the different requirements of individual pupils

clear and explicit learning objectives are proposed and discussed with pupils formative assessment is an integral part of lessons and self- and peer-assessment are actively promoted

questioning is used to deepen understanding, rather than just to check knowledge key ICT terminology is introduced and reinforced a range of equipment and resources is available wherever pupils are learning; safe working is emphasised at all times

opportunities are available for pupils to experience ‘real-world’ ICT use outside school explicit links are made with key learning points in other subjects and particularly in literacy and numeracy.

Sept 2013

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Issue 2

How can you use assessment to improve pupils’ learning and achievement in ICT?

How can you use assessment to improve pupils’ learning and achievement in ICT? Activity 1 The Government has indicated that the ICT Attainment Targets are disapplied from September 2012.

Discussion point: How do you think you could assess pupils’ attainment and progress in ICT? Activity 2 The use of assessment was judged to be good or outstanding in only 38% of the primary schools visited. Look at the next slide. It gives a list of many of the characteristics of the effective use of assessment to improve pupils’ learning and achievement in ICT. This list was included in the report.

Discussion point: Do you agree with characteristics in the list? How can you use assessment better to improve pupils’ learning and achievement in ICT? Sept 2013

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How well do you think assessment can be used to improve pupils’ learning and achievement in ICT? In schools where the use of assessment was good there was a robust school-wide approach to using assessment as a key tool for improvement. The characteristics of effective use of assessment in ICT include:

thorough, clear and accurate strategies for baseline assessment pupils being made aware of their current attainment and what they need to do to improve

opportunities for peer- and self-review embedded in lessons regular standardisation and moderation between teachers and between schools a progress tracking system accessible to staff and pupils and embracing ICT across all subjects

pupils being given detailed feedback on their work parents and carers being kept regularly updated on their child’s progress in ICT. A lack of attention to the assessment of ICT was seen in the majority of the primary schools visited.

Sept 2013

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Issue 3

What is an effective ICT curriculum?

What is an effective ICT curriculum?

The ICT curriculum was judged to be good or outstanding in 51% of the primary schools visited. The characteristics of an effective ICT curriculum include:

a comprehensive approach to curriculum planning, both for ICT in its own right and for ICT across the curriculum

teachers adapting national and local guidance to create their own cross-curricular themes within which the purpose of ICT has been carefully considered

detailed planning resulting in exciting and creative activities tailored to the needs of individual pupils

clear planning for progression within and between year groups ICT threaded through the whole curriculum; schools using cross-curricular planning grids and maps to embed ICT opportunities in all aspects of curriculum planning

examples of ICT bringing new learning opportunities to other subjects teachers drawing effectively on external expertise.

Sept 2013

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What is an effective ICT curriculum?

Where the curriculum requires improvement, planning is limited and often does not take into account cross-curricular opportunities.

Weaker schools give too much emphasis to the use of ICT for communication and presentation, and not enough to data logging, data handling, data modelling and control.

Teachers in these schools lack the knowledge to teach these aspects effectively and equipment is often inadequate or outdated.

Sept 2013

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What is an effective ICT curriculum?

Activity 1 The Government has indicated that the ICT Programmes of Study at all key stages are disapplied from September 2012. ICT will continue to be a National Curriculum subject, with new statutory Programmes of Study at all four key stages, from September 2014. Between 2012 and 2014, schools will not be required to change their ICT curriculum, but may do so if they wish.

Discussion point: What are the implications of the disapplication of the ICT Programmes of Study in school? What will change?

Activity 2 Very few examples were seen of primary schools engaging with local IT businesses to bring the subject alive for their students.

Discussion point: How can schools work with local businesses? How could this be organised?

Sept 2013

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Issue 4

What are the subject-specific ICT training needs of a teachers and teaching assistants in school?

What are the subject-specific ICT training needs of a teachers? and teaching assistants in school? 

In the majority of the primary schools visited, regular audits of the training needs of class teachers and teaching assistants in ICT took place. A good range of training and updating opportunities was generally made available to meet the needs identified in these audits, though a small number of schools reported difficulty in sourcing appropriate professional development as a result of reductions in support from the local authority. Staff training arrangements included in-house workshops and drop-in clinics, external opportunities at professional development centres or commercial providers, and online tutorials or training packages.

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In some schools, the appointment of newly qualified teachers had brought higher levels of ICT skill into the school, to the wider benefit of staff and students.

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Very few examples were seen of any evaluation of the impact of the training on the effectiveness of teaching or on students’ learning.

Sept 2013

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What are the subject-specific ICT training needs of a teachers and teaching ?assistants in school? 

Schools where the leadership team were highly committed to ICT, devised lively and comprehensive professional development programmes for staff.

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In these schools, subject leaders for ICT were providing excellent training sessions regularly. Champions were sometimes identified among the staff to help disseminate new developments, and plans were made to cascade the learning from external courses across the school.

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Given the continuing pace of innovation and development in ICT in education, it is clear that all schools will need to adopt a systematic planning cycle for the training and updating of ICT and other staff.

Discussion point: How effective do you think you would be as a subject specific ICT leader. What could you do to improve training for specialists and non-specialists in school, that is appropriate and cost-effective?

Sept 2013

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Issue 5

How can you support the e-safety of pupils and staff?

How can you support the e-safety of pupils and staff?

E-safety may be described as a school’s ability to protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology and to have the appropriate mechanisms to intervene and support any incident where appropriate.

The Ofsted report The safe use of new technologies evaluated the extent to which schools teach pupils to adopt safe and responsible practices in using new technologies, assessed training on internet safety for staff and considered schools’ links with families in terms of e-safety.

The breadth of issues classified within e-safety is considerable, but can be categorised into three areas of risk: content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm.

Sept 2013

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How can you support the e-safety of pupils and staff?

Questions 1.How do you ensure that all staff receive appropriate online safety training that is relevant and up to date?

2.What mechanisms does a school have in place to support pupils and staff facing online safety issues?

3.Do schools have e-safety policies and acceptable use policies in place? How do you know that they are clear and understood and respected by all?

4.How do schools educate pupils to build knowledge, skills and capability for online safety? How can you assess the effectiveness of this?

Discussion point: In a pair discuss the issues of e safety, list the characteristics of effective e-safety.

Sept 2013

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How can you support the e-safety of pupils and staff?

The safe use of new technologies report recommended that schools should: audit the training needs of all staff and provide training to improve their knowledge of and expertise in the safe and appropriate use of new technologies work closely with all families to help them ensure that their children use new technologies safely and responsibly both at home and at school use pupils’ and families’ views more often to develop e-safety strategies manage the transition from locked down systems to more managed systems to help pupils understand how to manage risk; to provide them with richer learning experiences; and to bridge the gap between systems at school and the more open systems outside school provide an age-related, comprehensive curriculum for e-safety which enables pupils to become safe and responsible users of new technologies work with their partners and other providers to ensure that pupils who receive part of their education away from school are e-safe systematically review and develop their e-safety procedures, including training, to ensure that they have a positive impact on pupils’ knowledge and understanding.

Sept 2013

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Summary task

Discussion point: What three priorities and accompanying actions do you now have for improving your ICT subject knowledge and how will these help you develop as a subject leader

Sept 2013

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