"Smart" society and how not to achieve it!

I note from a report in the Irish times on Tuesday, November 17^th that there is to be a new €150m investment in “smart schools”, providing every classroom in the country with a laptop and digital projector. Does anyone else wonder at the timing of such an initiative, just prior to a budget that is likely to contain many cutbacks to an education system that is already one of the worst funded within the OECD?

This “initiative” would seem less cynical if it were part of an overall plan, but sadly the only policy document the DES ever produced was in 1997, Schools IT 2000 - A Policy Framework for the New Millennium. That policy document was replaced by – nothing! There is no ICT policy in the DES. Some commentators speak of a lack of joined up thinking, but in reality there is no thought at all, just a tablula rasa.

The Digital Schools Initiative launched 2 years ago shows that the only vision for the use of ICT in schools is the vision of serving teachers who have worked bravely and ploughed a lonely furrow in recent years, despite no funding, in spite of clapped out computers and in spite of any policy directives from the DES.

ICT has a very broad role, as a set of enabling technologies and services that underpin the development of a country as an “information” or “knowledge” economy. An ICT capability in this sense is critical in achieving national goals in areas such as science, education and innovation. ICT teachers are worried at the complete lack of vision in terms of either policy or investment in technology in our schools.

In 2005, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources announced an €18m investment — mostly stumped up by the telecoms industry — to deploy broadband in schools. That initiative led to a very patchy deployment of broadband to about 80% of schools, mostly in urban areas, leaving many rural schools with no connectivity. The schools broadband system gave a 1MB speed to primary schools and a 2 MB speed to post-primary, sufficient to allow a couple of computers to access the internet before “freezing” or crashing! Schools were expected to avail of broadband using old computers, most of them 8 or 9 years old. The sad reality is that those computers were not capable of using broadband; in fact they can’t operate modern educational software, which is probably just as well, because schools have received no funding since 2002 to purchase software, or to repair or upgrade outdated equipment.

Technology in education is a three-legged stool: you need infrastructure, you need to have technology ingrained in the curriculum and teachers need to see technology as part of their professional and personal development. If you are missing any of the legs the whole edifice comes crashing down.

We have a creaking, if not collapsing infrastructure at the moment because of the chronic lack of planned funding. What is urgently required, if politicians are serious about ICT, rather than being in the business of paying lip service to it, is a strategic plan along the following lines:

1. An ICT plan for primary education. How can any school Principal organize a coherent and integrated ICT plan for a school when there is no central ICT policy to refer to? We have had several years of in-service in which there has been no reference to ICT, bar the mention of a few websites. Much of the revised primary curriculum, in history, geography, local studies and SPHE is indigenous. Yet the DES has made no attempt to encourage or fund local indigenous software.

2. We need a five year policy framework with planned funding of €200m just to catch up with our neighbours in Europe. You might think €200m is a fanciful figure but as far back as 2006, IBEC was promulgating that the Government purchase laptops for every 2^nd level pupil in the country and that would have cost between €280m and €320m. The Fine Gael Party in 2007(?) produced a policy document calling for the government to give a laptop to every student entering secondary school (an investment of €38m in a single year). So €200 is indeed quite a realistic figure.

3. Training in the use of ICT for teachers is an imperative. The sad reality is that currently only about 5% of teachers use ICT daily as a curricular tool. ICT has to become an integral part of the professional and personal development of teacher training. Unless there is a concurrent rollout of appropriate professional development in the pedagogical usage of ICT, any initiative is doomed to failure.

Deplorable state of ICT in Irish schools

ICT is a complex set of enabling technologies and services that underpin the development of a country as an “information” or “knowledge” economy. An ICT capability in this sense is critical in achieving national goals in areas such as science, education and innovation. As a primary teacher who has used ICT in my class on a daily basis for many years, I am extremely worried by the complete lack of vision in terms of either policy or investment in technology in our schools by the DES.

The only policy document the DES ever produced was in 1997, Schools IT 2000 - A Policy Framework for the New Millennium. That policy document was replaced by – nothing! There is no ICT policy in the DES. Some commentators speak of a lack of joined up thinking, but in reality you cannot have joined up thinking where there is no thought. What we have is a “tablula rasa”.

In 2005, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources announced an €18m investment — mostly stumped up by the telecoms industry — to deploy broadband in schools. Now schools are expected to avail of broadband using old clapped out computers, 8 or 9 years old. The sad reality is that those computers are not capable of using broadband; in fact they can’t operate modern educational software, which is probably just as well, because schools have received no funding from the department since 2002 to purchase software, or to repair or upgrade outdated equipment.

It is disheartening to listen to the Minister speak of the “Knowledge society” given the reality of today’s classroom. The Minister in Feb. 2007 when announcing the formation of the strategy group to advise her on the future development of ICT in schools said: "Ireland's continuing development as an advanced knowledge society will rely on the skills of our young people. The development of strong ICT literacy in all of our children will be an essential life skill for them as they look to participate in the opportunities of the global knowledge society. It is imperative that our schools provide opportunities for all of our children to develop to their full potential in that regard".

Again in January 2008 the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, launching the Schools Broadband Access Programme said: “ICT in the classroom is important, both in terms of giving students the opportunity to achieve computer literacy and acquire the necessary skills for participation in the Information Society, and in terms of enhancing the educational experience across the broad range of subjects taught in schools”. She was at it again the following day! The Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin T.D. delivered a keynote address to the 2008 Government Leaders Forum, taking place in Berlin, Germany.

Speaking about the critical role of Europe's education systems, Minister Hanafin said "in order to compete in the global market, we have to ensure that we are fostering the creativity, skills and motivation for learning that will give us the vital edge needed for sustained economic and social success. Europe's and Ireland's future success relies on our ability to create and to innovate. We cannot be found standing still when development of new ideas, new and better products and processes are needed to drive forward our economy.

The sad reality is that we have a collapsing infrastructure at the moment because of the chronic lack of funding. Then on the last day of the school year for secondary schools (June 20, 2008), we learn that the ICT Advisors attached to the Education Centres would have their contracts terminated from August 31^st. It is also now clear that the reluctance of the DES to publish the Expert Groups report on ICT is because it has been decided, though not publicly admitted, that the much vaunted €252m announced in the NDP is not now going to be paid.

Irish schools are in a digital “limbo”. There is no policy within the DES on ICT; the schools broadband system, supplying a woefully inadequate download speed of 1mb to primary schools and 2mb to secondary is creaking; schools’ computers are old, and not amenable to an upgrade, even if the money existed for such; indigenous Irish software for Irish curricula does not exist.

We need a five year policy framework with planned funding of €500m just to catch up with our neighbours in Europe. A huge digital divide is opening up between this country and the rest of Europe. If we look at what is happening in Northern Ireland we see some US$100m being invested as part of a Classroom initiative to enable education authorities there to proceed with a 10-year plan to give all students from primary to university level access to their own PC, email address and broadband access.

The programme, run by the Western Education and Library Board, involves 900 primary and 250 post-primary schools throughout the province and serves some 350,0000 students and teachers. It comprises between 60,000 and 70,000 PCs distributed across Northern Ireland. That is a ratio of 1:5

The Digital Schools Initiative launched last year shows that the only vision for the use of ICT in schools is the vision of serving teachers who have worked bravely and ploughed a lonely furrow in recent years, despite no funding, in spite of clapped out computers and in spite of any policy directives or input from the DES. If the current recession leads to renewed emigration, we are in danger of sending our young people out without the requisite skills in ICT that will make them employable in the global economy. Surely it is time for some vision from government, time to invest in education, because investment in education is an investment in our future.