Kent County Council : Project Definition
Transformation of Kent
Realising the Potential
Creating a step change for education in Kent
Andy Ellis
Architectural Consultant
Microsoft Ltd
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Table of Contents
1 Executive Summary 3
2 Transformation in Kent 7
3 A focus on education 9
4 Transforming education in Kent 11
4.1 21st century education in “the school that never sleeps” 11
4.2 Achieving step change in Kent 14
4.3 Benefits for learners and other stakeholders 17
4.4 The LEA as mentor and facilitator 19
4.5 Why now? 21
4.6 Relevance to economic regeneration 23
5 The new economics of education 25
5.1 A new economic model 26
5.2 Proof point – Hugh Christie Technology College 32
6 The way forward 35
7 Case examples 37
7.1 The Cornwallis School 37
7.2 Broadclyst Community Primary School, near Exeter 38
7.3 Invicta Grammar School 39
7.4 Philip Morant School and College, Essex 40
7.5 Bridge & Patrixbourne CE Primary School 41
7.6 Kings Hill Primary School 42
7.7 Sandwich Technology School 43
8 References 45
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Introduction
I am pleased to write the introduction to this White Paper prepared for Kent County Council by Microsoft Consulting Services.
The Secretary of State for Education commented in “Fulfilling the potential – Transforming teaching and learning through ICT in schools”,
“……….. the potential for real transformation still remains largely untapped.……… my vision is one where schools are confidently, successfully and routinely exploiting ICT alongside other transformational measures. By doing so they will be delivering an education that equips learners for life in the Information Age of the 21st century”.
I endorse Charles Clarke’s thoughts and contend that the opportunity to improve the way children learn is great and the pace of change too slow.
Our goal is to transform the learning experience of the young people of Kent and at the same time address the many agendas that seek to improve the expectations and self esteem of all our citizens.
For Kent the answers to sustainable school improvement and the range of challenges facing all local authorities lay in strongly connected communities of schools, working with each other in a collaborative culture. ICT has a big part to play in enabling this transformation.
We will need to question the status quo, push back the divides of individual school interests and challenge assumptions. With our school leaders we will need to take risks, connect thinking and get things done.
Kent County Council, supported by Microsoft and other IT industry leaders, is in the process of transforming and modernising the delivery of local government services. This vision is set out in our ‘Connecting Kent’ prospectus. Education is seen as the key to future economic prosperity and, in recognising the challenges faced by that sector, KCC is clear that the existing model for education and learning is unsustainable. A step change is required.
The key to achieving this transformational change is by harnessing the huge agendas of lifelong learning, social inclusion, health improvement and neighbourhood renewal in favour of raising attainment for young people in the context of family, school and community. We have to be prepared to think radically and look beyond traditional practices.
A ‘proof of concept’ project (“Putting Learners First”) is underway to prove this step change and address the range of issues being faced by all local authorities in the UK. “Putting Learners First” is the main focus for step change activity but is one of several initiatives taking place within Kent’s transformation agenda.
This White Paper considers the business and educational justification for change and signposts a new economic model for sustainability. The paper outlines Kent’s intentions for economic transformation and its focus on step change in education as an early and critical component. Changes being made in Kent’s school age education are described with reference to the wider debate on education and its relevance to future economic success. The economic case is explored using indicative proof points to point up questions for debate.
Kent are keen to take a leading role in the important debate on transforming schools and with Microsoft believe this work to be significant and worthy of serious attention.
Kent CC welcome a debate with a wide audience from policy makers to the teaching profession and from parents to business.
Graham Badman, Kent CC Strategic Director, Education and Libraries
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Executive Summary
To maintain a competitive position in an increasingly globalised economy the UK needs to step up the achievements from its school age education. The current model for school age education does not deliver the level of attainment needed for all, and is unsustainable (“Fulfilling the Potential”). Kent County Council recognises this shortfall and is making a transformational step change in the way school age education is delivered in Kent to secure Kent’s future success.
It is our view that the experience to date across Kent, together with other exemplars from the UK and beyond, should be used to inform and challenge a serious debate about the future of education in the UK.
The globalised information economy requires young people to be independent learners, confident in their knowledge of how to learn and ability to meet increasingly complex demands of life in a constantly changing world. In this global economy, competition is international. Every firm, and every community, competes with global leaders. A globally competitive community positions itself to benefit from globalisation. It develops high innovation capacity. It develops high productivity potential.
Yet our instructional model of education, typically 1 to 30, has changed little since the industrial age for which it was suited and typically teaches young people what to learn. The new information economy requires different skills, a new approach to learning and must be served by an education that prepares young people for their part in securing the future. Education must advance beyond a subject based curriculum and develop new competences for the information age.
The conditions for transformation are present. The instructional model of education is under stress. Funding pressures coupled with growing accountability to improve standards mean that education will have to increase educational outcomes without continual growth in resources. The challenge is increasingly clear – continue the same way and get the same outcomes or transform and realise the potential that a structurally different and ICT-rich model for education offers for a new future.
Wireless, mobile, broadband and emerging ICT technologies have converged opening the door to whole new economic and learning communities. The promise of anytime, anywhere learning is realistic for all parts of society. Technology, such as mobile phones and gaming devices, is everyday for pupils outside of school. No school age pupil has experienced a world without personal computers. There is growing willingness amongst teachers to embrace technology as evidence grows of ways in which ICT can help enhance their professionalism and increase their effectiveness. Education is high on the government’s agenda.
Now is the time to recognise that the education system has to change, transforming the way learning takes place and the way it is organised. It is time for serious informed debate, leadership and action.
Kent, the largest Local Authority in the UK, has already started on a remarkable journey to secure Kent’s success in the information economy and transform life quality for its citizens. The information economy and knowledge-intensive working are the economic mainstays for Kent’s future. Economic regeneration promises a vibrant regional economy to surpass the region’s previous industrial importance and rich economic past, and seeks economic success comparable with that of the high technology triangle west of London.
This massive transformation from what has been a declining economic situation in Kent depends heavily on having an appropriately knowledgeable and skilled workforce that believes in and is excited by the prospect of this future prosperity, a workforce that builds value all the way from earliest pre-school learning and on through lifelong learning opportunities, a workforce that owns its future.
To deliver on the promise Kent County Council (KCC) is transforming and modernising the delivery of local government services. This vision is set out in its ‘Connecting Kent’ prospectus. Education is identified as key to future economic prosperity and an early priority. KCC recognises that the existing model for education and learning is unsustainable. A step change is required. It is under way.
The Education and Libraries Directorate, as a leader in implementing these reforms, is embarking on real change which entails doing things in a very different way from before. Authority-wide structural change leverages ICT as an enabler towards significantly improved standards of attainment for all. Improvement will be delivered through school clusters, a reworked economic model, and “the school that never sleeps”.
School clusters, strongly connected communities of between 18 and 40 schools, are being created across Kent to give every student the opportunity for success whatever school they attend, supported by access to a wide curriculum shaped to best meet their individual needs, ambitions and abilities. School clusters will lead the transformation of teaching and learning for the benefits of all learners, developing collaborative professional learning communities and fostering joint planning and delivery of services through multi disciplinary teams for all children and young people in their locality. Management Boards and dedicated specialists from the Directorate will encourage productive collaboration to raise aspirations, expectations and achievement for all pupils.
A reworked economic model for education which recognises the changed economics of service industries in a digital age will substantially change the way money and other resources are allocated throughout the educational system to deliver a better and learner-centric educational experience. Some resources will be allocated to increase effectiveness, others to create the commensurate savings needed for sustainability. Evidence to date suggests that new depth professional skills in the psychology of learning and in managing and mediating individualised access to rapidly extending digital resources will be needed by teachers if they are to maximise the benefit gained by each individual pupil at all times. Such new professional challenges, some of which will stretch even the best teachers, will require appropriate support and governance from the LEA and other stakeholders if they are to be realistic.
The “school that never sleeps” provides 24x7 access to learning. The learner and independent learning take centre stage with individual learning plans. Independent learners who are preparing to play their part in future economic prosperity achieve higher levels of attainment. They will be supported, guided and encouraged by professionals who have a deep understanding of how people learn, and a deep commitment to each individual learner realising their potential. With ICT, education can transcend the traditional boundaries of the school. An ICT-rich environment allows teachers and learners to work in different ways. Traditional teaching continues but as part of a much richer blend of education resources and services which magnifies the teacher’s effectiveness. Increased ICT offers teachers more time and opportunity to teach. Time released from administration tasks can be redirected towards guaranteeing a richer and more varied educational experience. It raises the bar on professional standards.
This is not incremental change of a few schools, but an authority-wide step change delivering a sustainable change in learning and pedagogy.
The change required is not simple or easily made. It is not about replacing teachers with technology. It is about putting learners first. It is about enhancing the role of the teacher, strengthening relationships between schools, and redefining the role of the LEA. Most of all it is about making fundamental improvement to the quality and effectiveness of every pupil’s education experience and standards of attainment.
The change to school clusters is in progress throughout Kent. This complex change has required extensive planning and consultation. This White Paper explores the economic and educational justification for change and signposts a new economic model for sustainability. The paper outlines Kent’s intentions for economic transformation and its focus on step change in education as an early and critical component. Changes being made in Kent’s school age education are described with reference to the wider debate on education and its relevance to future economic success. The economic case is explored using indicative proof points to point up questions for debate.
This is not a simple change in technology terms either. ICT in schools is becoming “mission critical”.
A ‘proof of concept’ project, “Putting Learners First”, is under way in Kent to prove this step change. “Putting Learners First” is about realising potential in the information age. The primary focus is to improve outcomes. The intent is to support quality education that is directly relevant and meaningful to the pupil and allows them to progress at their most appropriate pace, whether fast or slow, and learn in a style that suits them, whether fully able or with disabilities. It recognises issues facing all local authorities in the UK, such as growing expectations for school improvement from all stakeholders, relative reduction in government funding, school underperformance, increasing teacher workload, and difficulty of teacher recruitment and retention. Changing conditions for future economic prosperity have created a need to raise skill levels and develop independent learners.
KCC is working with a number of partners (including Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Ramesys, Cisco, Opti-Networks, Sony, RM, Ergo, Acer) to deliver the project, the most important of several initiatives taking place within Kent’s transformation agenda.
“Putting Learners First” started with 6 schools, 2 primary and 4 secondary – Bridge and Patrixbourne and Kings Hill leading for primary schools, The Cornwallis, Hugh Christie Technology College, Sandwich Technology School and Invicta Grammar School leading for secondary schools at this stage.
The attitude is that this is phase one of a Kent wide roll out. Planning has started for the next tranche of schools. The new ICT rich environment consists of:
1. Learning environment - Microsoft Learning Gateway Architecture incorporating the Ramesys Assimilate Learning Environment to provide the management and delivery of content and information within and between schools and the LEA.
2. Mobility – wide scale use of Tablet PCs and wireless (WiFi) enablement within schools.
3. Home / School Links – enabled by broadband to allow integrated home/school working and exemplify learning activities within the school and from home.
4. Skills – a continuous professional development model (CPD) through Microsoft Innovative Teachers, skills in community through Microsoft IT Academy, technical training to provide teachers with skill sets to make use of these ICT solutions, pedagogical training to assist teachers with applying these solutions to the curriculum and promote best practice.
This white paper acknowledges all that has been learned, and is relevant, from other exemplar activity in Kent, the rest of the UK, and world-wide, and provides a first level of detail substantiating the step change.
Kent and Microsoft believe this work to be significant and worthy of serious attention. Kent CC and its private sector partners welcome a debate with a wide audience from policy makers to the teaching profession and from parents to businesses.
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Transformation in Kent
Kent is the largest Local Authority in the UK. Kent County Council (KCC) has a vision of a county which remains distinct and recognised, proud of its history and able to make the most of its exciting future. KCC has embarked on a remarkable journey to transform life quality for all its citizens and secure Kent’s success in the information economy.
Although Kent’s economy is comparatively large, it is not rated highly for its industrial structure. The industry sectors that are seen as most capable of sustaining local competitive advantage, both in terms of high value output and providing a broad range of employment opportunities, are information economy, financial services, higher education, research and development, knowledge-based business services employment and consumer services employment. Kent and Medway ranks in the top ten of the 47 Learning and Skills Council sub-regions. However there is a shortage of skills in key growth areas in Kent. Health and Social Care, Teaching, Police, Pharmaceuticals, and Information and Communication Technology are prime examples. Many businesses say that they cannot attract the right people with the right skills in the county.
There are initiatives under way to strengthen the Kent economy. Modern high-technology industry is being promoted, spreading development across all sectors. Strong support for home-grown enterprise, local employers and improving the skills of the local workforce will create more opportunities for qualified workers in Kent to reverse the “brain drain” to London. This needs a match of skills between employees and employers, with a focus on training and on lifetime learning. Innovative and diverse ways of assisting the rural economy to meet the changing needs of farming and other rural enterprises are needed while promoting strong public sector support for businesses which encourage investment in infrastructure and skills. Together these will meet the modern demands of the business community.
Investment is planned to address the needs of the unemployed, to break the cycle of deprivation and support people who want to return to work. Modern and flexible forms of work, including home working will be supported, and links between the business and voluntary/community sectors will be strengthened. The Thameside redevelopment area shows clear evidence of progress.
Kent’s vision for transformation has nine themes.
5. Economic success that is shared by all
6. Learning for everyone
7. Healthy lifestyles
8. Modern social and health care services
9. A better environment
10. Communities that feel safe and are safe
11. Kent communities
12. Keeping Kent moving
13. Enjoying life in Kent
Kent continues to be a county of diversity. The vision divides the county into four broad economic, environmental and cultural areas.
West Kent is the key focus for service sector growth with sustainable growth on key strategic development sites to safeguard the green belt. Kings Hill offers high quality business and residential development, providing quality local employment. Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge will maintain successful business growth and offer new housing inside the current urban area.
North Kent is emerging as one of the most dynamic areas in the county. The Thames Gateway is a prime focus for investment with up to 30,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs. For the Thames Gateway growth is concentrated on brownfield land and urban areas with an emphasis on enhancing the environment. The International Station at Ebbsfleet will have fast connections to the City. A Fastrack local transport system and possible additional Thames crossing offer additional benefits.
Ashford, seen as a centre for expansion, is experiencing growth in business associated with the knowledge economy, but Kent’s workforce still suffers from a relatively low skills base for the South East. The M20 corridor through Kent will focus on developing economic benefits stemming from 25 million cross-channel travellers and proximity to European markets to stimulate the rural economy while protecting the countryside and coast, both built and natural environments. Maidstone, the County Town, will improve the quality and broaden the range of facilities and activities on offer.
The East Kent Triangle has Kent Public Service Agreement targets on reducing welfare dependency. Work on road and other infrastructure improvements will support East Kent’s potential to capitalise on successful industrial clusters and access to Europe. Pfizer’s European Headquarters for Research and Development at Sandwich is an important local employer and creator of community programmes concerning education, employment and the environment. Pfizer has recently invested heavily in its Sandwich site creating an award winning working environment to complement its strong track record in drug discovery and development. Other key developments in the East Kent Triangle include The Port of Dover with ferries, deep water freight, cruise terminals and rail freight, Canterbury as a City for learning and culture, as well as a major tourism destination, London Manston Airport and the Central (Thanet) Island Initiative, development of the former Kent Coalfield sites and the Sandwich corridor, the Turner Centre in Margate, and coastal leisure, tourism and sports facilities.
The Connecting Kent programme, documented in the prospectus of the same name, is focused on those aspects of transforming Kent responding to the government’s eGovernment and modernisation agenda. It acknowledges the practicalities. On the one hand there is a desire to build a cycle of opportunity, of improved educational skills, higher incomes, better housing, better environment, better health, less crime and insecurity, more family stability. This is undermined by the cycle of deprivation, of low incomes and poor housing, poor environment and poor health being associated with crime and insecurity which disadvantages individuals and groups, with family breakdown being a familiar consequence.
Education is seen as a key to breaking the cycle of deprivation and building the cycle of opportunity.
A focus on education
Education is about individuals – pupils, teachers, parents, policy makers – and about dreams and aspirations. It is about having imagination, and believing that you can create your own future. It is about securing and sharing future economic success.
The government white paper “Fulfilling the Potential - Transforming teaching and learning through ICT in schools” states the Government’s aim to ensure that for all schools:
14. ICT makes a significant contribution to teaching and learning across all subjects and ages, inside and outside the curriculum
15. ICT is used to improve access to learning for pupils with a diverse range of individual needs, including those with SEN and disabilities
16. ICT is used as a tool for whole-school improvement
17. ICT is used as a means of enabling learning to take place more easily beyond the bounds of the formal school organisation and outside the school day – and of enhancing the quality of such experiences, and
18. ICT capabilities are developed as key skills essential for participation in today’s society and economy.
Kent has over 600 schools, 4 universities and 8 colleges as well as an Adult Education service with twice the national average of enrolments. A network of 678 computers in libraries provides free access to the Internet.
Standards of education up to school leaving age vary from excellent to poor. One in five people in Kent has problems with basic literacy or numeracy skills. There are gaps in ICT skills. Each school has its own plans for improvements, as does the County Council in the Education Development Plan (EDP). More young people need to achieve academic and vocational qualifications to support business development and attract successful businesses into Kent.
The decline of traditional industries has left people without local employment opportunities in the jobs they are trained to do. Employment growth has often been in manual or unskilled occupations, adding to the belief that learning is not needed for a job. Many people in the poorer parts of Kent do not believe that learning is for them. There are gaps in good quality education opportunities for Kent’s large rural areas. The Education and Libraries Directorate is keen to bring more citizens into contact with the Directorate through various routes including Adult Education, Doctor’s surgeries, and social workers based in schools, and plans to:
19. Raise the quality of education by involving parents more fully in their children’s education
20. Ensure education and training places are available, including a variety of schools for different types of skills, needs and aptitude
21. Increase access to ICT learning facilities for every pupil and community
22. Lower staff turnover and achieve fewer vacancies in schools and other learning establishments by providing a rewarding teaching environment
23. Raise awareness among employers and the workforce of the benefits of learning and of work-life balance
24. Raise standards and skills to the level of the rest of the South-East through building stronger links between learning opportunities and workforce development, increasing take-up of learning post-16, and improving vocational learning opportunities for 14-19 year olds
25. Make stronger links between learning opportunities and workforce development to take advantage of growth, for example in health and social care, police, teaching and pharmaceuticals
26. Develop language skills to take advantage of international business and tourism opportunities.
No matter how coherent the framework for school improvement is in Kent, and no matter how successful the policies to strengthen primary and secondary education, world class standards will remain elusive unless Kent can recruit, retain and develop teachers and school leaders of real quality. Kent faces major challenges in doing so.
Central government funding is reducing in relative terms year on year over the next three years. Teachers of the right calibre and skills are generally impossible to find and recruit. There is a shortage of good candidates for leadership positions especially at primary levels, and Kent cannot realistically attract 102 world class secondary head teachers. There is a major shortfall in availability of suitable teachers in many secondary subjects including science, maths, modern foreign languages and music, with schools facing a highly competitive market for teachers and teacher skills. In Kent the annual turnover of teaching staff is over 12%. Schools in the more challenging areas face particular recruitment and retention difficulties. There is a mismatch in skills, qualifications and recruitment, only offset in part by recruiting teachers from abroad. In one school some 42% of staff are from overseas. Some schools have a high proportion of unqualified teachers, others pay a premium to recruit staff. Existing staff costs have increased through NI and pension provision and the cost of living in the South East is high.
Direct costs for supply teachers appear to be in excess of £10m. Indirect costs of supply teachers in terms of senior staff time, discipline problems and interruption to the flow of education for pupils are not costed but are understood to be significant. Many pupils who are excluded from schools have rather limited tuition, sometimes of indifferent quality. The cost of providing for pupils with special needs is substantial. The amount and timeliness of management information available to the Education and Libraries Directorate is insufficient to allow early identification and response to problems. Small sixth forms are becoming less viable through the disproportionate cost of providing a sufficient range of courses.
Other issues add urgency to the transformation in education.
The Education and Libraries Best Value Review of School Improvement Services undertaken in 2002 and developments in national policy pointed up the need for transformational change.
Kent has a need for economic regeneration with a programme in place which is proceeding apace. The programme is visible on the national stage because of its significance in terms of scale and of Kent’s strategic physical location close to London and as a gateway to Europe. In many parts of Kent the information economy and knowledge-intensive working are seen as economic mainstays for the future. This puts pressure on to raise standards of attainment in the schools to provide a suitably skilled and knowledgeable workforce, yet it is difficult to identify the correlation between investment and exam results.
The challenge has been to find a sustainable and well-founded new model for education that raises levels of aspiration and attainment despite these challenges.
Transforming education in Kent
KCC is engaged in a radical programme of change to provide the highest possible quality of education throughout Kent. At the heart of these changes is a belief that collaboration between schools and with local services is key to improving standards and performance, to addressing the needs of learners, and ultimately towards improving Kent’s competitiveness in a globalised economy.
Twenty two clusters of schools are being established to empower communities of schools in creating a new learning culture that will benefit both individual students and their communities. Each cluster is a group of schools within a geographical locality. Clusters vary from 18 to 40 schools, each cluster averaging some 10,000 pupils, and will evolve over time as they develop their own distinct ethos and ways of working to reflect local circumstances. Individual schools retain their autonomy, independence and commitment to individual pupils, but work in a recognised context of collaboration guided and encouraged by the Management Board. Most schools in each cluster have previously collaborated, but less formally. Commitment to the holistic view of an individual pupil’s education remains with their school within the cluster.
Clusters will be bound together by a focus on raising aspirations, expectations and achievements for all students, without exception, within their communities. ICT will provide an infrastructure to support collaboration and cooperation between schools and between clusters. The project “Putting Learners First” is a first phase towards this integrated use of ICT in delivering high quality, 21st century education within and between these schools.
But what is meant by 21st century education?
1 21st century education in “the school that never sleeps”
Education for the 21st century is a subject of much rich debate. The step change taking place in Kent must be seen in the context of the debate which is outlined here.
School-age education can no longer be discussed in isolation. In this increasingly complex world many of the old certainties have disappeared. High standards of education and skills are now a necessity for the mass of the working population rather than a small minority. Digital technology in the workplace requires a new definition of "basic skills" and the transformation of work requires much more than a mastery of a fixed curriculum inherited from past centuries. Success in the slow moving world of the past came from being able to do well what you were taught to do. Success in today’s rapidly changing world depends on being able to do well what you were not taught to do. Many people already do jobs and use skills that did not exist when they went to school, and soon it will be the majority.
The digital economy both requires and makes possible new forms of education. The spread of digital technology into every other sector of society makes it inevitable that it will permeate school. When children grow up as native users of knowledge-intensive technology it is inconceivable that school will not change very radically. There have always been inspired educators who dreamed of new forms of learning, whose dreams could not be turned into practice because of a lack of suitable technology. Today such things are beginning to happen. School, whatever its physical form in the future, will no longer be a place where teachers and technology merely provide information. The teacher helps the student find information and learn skills, including some that neither knew before. They learn together meeting new ideas and building new skills. Some of what they learn belongs to long recognised subject areas: reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. Some belongs to new disciplines or competencies.
The RSA (“Opening Minds”) proposes five competencies that might help students become capable of meeting the more complex demands that will be made on them in the future:
27. learning
28. citizenship
29. relating to people
30. managing situations
31. managing information.
It imagines a school from which every student comes with vision, a proud vision of self as a powerful life-long learner, a vibrant vision of a worth-while life ahead, an optimistic vision of a society to be proud of, and the skills and the ethic needed to follow these visions. It seeks an education system that helps every young person to develop to the best of her or his ability the competences needed to become a successful, active citizen so that they are able to contribute their creative and other talents to their work, their families and to society. It wants every young person to understand why each and every aspect of their education is important and that it is about both essential competences, developing their capacity to enjoy life and to value learning for its own sake. The RSA believes that reforming the curriculum so that it is competence-led instead of information-led is the most effective way of doing this. It imagines a school that revolutionizes learning for the next century rather than one that reconditions learning as we have known it in the past, in which students and teachers excitedly and joyfully stretch themselves to their limits in pursuit of projects built on their own visions of a place where they want to be, a thing they want to make or a subject they want to explore. The contribution of technology is to make possible projects that are both difficult and engaging, and revolutionise learning.
Some schools are already moving fast towards this vision, others are in the early stages. The choice is not whether we will enact deep changes in school but how many children will be lost before we recognize that we have to do so.
With today’s technology we can restructure our education system. Commitment to fulfilling every individual’s potential demands that we must do it. A personal computer and the freedom to use it to follow personal learning give a child access to a new world of knowledge, powerful knowledge previously inaccessible. This puts a spotlight on new ways in which privilege breeds greater privilege. If some are left out, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" will grow exponentially. Access must therefore be ubiquitous, with technology proving the great equaliser. The role of digital technology in this vision is to offer more challenging opportunities than were conceivable in the pre-digital era, and to offer them to all, not just a privileged few.
Graham Badman – “the reality could be that ICT offers that missing equalising factor”.
The school will remain crucial providing the foundation of learning, the induction into democratic society and the constant support that every individual student needs but it will cease to be the provider of all learning for each student. While it will provide some learning, it will also encourage learning opportunities in other schools, in the home, in out-of-school learning settings such as museums, and other settings in the community. It will be an advocate for the student, and a guarantor of quality. A National Curriculum will continue to describe baselines of attainment. The ultimate goal is to enhance pupils’ progress, achievement and development, but learning outcomes need to capture the full breath of what will be needed to flourish in the twenty first century.
Universities remain core institutions in the development of knowledge with all learning communities linked directly to at least one. Teachers' professional training will involve the study of neuro-science, cognitive psychology, emotional intelligence and creativity, as well as detailed and evidence-based study of teaching and learning styles and thinking skills.
The NCSL’s “e-confident school” blends physical and virtual environments and is characterised by:
32. High levels of staff confidence, competence and leadership to improve school effectiveness, teaching, learning and attainment
33. Re-engineered teaching, learning and assessment which leads and manages distributed and concurrent learning
34. Improved vision for ICT and strategic development planning for ICT in schools which includes continuing professional development of professional skills
35. ICT applied effectively within organisational and management processes
36. Provides coherent personal learning development, support and access for all leaders, teaching and non-teaching staff who exhibit secure, informed professional judgement
37. Allocates resources appropriately to ensure sustainable development, and assure availability, access and technical support
38. Develops pupils and students with a high ICT capability
39. Has the school as the lead community learning and information hub. It becomes a local Learning Centre providing and actively promoting services to local businesses, national and international communities.
By 2006 the NCSL expects e-confident schools to have broadband connectivity, whole school networks and storage, an appropriate profile of desktop and mobile devices to deliver e-learning opportunities across the whole curriculum and to support professional development, extensive use of managed learning environments, whole class displays in the form of electronic whiteboards or digital projection facilities, and a range of creative technologies for learners to record and publish their creations.
Rapid and sustained progress towards these goals will be achieved, as is happening in Kent, by moving from the existing focus on ICT infrastructure, connectivity and professional development to a focus on ICT, pedagogy and whole school improvement using new and more effective approaches to delivery.
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Vision for education in the information age
In such a vision all students have individual education plans and, from an early stage, considerable control of their own learning. ICT, as an essential way in which students learn and as professional and management tools for the teacher, is ubiquitous and allows learning to take place anytime, anywhere. Schools become Learning Centres as part of learning networks, communities or clusters of schools, with the best networks being part of a global group of world-class schools. Physical and social boundaries between types and age ranges of schools will change and may cease to exist. The “School that never sleeps” will transcend the current physical, temporal, social and economic boundaries. It will provide 24x7 access to learning. It will be a hub for the local economic community. As the current structures of the school day and school terms disappear the home will become an extension of the learning environment.
The learner and independent learning take centre stage, not the teacher. Once the school’s resources are available through ICT, many can be made accessible for use by pupils, teachers and parents, at locations beyond the school premises. Pupils spend less than 20% of their time in a year in lessons (5.5 hours a day, 40 weeks). Resources available at all times, not just during the traditional school day, mean that pupils and teachers can continue to learn to the full beyond the traditional confines of the school day.
There will be different ingredients in the blend of educational provision, including traditional teaching as part of a much richer range of resources and services. Individual independent learners with their own learning plans will be supported, guided and encouraged by professionals who have a deep understanding of how people learn, and a deep commitment to each individual learner realising their potential.
The school becomes a far more relevant school, with access to relevant information at the right time, where students learn through experience, experiments and exploration, with less of a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum. The emphasis moves towards preparation for life, and learning for new circumstances, rather than information gathering. The approach of learning as doing, and learning as problem solving, can support a step change in standards and achievements, particularly where it is tied in more closely to individual education plans. Teachers work together with their professional peers to share good practice. Capacity is enhanced through ICT by combining blended learning, online communities, and a managed learning system.
There are many exemplar schools which show what can be done, especially with extra funding. However few education authorities have taken this as far as Kent’s Education and Libraries Directorate which has moved to the next stage and has started sustainable, structural, Authority-wide transformation towards “the school that never sleeps”.
2 Achieving step change in Kent
There are challenges in achieving successful step change. Schools vary in the social and cultural characteristics of their students, the extent to which they involve teachers in policy development, the quality of leadership, and their previous experiences with change. Transplanting an initiative that has been successful in one LEA or group of schools to others can be difficult. Kent already has examples of successful initiatives based in individual schools. The challenge for, and the commitment by, the Education and Libraries Directorate is to build on these and spread the benefits of these achievements to other schools.
Only three things ultimately matter about educational reform (Hargreaves):
40. Breadth, with reforms being extended beyond a few schools, networks or showcase initiatives to transform education across entire systems
41. Depth, improving important rather than superficial aspects of students’ learning and development
42. Length or duration, sustained over long periods of time.
Deep change means organisational learning and a major shift from existing practices. Schools need the capacity to make the paradigm shifts that are necessary.
Deep and broad change in Kent is being driven forward in several different but complementary ways:
School Clusters. KCC is establishing clusters of schools so that stronger schools can support and assist weaker schools while continuing their own drive for excellence. This major structural change to drive school improvement and provide the highest possible quality of education in all partner schools will create 22 clusters of schools, combining primary, secondary and special needs schools, each with a Management Board, a full time advisory council Officer working for them and a full range of supporting resources including educational psychologists, educational welfare officers and so on. This will take time, and potentially legislative change, to achieve in its entirety, but the process has started. Successful schools are already being clustered with other less successful schools to leverage existing good practice. The change will be authority wide. School clusters and their allocated officers will encourage regeneration and renewal in their locality by raising the academic standards and vocational skills of their local population.
Learning Gateway Architecture. Emerging technologies now allow new learning environments that will have inextricable links with the creation of new economic communities. KCC’s and Microsoft’s Vision for Education is to “realise potential through connected learning communities”. In a Connected Learning Community schools, campuses, homes, businesses and community resources are connected in a dynamic, collaborative learning environment in which
43. Students and educators access learning any time, any place, on any device, at any pace
44. Learning is relevant, individualised, personalised
45. School information systems are agile, and support accountability and efficient management.
From working in close partnership with educators Microsoft has developed a framework to help create these new learning environments and allow for the transformation of working and learning practices. This framework, called the Learning Gateway, enables educators and stakeholders, including parents, to access and manage and handle information and resources in a way that provides opportunities for teachers to focus on teaching and for new enhanced learning opportunities to be available to students. It is being used in Kent to prove the new model “Putting Learners First” and to enable individual schools and school clusters to accelerate their journey towards delivering 21st century education.
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Conceptual view of the Learning Gateway
The architecture is modular in design so that schools can take their first steps with e-learning with Microsoft Class Server but then scale and develop the learning environment as appropriate within and between schools.
The Learning Gateway framework provides
46. a scalable platform for up to one million users
47. all services via a web browser
48. a single sign on mechanism
49. role based portal experience
50. prescriptive deployment guidance, centrally or school based
51. “out of the box” Microsoft functionality relevant to specific users
52. “plug and play” framework for other Microsoft components or 3rd party systems.
The Learning Gateway provides a single, integrated, intentions based point of access for teachers, students, parents and administrators which places:
53. The student at the centre of the learning experience world. Students choose when to learn and what to learn
54. Teachers as architects of the student’s learning process determining what content, assignments, tests, excursions and so on are required to enable students to demonstrate desired outcomes
55. Tools for teachers which facilitate the creation, direction and monitoring of the learning process including lesson plans, core content, supplementary courses, curriculum standards, assessments, outcomes management, classroom management and parent participation.
Proof of concept project. A “proof of concept” project, “Putting Learners First”, is under way to develop new capacity and encourage the necessary paradigm shifts in educational practice that represent deep change. The rich and integrated ICT based environment created will enhance the opportunities for school improvement to be delivered through these clusters of schools. It will challenge or confirm existing views about feasibility and constraints.
“Putting Learners First” has the following elements:
Six schools initially, 2 primary and 4 secondary, as the first phase of the journey, expanding rapidly towards Authority-wide roll-out.
Partners – KCC, Microsoft, and other partners and suppliers working together to create “The school that never sleeps” through wireless, home-school links, content management, and the new model for education delivery discussed here. The project consists of:
56. Microsoft Learning Gateway Architecture incorporating the Ramesys Assimilate Learning Environment provides the management and delivery of content and information within and between schools and the LEA.
57. Mobility – wide scale use of Tablet PCs and wireless (WiFi) enablement within schools.
58. Home / School Links – enabled by broadband to allow integrated home/school working and exemplify learning activities within the school and from home.
59. Skills
- a continuous professional development model (CPD) through Microsoft Innovative Teachers
- skills in community through Microsoft IT Academy
- Training services (technical) – to provide teachers with skill sets to make use of these ICT solutions
- Training services (pedagogical) – to assist teachers with applying these solutions to the curriculum and promoting best practice
60. This study carried out by Microsoft Consulting Services considering the educational and business justification for change and signposting a new economic model for sustainability.
Individual schools. Individual schools within the “Putting Learners First” project are taking their own approach to achieving deep change. The Cornwallis School is bringing new year 7 pupils into a reformed curriculum and style of education, making the change a natural part of the transition from primary to secondary school. Change will be staged for pupils further up the school.
Invicta Grammar School is taking a staged approach to transformation. Initially all teaching staff have wireless TabletPCs to immerse them in the technology and accelerate their own understanding of how to use it to advantage. On-line access for administration means that pupils can be registered directly on to the system. Teachers will be able to see a picture of each pupil and their historical attendance profile, and access pupil details without having to contact the school office. Timetables are kept on Outlook so that changes can be made easily and are readily visible to all staff. Many curriculum materials are being digitised as e-books with onward links to other sources. All 180 of September 2003’s new intake were provided with TabletPCs before the school holiday so that they could familiarise themselves with the technology in advance of entering their new school and their digitised curriculum.
As well as using TabletPCs and the learning portal with pupils and staff, Bridge and Patrixbourne CE Primary School is training parents and adults from the local community on using TabletPCs and associated software.
Other projects. Other projects which are under way are contributing to deep change in Kent. These include:
61. Kent Connects, a programme for the provision of KCC services across broadband, sharing and exchanging information to support multi-agency working and e-government delivery for the community
62. Dispersed schools project, providing distance learning 6th form courses using a combination of e-learning materials and video-conferencing between schools
63. Convergence of education, libraries and culture. ICT plans to take advantage of economies of scale, and to provide learning links between services
64. Providing advice to educational partners in the adaptation and creation of media rich content that integrates with National Curriculum learning objectives, and curriculum online guidance.
3 Benefits for learners and other stakeholders
School age education in Kent has many stakeholders. Pupils, parents, teachers, governors and the LEA, local companies, libraries and other local services, such as commercially provided educational services or ICT services as with Kent’s EIS, the Health Directorate, Social Services Directorate, police, Regional Development Agency and the County Council all have an interest. Others with a wider interest include central government, the Learning and Skills Council and educational reformers. Stakeholders have differing views on whether the increased and transformational use of ICT is a compelling strategy.
Improved educational outcomes – Evidence from Hugh Christie Technology College suggests that there is a real potential for improved educational outcomes, with higher standards of attainment. ICT can help to make learning more differentiated and customised to individual needs, allowing greater pupil autonomy in their learning process, being able to progress at their own pace using a variety of techniques and technologies, often concurrently, as they do in their lives outside school. They can have their own individualised learning plan which takes into account their own circumstances and builds on their own wider knowledge and experiences, helping them to become independent learners, used to working in a multi-tasking environment, and more ready for the workplace of the 21st century.
Greater transparency for parents – Parents can get better knowledge of how their child is doing at school at any time by being able to see their child’s work and teachers’ comments, can access a virtual community with resources to help their child with her homework, access parent groups, or communicate more readily with the school. ICT can provide access to the latest calendar information relating to their child, ease access to the child’s teachers, and even further their studies as adults from home. However ICT of itself will not address these. It is the combination of ICT with imagination, buy-in from all those involved, and a sound transition plan based in a school’s own realities that will bring these benefits.
Compelling for learners – ICT is compelling for learners, such as 6th formers, the home-bound and others who would benefit from the flexibility of accessing educational programmes and resources equally from home or school. Evidence from the Cornwallis School suggests that older pupils who would otherwise have to travel to school can progress better and maintain better motivation by regularly working at home, while still having access to online help and their learning groups. With webcams and discussion groups they can still be part of the social group. There is also evidence that students can find learning using ICT more interesting, engaging and enjoyable, particularly when they get more immediate and personal feedback. Additional benefit comes from reducing the time spent in travelling to and from the school.
Compelling for learners – ICT becomes compelling for learners with differing learning styles as educational materials become available which better match those individual learning styles. It is already compelling for those who wish to run through lesson content in advance and use the teacher-led lesson for revision and clarification.
Reduced need for supply teachers – Some schools have effectively been able to eliminate the use and cost of supply teachers by having elements of the curriculum online. Reducing the need for supply teachers brings clear savings in direct staff costs and a corresponding reduction in the administrative hassle of procuring supply teachers.
Kent as a great place to teach – There are advantages for teachers at Invicta who will be able to access everything they need from their own wireless TabletPCs, with immediate access to comprehensive advice, guidance and support whatever their subject or competency specialisation, and to a wide range of resources that simplify the preparation and enrich the delivery of lessons. Innovative and creative ways of supporting pupils’ learning are already being developed, such as using e-books as rich teaching tools, and linking with resources and experiences rarely accessible within the conventional classroom and timetable. Online support for professional development can mean less disruption through more time-effective access.
Extend school’s reach to excellent teaching – ICT can extend a school’s reach to excellent teaching, particularly in shortage subjects. Video-conferencing technologies can change the rules where specialised courses, such as sixth form minority subjects, would otherwise not be economically viable by enabling pupils from different schools to participate without having to travel.
Reduced teacher workload – Teacher workload can be reduced. Grading and report writing can be eased by avoiding the need to re-enter the same information into different administrative systems. Collaborating and communicating with colleagues, capturing and sharing ideas, and accessing shared resources, within and between schools, can ease the teaching burden substantially and facilitate professional support and development. Some schools are already making more sophisticated use of pupil data to give more timely and detailed information on pupil profiles, attendance and individual achievements.
Better management information – All those charged with responsibility for school improvement, from Director of Education to headteacher to classroom teacher, can have far more timely, up-to-date, and detailed management information, giving them more effective tracking of pupils’ performance, attendance and behaviour, and of children at risk. School based statistics become far more accessible and usable. Information as needed by government can be automated.
Business intelligence – With school and pupil information increasingly held electronically, Business Intelligence tools can provide timely analyses and reports giving Directors of Education a better chance to reacting swiftly to changing circumstances or trends, and a benefit of closer linkage to citizens and the community. Directors of Education can engage with life-long learning for all. Some 20% of households in Kent contain a school age child, and most are near or next to one that does. School age education provides an easy and obvious way for the Education Directorate to communicate to the wider community. The technology supporting school age education could provide a place for the community to share knowledge, communicate and collaborate.
Simplified co-ordination of support – There is a clear promise of simpler co-ordination of support for children through improved links to other organisations and agencies in the local community. School Headteachers can engage students, teachers and parents more, involving parents in the learning process. They can distribute information more effectively and in a more timely way, increasing communication and collaboration. As parents become better informed, active participants in their children’s education through improved access to information and guidance, they can become even more vital members of the school and learning community.
Naturally, many parents and education reformers want more than improved achievement results in league tables. They want deep, powerful, high performance learning-for-understanding that prepares young people to participate in today’s knowledge and informational society.
Learning for understanding is not just a cognitive and psychological matter. Deep learning and teaching are cultural and emotional processes. They contextualise students’ learning in what they have learned before, in what other teachers are also teaching them, and in student’s own cultures and lives. This deep contextualization of learning is a cultural and not just a cognitive task. Developing learning with emotional as well as cognitive depth requires a vision of learning standards that is social and emotional as well as cognitive. Standards, and modes of delivery, must not be so content-based and measurement-driven that they reinforce a subject-centred, fragmented curriculum which undermines the basis for emotional understanding.
Deep teaching and learning are difficult to do. They are even harder to support, to sustain over time and to spread beyond a few local initiatives. Yet this is what Kent aims to achieve with assistance from ICT.
4 The LEA as mentor and facilitator
One role of an Education Directorate is to set vision. Seymour Papert, respected education commentator, identifies vision as a key and primary commitment to how policy-makers and educators can participate in forging an education that matches the needs and opportunities of the 21st century, and a key to what this education should be about.
Kent’s vision, as represented through “Putting Learners First”, addresses a number of expectations raised by the Learning and Skills Council report on Distance and Electronic Learning (DELG Report):
65. Well planned, high quality, expertly supported e-learning will play an increasingly important role in enriching and extending learning provision
66. To allow ICT to be used as an enabler and route to school improvement, LEAs should establish a strategic framework for distributed and electronic learning that integrates e-learning and ICT into local strategies, recognises national and commercial provision, and assures aspiration for all. Such a framework should establish and adopt common specifications, materials development and interoperability standards to underpin content development, and promote the adoption of best practice accessibility standards in e-learning materials and environments with supporting guidance
67. The Government’s “Modernising government” and “e-Government” agendas suggest that the LEA has a role to enable and facilitate changes which are beyond the capacity or remit of individual schools, while continuing to assure the autonomy of those schools
68. The LEA, with the support of other funding agencies, should invest in e-learning professional development focusing on pedagogy and cost-effectiveness, working with others to accelerate the development of e-learning approaches which address learners' life skill needs as well as educational needs.
The Education and Libraries Directorate recognises that individual school improvement efforts cannot be isolated from the surrounding policy context. They can only be sustained if policies support them. They require continuing Directorate support that recognises a school’s exceptional achievements and allows it to retain key leaders and staff committed to the school’s distinctive approach. Kent’s school clusters and greater connectivity between schools through ICT are practical ways in which the Education and Libraries Directorate is helping schools to build on those achievements, although timing is crucial to align significant change with the cyclic dynamics of the school year.
The Directorate is building on the existing foundation provided by the South East Grid for Learning. The feasibility of acquiring or developing comprehensive online resources to provide a baseline level of educational provision is already under investigation. Schools use Kent LEA advisory staff to help in selection of on-line services, and training and educational materials, or for help in getting refunds where materials are unsatisfactory so that they can switch their money to more appropriate sources. Using the buying power of the LEA can improve value for money. For £250 per pupil a school can lease a configured PC. For £250 per pupil an LEA can lease a full ICT infrastructure.
Blended provision of education using employed teachers and in many cases commercially provided online resources represents a significant change in service provision. The LEA as it moves forward will ensure that it is aware of the implications and consequences of the blended approach.
69. Contract negotiation may become a necessary skill for the teacher and school, and potentially also the learner and their parents, so that they can be informed buyers of educational services.
70. There are implications for the purchase of services. It may be best to create a market in educational service provision within, and even beyond, the authority so that continued production and updating of high quality educational materials is underpinned by a sustainable, and to some degree self-funding, model. In this case the LEA will supply legal and commercial services to support the development and export of such “learning services” and provide advice on managing intellectual property rights (IPR) and intellectual capital.
71. A continuing programme of professional development will be needed for staff involved in leadership, management, delivery and support of e-learning, including inspectors and other quality assurance personnel to raise their level of expertise in the educationally sound and effective adoption of distance and electronic learning. As part of the central provision of services, provision will be made for teachers to be able to try out what they’ve been trained in, in a teacher safe environment.
72. Taking the opportunity to harmonise electronic systems will reduce bureaucracy for learners and providers, improve ease of use and the quality of management information, minimising the management burden. Administration will be minimised by adopting unique personal learner identifiers and by harmonising online assessment. This is particularly pertinent where there is significant movement of pupils between schools.
There is a community dimension. Closer and more effective communication between clusters or federations of schools and availability of business intelligence for the LEA will contribute to more informed management and to more rapid handling of issues. Liaison with other local government services, including health, social services and police becomes more immediate. New capabilities for out of school learning, and home school integration, enabled by ICT will have an impact on local social and economic communities as well as providing better access to non-school education. Pupils who at present receive some 3 hours per week tuition out of school, such as those in hospital, could to a large extent be returned to mainstream educational provision in line with the requirement for full time education.
ICT based services can also enable provision for other categories of pupils such as pupils with disabilities, refugees, those with English as an additional language or other special educational needs, and for hospital schools where pupils could follow their own individualised education plan rather than the hospital school’s curriculum.
These all align with DfES aims for e-learning and are consonant with emerging recommendations from other government agencies including the Government’s goal that by 2010, young people and adults in England will have knowledge and productive skills matching the best in the world in a society where Government, employers and individuals actively engage in skills development to deliver sustainable economic success for all.
5 Why now?
Individual schools in Kent and elsewhere are already demonstrating that education can be provided in new and different ways with the use of ICT to support a connected learning community.
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The Connected Learning Community
Some schools are rewriting the economics of school age education. This is the start of a journey which has become possible through the conjunction of several developments:
73. Technology convergence – A number of technologies have converged opening a door to whole new learning and economic communities. Wireless mobility is now robust and realistic. End user devices can move and stay with the individual, whether pupil or teacher. Wireless TabletPCs provide an effective and attractive interface that pupils and teachers are using to advantage making mobile working truly viable although subject as yet to practical limitations such as battery life and the need for power connections. Access to learning materials and supporting information can be immediate, individualised and continuous. Individual learners carry their learning environment with them, and can continue their learning at a time and place of their choosing. The promise of any time, anywhere learning is now a reality.
74. New models for content management and home school integration – New models for content management, delivery and home school integration, as exemplified by the Learning Gateway framework and mobile technologies, make very different approaches to learning possible. Educational resources are accessible from the student’s home, from other places such as hospitals for those otherwise excluded, and can be accessible at any time from “the school that never sleeps”. Parents can see how their child is progressing and be directly supported in helping children realise their full potential.
75. A richer educational experience – Greater educational impact can be provided at a given cost as many more individuals and organisations are connected into a learning network. Pupils can work together on joint assignments whether they are from the same school or from different schools. Teachers become less isolated, and can become more active members of their professional community. The profession’s understanding of how such learning environments can help enhance the opportunities for all learners within them has grown.
76. Better ways of learning – There is now scope for a fundamental change to the form, structure, dynamics and quality of educational provision that can be delivered with improved approaches to learning. Pupils in some schools are starting to have the freedom to choose learning styles and modes of delivery that suit them and their needs, at a time that will be most effective for them. No longer are they limited by the knowledge and experience of one particular teacher at a time dictated by the curriculum and the school timetable. Able pupils can accelerate their learning, those that need more time and repetition to fully understand a topic can take extra time when needed.
77. Reduce the digital divide – Children from disadvantaged areas can be given access to a quality of education that they cannot reach today because of the limited number of high quality teachers who choose to work in deprived areas.
78. School integrated into the community – The school can become a more integrated part of the local social and economic community. Life-long learning can be supported through the school as a local learning hub.
79. Schools working together – With far greater connectedness between schools, resources can be shared, as can professional best practice, and specialist subjects can be kept viable without the need to transport pupils from school to school saving time and transport costs.
80. Government agenda – Education is currently high on the government’s agenda.
81. Teacher commitment – There is an unprecedented willingness in the teaching profession to embrace ICT, encouraged by the Laptops for Teachers scheme. ICT is now accepted by many teachers, and certainly many of those entering the profession, as an integral part of their professional life.
82. Administration – The administration of schools is changing. Some schools have effectively eliminated their use of supply teachers removing a major administrative nightmare and senior management burden. Staff are registering pupils electronically and accessing pupil details and individual attendance statistics in a moment without having to contact the school office. Some are maintaining, sharing and updating their lesson schedules, plans and pupil work electronically. Some are fundamentally reconfiguring the nature of the school working environment and pupil’s day while reallocating released funds towards investment in further improvement.
83. Financial and organisational pressures in education – Pressures on budgets and the difficulty of recruiting teachers mean that an alternative approach really is needed urgently. In some schools, ICT is now “business critical” and requires an industrial strength ICT infrastructure.
The evidence is accumulating. Experience from the individual Kent schools in the project “Putting Learners First”, and from other parts of the country, is beginning to demonstrate which expectations are realistic and indicate how the future economics of education will develop.
84. At Hugh Christie School the use of large learning spaces with ICT and on-line learning packages is helping to deliver higher grades. Larger learning spaces enable the school to operate with fewer, but premier, staff. Pupils learn in individualised ICT supported formats, lecture and conventional group teaching formats. Some teachers are paid at premium rates. This is a choice driven by educational priorities. The choice was between spending time and effort recruiting teachers from abroad who were of indifferent quality, or making more effective use of existing but scarce skilled staff. In this school the aim has been to change pupils into “active learners”, developing a full range of subject and life skills. The emphasis is on teaching pupils how to learn, not what to learn. Standards of attainment are increasing. The school is readily balancing its books.
85. In another school, using ICT and providing curriculum materials online to avoid the use of supply cover has meant clear and direct savings of over £20K per annum. The actual savings may be in the region of £100K. An authority wide reduction in the use of supply teachers would avoid substantial direct costs including insurance, and reduce substantial indirect costs in schools’ senior management time and energy.
86. The Cornwallis School is investigating the use of TabletPCs in examinations. It found pupils writing more on TabletPCs than they do on paper. Marking and feedback can be provided faster. Significant printing costs would be saved.
There are issues. Providing all 210,000 pupils in Kent and their teachers with TabletPCs would incur significant cost. However if, for example, Tablet PCs become part of a new learning environment and resources are not deployed on the old way of doing things, then this may represent a simple shift in the pattern of investment, with the real challenge being to shift mind sets.
Government schemes such as Laptops for Teachers make some impact on the overall cost and implications of providing each individual with their own device but are only a step towards a full ICT infrastructure. Schools have different starting points and circumstances and need to take manageable steps forward with ICT on the way towards each individual having access to their own device. For the most part UK schools are “technology assisted” with access confined to the school premises and the school day. The significant change comes when pupils and teachers use ICT beyond those confines through wireless, individual use of TabletPCs and laptop PCs as part of a connected learning community.
These examples show a changing philosophy towards an individualised approach to learning. Individual education plans for each pupil tailored to their needs are becoming realistic as self-service capabilities allow learners to progress at their own pace using appropriate learning styles in a connected learning community.
We appear to be at a “tipping point”. Teachers are already talking of all top end pupils being treated as gifted and talented, of pupils accelerating their pace of learning and completing Key Stages 3 and 4 in two years each, of pupils using the time released to engage in university level foundation studies. Even more significant is teachers talking of disaffected and disadvantaged pupils who rarely attend school engaging productively with ICT and restarting their learning.
6 Relevance to economic regeneration
Education has a key role in securing the future success of Kent’s regional economy, and in helping to address the economic balance east and west of London.
Kent represents one of England’s larger subregional economies yet continues to have pockets of disadvantage coexisting alongside areas of comparative affluence. Kent’s workforce still suffers from a relatively low skills base, and despite absolute improvement in local skills attainment, workforce performance remains the weakest in the south east.
Continuing on this path is not an option. Higher skill levels and aspirations are considered an essential prerequisite to raising productivity, facilitating the shift towards higher value-added, higher wage, economic specialisation.
There is a sharp dichotomy between the more successful West Kent and Channel Corridor areas on the one hand, and the much less successful North Kent and East Kent areas on the other. This is changing for North Kent and Thameside with the major new developments, but this must be supported by training and education opportunities for other parts of the community as well as school age children.
The impetus for future local economic and employment growth is likely to rest with the quality of indigenous small businesses, the backbone of economic life in Kent. Knowledge-intensive Information Economy sectors, together with those driven by increasing consumption such as tourism and recreation, represent the strongest future growth areas. West Kent continues to dominate the county’s knowledge economy and is the only Kent sub-area to possess an above average representation of Information Economy sectors such as Finance and Business Services, but economic development and regeneration is bringing new companies and employment opportunities to the people of Kent. Although many of the new companies are in manufacturing, the financial intermediation sector and construction sectors created the majority of jobs. Many of the new jobs attracted to Kent have been at managerial or professional levels and have been predominantly filled by Kent residents. Companies relocating and investing in Kent are particularly interested in proximity to Europe, London and other UK markets, the quality of life in Kent and the quality of the workforce.
Future possibilities are illustrated by the Kings Hill development, an integrated business and residential community, supported by a balanced mix of sports, leisure, retail and educational facilities set in a 650 acre landscaped environment. The US inspired concept, planned by KCC, promotes quality of life and provides a unique environment in which people can live, work, play and study.
Education within Kent holds the key to capitalising on these opportunities, with “The school that never sleeps” as a community hub “Putting Learners First” in the journey to a vibrant economic future and high quality of life in Kent.
The new economics of education
|Disintermediation - Removing the middleman. A term originating in internet-based businesses that use the world wide web |
|to sell products directly to customers rather than going through traditional retail channels. |
The economic changes that led to disintermediation in the commercial world now apply to the teaching profession. ICT has developed to the point where it can enable fundamental change in the economics of providing education. ICT is capable of providing far better access to a greater breadth and depth of information than the best and most dedicated teacher. The information gateway role of the traditional teacher is now being replaced with a role as mentor and guide encouraging and mediating access to the best available knowledge and information through a rich combination of available resources, physical and digital.
The cost model for a rich ICT environment to develop independent learners is different from that of the conventional classroom. KCC is therefore rethinking the role of the teacher in delivering high educational attainment, working out how the available finance can be applied to best effect in support of this endeavour, and what support is needed from other stakeholders. Strong evidence from schools within Kent indicates that this is achievable, but only through a step change transformation which fundamentally reworks the practice and economics of providing education.
The economics of service industries have changed. Moore’s Law, the doubling of microchip cost performance every eighteen months, has made cheap digitisation possible, and continues to improve the cost-performance of digital technologies. In Kent, at least one school is currently digitising teaching materials for the whole curriculum for the whole school, to be completed within the year, so that all lesson materials are available electronically. Once all pupils are able to access this digitised material through their ICT at any time and from almost anywhere they choose they can accelerate their learning by taking advantage of the materials at any time they need. At Invicta Grammar School some 6th formers already use many lessons as revision having previously done the computerised lessons at home.
Digitisation is not cost effective if only a few pupils are connected or pupils can only connect occasionally. The cost effectiveness of producing digital learning materials becomes compelling when all pupils and all teaching staff are connected, as described by Metcalfe’s Law which values the utility of a network as the square of its number of users. Effort can then be put into raising the educational quality of learning materials, or into producing variants that support alternative learning modes and styles.
Rayport and Sviokla (HBR, 1995) identified that organisations operate in two worlds – a physical world of resources that can be seen and touched, and a virtual world made of information. Economies of scale and scope apply in a different way in the virtual value chain from the physical value chain. Organisations that create value with digital assets may be able to reharvest them many times over. The Cornwallis School is exploring the feasibility of running examinations online which would save extensive printing and administrative costs.
It is not clear that we are getting the best value from our available teachers in providing education, and this is not through lack of hard work. Teachers themselves are often constrained from giving of their best by circumstances that they are individually powerless to change. One objective of a new economic model must be to release and reward this hidden potential of the county’s teaching workforce. Rayport and Sviokla’s observations, challenge the role of the teacher. For those aspects of the teacher’s role which can be provided in virtual rather than physical forms, the teacher should be a broker, mediator and guide rather than information provider and gateway.
Transaction cost economics highlights the dramatically changing cost profile of providing education, and the opportunity to provide dramatically enhanced educational experiences (Downes and Mui, 1998). Schools have considerable difficulty in recruiting suitable teachers, even if they are available, and in some cases are having to pay a premium to secure staff. Costs involved in finding suitable staff are becoming prohibitive with the few suitable candidates playing one school off against another. With the use of ICT, different costs arise, but many of these are steadily diminishing.
School education can be viewed as consisting of a series of transactions, whether as a series of lessons and assignments, or as a series of teaching interventions to advance a pupil’s education. This transactional model has to be reviewed and reassessed challenging whether the current model is as good as it can be, now that alternative forms of educational provision are available. This is not to suggest that all education should be delivered through ICT. Far from it. This is about combining and blending the best of the different mechanisms to best effect for each and every individual whether as part of subject led or competency led curricula.
A pupil’s learning journey through their school age education can also be characterised as a series of transactions and interventions, both educational and non-educational. Conventionally, these transactions consist primarily of individual lessons, assignments, tests, examinations and so on, with their timing, nature and content being governed by the school’s timetable and the assigned teacher. In many cases the overall plan and content of these individual transactions is not made visible to the individual learner who may only find out about what is to be covered in a particular session at the beginning of the session. This precludes any focused prework or preparation other than that specifically suggested.
There are also less formal transactional interactions with staff and other resources, particularly in the context of developing soft skills, which may or may not have beneficial outcomes as with day to day classroom management and discipline.
ICT has reached a stage of development which means that whole new categories of transaction are now realistic, and many existing transactions can be carried out in new ways, whether to reduce cost or increase their educational value.
It is the combination of all these transactions that makes up the pupil’s school experience and achievements, which may or may not be seen as value for money. The time has come to review the costs of these transactions and the value that they contribute, and consider the impact of new forms of transaction such as self-service. New classroom and school management models will be needed.
Any economic model of the education system must recognise two very different views that persist within the education system. Some teachers deny members of a teaching group access to new facilities until everyone in the group can be guaranteed equal access. Others value diversity and encourage each individual to gain the best possible access to facilities and resources available to them, whether within or outside the school, and whether or not other pupils have the exact same opportunity. This economic model assumes the latter view.
An economic model is emerging combining value system thinking and transactional economics. The value system approach is appropriate because the education system is characterised by the high levels of autonomy in different parts of the system. Schools have considerable freedom to make their own management choices, and so base choices about suppliers on local perceptions of value, for example valuing teachers differently according to the balance between their subject knowledge and classroom management skills.
1 A new economic model
The education system is complex and multi-faceted. Any proposals to change the underlying economic model must recognise this. A four layer model (Ellis, 2001) is used to address this complexity.
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Economic framework
Stakeholders
The model starts with the inner and outer circles of stakeholders and their commitments and responsibilities towards school age education.
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Inner and outer stakeholders
Many of these have a direct interest in increasing standards of attainment in schools through the increased use of ICT. Some contribute funds or other resources formally through the budgetary process. Others contribute in other ways, not necessarily financial. Parent-teacher associations have traditionally raised additional funds, and many parents contribute time, if not money. In some authorities E-learning foundations bring new approaches to funding that focus community energy towards what education is trying to achieve.
Some stakeholders, especially the LEA, school and teachers, have statutory accountabilities. Health, social services and the police all connect with the education system, even if only to exchange information to ensure pupils’ welfare and continued education as they come into contact with these agencies. All the stakeholders have their own interest in the outcomes achieved by the education system.
Governance
The Education and Libraries Directorate takes the primary governance role, including setting vision and providing leadership, allocating and distributing funds, auditing and monitoring performance, setting strategies and targets, providing incentives, tackling underperformance, establishing and disseminating policies and standards, and working towards end to end integration of the many agencies involved in school age education.
Kent’s LEA is changing its governance structures to bridge the divide between the Directorate and the schools. It is establishing 22 school clusters, each with a Management Board and a KCC officer assigned to each, to bring closer cross-working and support between schools and with the LEA. It is aimed at building school improvement on a wider base, changing the nature of the boundaries between schools and taking advantage of greater connectedness through ICT. Six secondary school networks are also being developed to facilitate collaboration.
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School clusters
The Directorate is concerned with potential benefits of wider connectedness as well as the practicalities of providing infrastructure and services, including premises and their associated services. The objective is to maximise the value achieved from a gross budget approaching £1b but decreasing in relative terms despite a cash increase in central government funding.
With the wide introduction of ICT there are opportunities for economies of scale from sharing resources and capabilities between schools, and opportunities to keep specialised subject areas viable. The factors determining the viable range, size and physical structure of schools are dramatically changing. Schools are already showing the value of having differently configured, or dynamically configurable learning spaces, such as study halls. Learning can take place in very different ways and environments.
Wide introduction of ICT can also bring greater transparency of the educational experience actually provided to pupils, allowing easier scrutiny by parents and other concerned stakeholders.
The cost of providing technology can be compared with the cost of other facilities and services, but these are of little relevance unless the outcomes are enhanced. It is now essential to contemplate a fundamental redistribution of funding, which is likely to change completely the balance between different categories of spend. Economies of scale can give a sustainable cost of providing ICT infrastructure including PC and supporting connectivity for pupils within £300. The cost of providing an education system wide infrastructure, complete with access to managed content, content development tools, administrative tools and analysis capabilities is being explored through the proof of concept project.
Execution and delivery
Effective delivery of outcomes against the education agenda can only take place if the right assets and resources, such as schools, teachers, ICT and educational materials are in place, aligned with current educational objectives, and managed effectively.
It is not sufficient to consider the school in isolation. The school is part of a whole educational system which prepares teachers and educational materials, and makes them accessible to learners.
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Value system in education
In the industrial age this was a relatively slow moving system with teachers often being able to use materials repeatedly over many years with minimal change. The dynamics of the information age mean that the conventional model is no longer appropriate for many areas of the curriculum. Management and improvement of learning materials becomes critically important, as does updating and upskilling of teachers.
Conventionally, education is delivered through a school centric model, with the pupil’s day to day experience and learning path determined by a school timetable adapted and delivered by individual teachers, typically in groups of about 30 pupils. Content is gathered and configured by the teacher to support a lesson plan created by the teacher, typically based on existing lesson plans. The teacher determines what is to be taught at each time and place.
In the new model, this conventional model is complemented or part replaced by content that is selected and configured by independent learners to support an individual education plan. The learner, with guidance, determines what is to be learnt at each stage. Teachers focus on activities which add value through their personal expertise and knowledge, rather than those which can be achieved through technology. The individualised managed learning model is not unique or untested. The novelty is in the sheer richness and variety that can be made available to learners.
Costs
Within schools the critical cost is the annual cost per pupil of achieving an acceptable level of educational attainment.
Number of pupils: 210,000
Annual budget for schools: £605m
Average cost per pupil: £2,881
Average cost per pupil in most challenged primary schools: £3,084
Average cost per pupil in least challenged primary schools: £2,279
Average cost per pupil in most challenged secondary schools: £3,461
Average cost per pupil in least challenged secondary schools: £2,785
Cost of alternative curriculum (college) placements: £5,500
Cost of home tuition (3 hours per week): £4,485
Cost of Pupil Referral Unit place: between £6,595 and £14,049
Cost for a fully excluded child can rise towards £150,000.
The key economic question is “What is an acceptable profile of educational attainment?”
Staff turnover rates are around 15% per year
In one school, 42% of teacher recruits are from abroad
Teaching staff are predominantly in the 40-55 year age range
Inset training is subject to practical difficulties of releasing teacher time to attend
There is a shortage of good candidates for leadership, and many teaching, positions
Supply teacher led lessons have a strong correlation with discipline problems
The annual cost of supply teachers, including insurance, is over £10m
These lead to some interesting cost comparisons:
87. Assuming an annual fully burdened cost of a teacher to be £50,000 (roughly twice salary), the annual cost of one teacher is equivalent to the annual cost (taken as £250 pa) of providing ICT for 200 pupils
88. The difference between a teacher and an assumed annual fully burdened cost of a teaching assistant of £40,000 is equivalent to the annual cost of providing ICT for 160 pupils
89. The extra cost of each Pupil Referral Unit placement (at least £3,000) is equivalent to the annual cost of providing ICT for 12 pupils
90. The annual cost of providing ICT for a pupil is equivalent to 7 hours of home tuition.
Capability
This changed model means a change in the capabilities within the system. New forms of digital learning content will be needed, either by digitising existing material or creating new. Existing learning materials, digitised in the form of ebooks for example, can be electronically linked to other content and materials, immediately extending the learning possibilities. Responsibility for production of materials will need to be planned and shared to avoid duplication and repetition, for example all KS2 teachers producing the same lessons, and to maximise quality, consistency and coherence.
Teachers and other staff will develop new skills, not only in creating and managing new forms of learning content, but also skills in using the technology and new class and group management skills. They will also develop new understanding about how best to use and apply the new opportunities, and be professionally supported through the transition. They will find new and different ways of introducing their personal touch and value to lessons.
In the project “Putting Learners First”, skills development is provided through the Microsoft Innovative Teachers continuing professional development model, the Microsoft IT Academy, and a combination of technical and pedagogical training.
The other major change in capability is the introduction of a robust and rich ICT infrastructure with secure and reliable access at any time, both within and beyond the confines of school premises.
2 Proof point – Hugh Christie Technology College
There is already strong evidence within Kent that a significantly different model for school-based education is not only viable, but can also be effective in raising standards of attainment.
Situation
Hugh Christie Technology College (hughchristie.kent.sch.uk) has some 1200 non-selective pupils. The College philosophy is very much about how to learn rather than what to learn, following the RSA approach of a competency based approach to learning with intensive support to begin with and then reducing as learning competencies develop. The aim is to change pupils into active learners.
The College uses a social model to underpin their approach to learning based on “Theory of Mind”, Emotional Intelligence theories and tying in with concepts of social competence. The College tests, and applies an intervention programme to develop, skills that pupils will need to progress. In the transition from Key Stage 2 to KS3 a social competence programme guided by EQ testing is provided, the aim being to subvert the pupil culture and develop more beneficial peer messages leading towards improved inclusiveness.
Budgets are being cut by 8% over 3 years. There was a crisis in teacher recruitment both in terms of availability and of quality. Foreign teachers could be recruited but they raise culture issues as well as quality issues. Recent attempts to recruit a Head of Department at a salary of £40k brought one unsuitable applicant.
The College has therefore implemented fundamental change and reconfiguration of the learning environment. The College has the promise of a PFI-funded rebuilding project although this remains distant. Meanwhile, in 2001, the school created 2 large spaces with ICT. Computer Aided Learning packages seem to be an effective route to 5 or more A-Cs, which are now at 58%. Assignments are linked to learning modules.
Larger learning spaces mean that the school can work with fewer staff paid at premium rates. In maths the current provision is three sessions per week of which two are taught in a traditional manner and one is programmed learning – a class of 60 with 30 at the front being taught in a traditional manner and 30 using ICT. It is anticipated that a lecture theatre approach will be used for 15-20% of the time once the school is rebuilt, and that older pupils will be able to work with a split day, not coming in to school so much.
The key is in the money available and how it can be used. The College is considering a “B&Q warehouse” model for school buildings which would consist of large spaces that can be reconfigured as and when needed. This is very different from the traditional concept of what a school should be and has not yet been accepted by the DfES. The DfES appears to be still favouring a traditional layout despite the accumulating evidence.
This transition has not been taken lightly. The College set parents’ expectations with presentations about the realities that the school was facing and got a very high attendance rate from parents who are now supportive. Full consultation with staff and a non-bureaucratised approach has contributed to solid buy-in. Departments recruit their own staff and make their own decisions. Staff meetings are short and focused. There is a brief daily meeting but much communication is through email.
The transition is also still under way. In each faculty it needs someone to think it through and work out how the faculty will transform, for example the sciences are converting labs into an ICT suite. Vocational education is developing a tutoring model.
Solution
In April 2002 Hugh Christie employed 68.4 teaching staff, excluding SEN staff. From September this was to be reduced to 66.6 staff, including the hiring of two additional staff to cope with influx from a local school that had closed. Without this the staffing level would have been 64.6.
The annualised cost savings from staff reductions will amount to £225,838 at current rates for the year 2003-04, a figure which includes on-costs. This figure does not include the extra two staff employed in relation to the local school closure.
One extra Teaching Assistant was hired at an annual cost of £14,000 pa.
Pupil numbers grew from 1116 in January 2002 to 1168 in September 2002. This did not include an extra 39 pupils from Eden Valley, increasing the total to 1201. Using a traditional model the school would expect to recruit extra staff.
In curriculum terms this meant:
91. English: reduction of one member of staff
92. Languages: reduction of one member of staff
93. Maths: reduction of one member of staff
94. Technology: reduction of three members of staff
95. ICT: demand for an extra teacher, but not being met
96. Humanities: demand for an extra teacher, but not met
The College’s solution was:
97. Set up a 1:60 room including 30 computers for each of english, languages, humanities
98. Reduced curriculum time for Technology
99. One room with 60 machines being set up, another with 40, for ICT
100. Additional ICT supplied for vocational education (30 computers) and science (12 computers in a 1:30 room), PE (4 computers and video equipment), sixth form (6 extra computers)
Overall this entailed 202 machines being purchased.
A 1:60 ICT room using current machines and replacing some aging machines was also created.
The overall cost of equipment and technical infrastructure was £225,000, the cost of building works was £40,000. Building works were funded from a small capital grant. ICT was funded by a three year lease at approximately £79,000 annually.
The College anticipated savings of some £173,000 once the diminished lease payments came into effect, including £226,000 staff cost savings, £14,000 increased teaching assistant costs, £79,000 lease costs, £8,000 costs of larger lessons, and £48,267 leased cost savings.
Ways Forward
New technologies based on ICT offer a way forward that both develops pupils as learners and potentially provides high quality learning materials. This approach of ‘student as worker, teacher as coach’ could lead to more pupils being successful because they have been taught how to learn and not simply what to learn.
What it might look like:
101. Year 7s taught in half year blocks in central large space for up to forty percent of the time; use of much reduced staffing in these areas
102. Development of integrated approach to some curriculum areas as outlined in RSA ‘Opening Minds’ project
103. Underpinning mentoring system using both peer and teacher approaches
104. Measurement of attitude, behaviour, progress in literacy and numeracy
105. Radically changed learning environment with:
- use of (wireless) Tablet PCs by whole year groups
- change to group sizes
- connectivity between school sites for swapping of information about progress
- common training approaches across all schools in project
- emphasis on learning and thinking skills linked with use of technology.
The way forward
There now needs to be a serious debate. ICT offers many opportunities but these are not without their challenges. There are major decisions to be made, and they must be well informed as they affect all our futures. There are serious questions to be answered.
106. Does current legislation promote or hinder the adoption of new learner centric approaches to education and new management and governance structures?
107. Do DfES guidelines for the architecture of new schools block the creation of learning environments suited to the 21st century?
108. How should funding be allocated to best effect?
109. How can real individualised learning be managed in practice?
110. Should schools buy educational content, or make their own? How can economies of scale be achieved without undermining the role of the teacher?
111. How should teacher training change to prepare new entrants to the profession?
112. What new classroom management skills are needed when using larger learning spaces?
At this early point on the journey there are many unknowns. The debate must inform a roadmap towards the future that will enable all stakeholders to play their part.
It is anticipated that such a roadmap will include:
|Stakeholders |Learn from the evidence |
| |Engage in debate |
| |Commit to a shared view of the future (for example through executive round tables, |
| |collaborative working, and Future Search Conference techniques) |
|LEA, and new school executives |Provide leadership, encouragement and governance |
| |Create conditions for change with new governance structures such as school clusters |
| |Drive change, including lobbying for legislative change |
| |Substantiate and deliver on new economic models |
| |Create communications plan |
|Schools |Deliver capability and capacity |
| |Mandate professional development for teachers and other staff |
| |Develop new skills in using ICT in education |
| |Create/procure educational materials |
|Execution and delivery through |Build new approaches to learner centric education, based on action research |
|“The school that never sleeps” |Deliver learning and educational attainment using the new learning models where |
| |appropriate |
| |Deliver on the promise |
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Case examples
These case examples have been selected to illustrate the level of evidence that already exists to underpin key aspects of the step change. They include examples external to Kent to illustrate particular points.
1 The Cornwallis School
The Cornwallis School is one of the first schools to be involved in the transition to federations as well as being one of the participants in “Putting Learners First”. It is the lead school for the South Maidstone Federation of 3 secondary schools.
The Cornwallis School is a leader in the use of Tablet PCs in education.
Situation
The Cornwallis School is a mixed 11-18 Comprehensive, with Foundation status. It is a Technology College. With over 1600 pupils, The Cornwallis is the largest school in the Maidstone area. It has a sixth form numbering over 300 students. The school aim is straightforward: “Children learn better here”.
Approach
Experience in the use of Tablet PCs at the Cornwallis School has started to show some clear conclusions while raising questions for teachers.
The Cornwallis School is piloting four different models for introducing Tablet PCs:
113. A horizontal model, in which each pupil has their own Tablet PC and uses it whenever they wish, including at home.
114. A vertical model, where particular members of staff use Tablet PCs with whichever group they are teaching. This approach is needed to provide some teachers with the immersion opportunity to really understand what is involved in using individual PCs such as Tablet PCs or laptops as a natural tool across a whole subject range.
115. A departmental model, where pupils do not normally need Tablet PCs but where they bring particular benefit to a part of the curriculum, for example in science. Tablets are made available according to need.
116. A projection model, in which the teacher alone has a Tablet PC together with a data projector and uses them to replace all the technologies that would otherwise be used such as whiteboards.
The horizontal model introduced in Year 7 is empowering students to manage their own learning and encouraging their creativity and resourcefulness. A year 7 girl recently demonstrated a ‘Flash’ animation explaining filtration in Science. ‘How long did it take your teacher to show you how to do that’, asked the visitor?
The girl’s reply was immediate and enthusiastic, ‘I was absent for those lessons but my friend taught me during lunchtime’.
The tablet has huge potential to help in the development of pupils as independent learners and to enhance opportunities for schools to more directly involve parents as partners in their children’s education.
Teachers need to experience full ICT immersion using Tablet PCs for every lesson, not just occasionally, so that they can become domain experts and a resource for the school. Without immersion staff do not really fully appreciate the extensive benefits of the use of tablets. For example, staff have found that there is no point flooding the school with Tablet PCs without providing sufficient data projectors as teachers need to be able to demonstrate work easily.
The wide use of ICT, such as Tablet PCs and wireless, brings new challenges in terms of classroom management and the way teachers teach.
117. The modern world experienced by pupils is multi-tasking, multi-access, and multi-media. Yet schools are not creating independent multi-taskers, but linear single taskers. New teaching methods are needed to create independent, multitasking learners.
118. Pupils’ work can be readily projected so that it can be shared with the rest of the class. To find a practical technical solution, teachers are exploring the use of wireless projection via a dedicated PC or laptop, switching to individuals’ displays as needed.
119. Different pupils learn in different ways. Some auditory, some visual, for example. The Cornwallis School is engaging in experiments with different ways of teaching with the objective of maximizing the benefits to students from using ICT.
120. Different technology form factors, such as Tablet PC vs Laptop, have different benefits. Pupils have been found to write more with Tablet PCs than on paper. When use is primarily word processing the Laptop with keyboard is more useful. A clamshell form factor for staff enables them to retain the keyboard. The value of the Tablet PC becomes striking for inking on digitized worksheets, and for marking exams with highlighting.
121. There is a different level and nature of communication with pupils when it is across the internet compared with the classroom. A pupil working from home can still be part of the social grouping via webcam.
122. ICT can give e-access from the classroom to industry experts. A live conference with a specialist from industry/commerce can become part of the education experience although it can be hard to find people that pupils can videoconference with. Scheduling rather than travel becomes the main concern. This is not like a video case study or reading from a text book because pupils can ask questions.
To meet these challenges at the Cornwallis School, effort is put into setting expectations of teachers that are realistic, and into providing appropriate teacher and PGCE student training to prepare new entrants to the school and to the profession for this new way of working.
More information: cornwallis.kent.sch.uk
2 Broadclyst Community Primary School, near Exeter
Broadclyst is a rural primary school in Devon which contends that if it can make the change, any school can. It is included to press the point that this step change can and will involve all schools in Kent, whatever their current situation and expertise.
Situation
Broadclyst Primary School runs a scheme for renting PCs to families for as little as £5 a week. With the aim of making pupils' homework an everyday part of family life and extending the school's facilities into the home, pupils can link to the school's system (Total Interactive Multimedia System) via telephone lines.
Broadclyst, founded in 1810, may be England’s oldest operating primary school, but it displays a forward-looking attitude towards technology and how it can enhance the lives of its pupils and staff.
Approach
The school has more than 300 pupils and over 130 PCs, with the classroom for year six pupils offering one PC per child. Technology is an integral part of the teaching and learning programmes, and ICT skills are fundamental to the success of all pupils.
Teachers use software to encourage the pupils to collaborate and structure their learning. For example:
123. Work is assigned, distributed and collected automatically using Microsoft Class Server. Pupils and parents can view all submitted work for that year at a glance, including the marks and comments, along with current projects.
124. Assessments are delivered and available online. A pupil’s performance and progress can be assessed against each aspect of the core curriculum. Planning, target setting and measurement setting are done online using the Educator, a tool that provides every pupil with an individual education plan.
125. With this software, teachers can organise lessons and plan content more effectively, create and distribute assignments, manage work and communicate with students and parents about ongoing progress.
“We want to embrace the latest IT developments to enhance learning and education. At the same time, we want our pupils to leave Broadclyst with IT skills that will enable them to flourish in secondary education and even beyond that.” (Jonathan Bishop, Deputy Headmaster, Broadclyst)
More information: .uk
3 Invicta Grammar School
Invicta has introduced Tablet PCs for the whole of the September 2003 intake as part of a planned cultural shift within the school. All staff were issued with Tablet PCs in April and they are now reaping the benefits of using state of the art technology to aid students learning and improve their work life balance through more efficient electronic administrative systems.
Situation
Invicta Grammar School has been established in Maidstone, the county town, for over 60 years and is federated with Valley Park Community School, its neighbouring high school. It is one of Kent’s premier grammar schools, taking students from the top 25% of the ability range. The school has recently appointed a Deputy Headteacher with the responsibility of ensuring there is a step change in the way ICT is used to improve teaching and learning and that there are efficient management information systems to reduce teacher workload. The school is recognised as being at the cutting edge both on the use and potential of the Tablet PC.
Approach
Invicta is taking a staged approach to ICT within the ‘Putting Learners First’ project, achieving transformation a step at a time. A decision was taken early on to install data projectors into classrooms where teachers demonstrated they were ready to transform the way information was presented to the students. The Tablet PC provided an excellent alternative to a fixed interactive whiteboard. Such has been the enthusiasm for this technology that the governing body of Invicta has approved the installation of a further 25 data projectors across the school. Over 70 % of classrooms now have a data projector which is making a significant impact on the learning of students, particularly the visual and auditory learners.
To ensure equality of opportunity for all of the students in the piloted year group each was given a Tablet PC. Students have the opportunity to take these home if they wish or to leave them charging on a trolley in their form room. This solution enables each Tablet to be associated with a unique owner, enabling faster log on times and more efficient technical support.
Invicta has made major innovative changes to its curriculum – on every tenth day the entire school has a ‘focus’ day. This enables staff and students to work together on projects that do not fit into the confines of a normal timetable. It also allows students from across the school to use the Tablet PCs and benefit from the wireless technology that is available in each classroom.
Already there has been an improvement in literacy skills by the ability of students to read, create, explore and transform a variety of literary and non literary texts using text manipulation methods such as text marking, split screen facility and annotation to appreciate and analyse language conventions and structure.
In mathematics the ability to create electronic worksheets and virtual text books on a Tablet PC is having a positive impact on students’ motivation and enthusiasm for the subject. It also provides a climate for independent learning as students can gain instant feedback to their answers if required. Access to specialist software is instantaneous within the standard classroom due to high speed wireless access points.
All staff using the Tablet PCs have particularly enjoyed being able to remain in their classroom but gain access to up to date and real-life information via the Internet. This has ensured that students have the latest information, not available in any text book, and are equipped with the skills required to make sensible searches and educated decisions about the reliability and integrity of the source.
Invicta has made significant progress in automating its administrative practices. Staff have been trained in Outlook and can use this as an electronic diary and planner. All registers are taken electronically. Photographs of the students are embedded into the attendance registers and pop up when the stylus goes over the student name. SEN information is similarly available and was commended by Ofsted in the November 2003 inspection as an innovative development.
Conclusion
It is clear, even at this early stage, that the mobile and wireless technology will be key in transforming teaching and learning at Invicta, thus increasing high standards even further.
More information: invicta.kent.sch.uk
4 Philip Morant School and College, Essex
Philip Morant is a comprehensive school and sixth form college in Essex which has eliminated the cost of bringing in supply teachers to cover lessons.
Situation
Philip Morant is an 11-19 comprehensive school and Sixth Form College with just over 1600 students (220 in the sixth form) and over 100 teaching staff. It was founded in 1964. Located in Colchester, Essex, it has been a Technology College since 1994 and was granted Beacon School Status in 2000.
The school and central government recognised that teacher workload was becoming an increasingly important concern. The teacher recruitment crisis was becoming more severe nationally and the school was finding it more difficult to recruit teachers and supply teachers.
Approach
As part of its transformation agenda the British Government set up the "Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project" in April 2002. Philip Morant School and College was chosen as one of 32 pilot schools. The school worked with the DfES, Microsoft, HP and Ramesys to develop a new Learning Centre, which uses a Managed Learning System (Microsoft Class Server) to deliver lessons to a large group of students, supervised by a teacher supported by learning assistants.
The school has put much of the curriculum into Microsoft Class Server so when their teacher is absent, pupils simply log into the workstations in the Learning Centre for immediate access to either their ongoing work or relevant exercises assigned by the absent teacher or department head. Class Server enables work to be tailored towards the individual needs of students and lets teachers to distribute the learning materials to their classes and receive data on student performance. Much of the work completed by students is automatically marked by the software, giving them immediate feedback.
““ICT is transforming the way we work, freeing teachers to do what they do best – teach,” says Russell Moon, headmaster, Philip Morant School. “Already under incredible time pressures, covering classes for absent colleagues simply doesn’t make the most of teaching resources. In the absence of the class teacher, the ability to continue to follow the curriculum through access to interactive, online learning is a major step forward.”
The Learning Centre has one trained teacher supported by up to three trained Learning Support Assistants who support students with their learning. Support for teachers to help them use the ICT system is implemented through a buddy system where each inexperienced teacher is supported by a more knowledgeable teacher colleague ‘buddy’.
Benefits
No Cover, Reduced Costs
All teachers are guaranteed that they will not have to cover lessons for absent teachers and the cost of bringing supply teachers in to cover lessons has been eliminated, saving the school £20,000 per year.
Reduced Preparation
Teachers preparing lessons through Microsoft Class Server can use online learning materials and share their work with other colleagues within and beyond the school.
Time for Continued Professional Development
As a result of the opening of the Learning Centre, Philip Morant School has been able to guarantee teachers a minimum of three hours per week ‘non-contact’ time, allowing them to catch up with marking, research subject materials and develop lesson plans. Staff use wireless enabled laptops which enable them to communicate with each other and access the school network from anywhere on the school’s campus. This will bring the school closer to its aim of achieving savings in staff time of over 20%, giving teachers more time to teach.
Conclusion
The opening of the Learning Centre means that the school can guarantee no cover for all teachers. In the event of teacher absence students can continue with relevant curriculum work, supervised by fully-trained teaching assistants. The project is fully replicable: a similar project could be delivered in other schools according to their needs and resources. The crucial issues of effective delivery of the curriculum, raising standards and saving teachers time addressed in this project are common to all schools.
More information: philipmorant.essex.sch.uk/the_school
5 Bridge & Patrixbourne CE Primary School
Bridge is a primary school in Kent near Canterbury. It is using TabletPCs with a complete year 5 cohort, and will also be providing education and training for adults from the local community from September.
Situation
Bridge & Patrixbourne CE Primary School is situated in the village of Bridge, 3 miles south-east of Canterbury. The school has been on its present site since 1970 but since then it has undergone extensive expansion with the newest part of the school being completed in 2002 and opened in the June of 2002 by the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The school is a two-form entry school with 14 classes ranging from Reception to Year 6. A nursery within the school grounds is independent of the school. The 370 pupils from Bridge village, villages around Bridge, and from villages further afield are of wide mixed-ability.
The teaching staff includes four Advanced Skills Teachers (AST), one of whom teaches the Year 5 children who are part of this project.
Approach
As part of the “Putting Learners First” project the school received 60 RM tablet PCs for each child in our current Year 5 cohort. At present, these children use the tablet PC daily at school and they will be using them as Year 6 pupils. They will be taking the tablets home to continue their school-work via the internet and the Ramesys Assimilate learning portal.
Bridge has a client-server network that is mainly wireless, with some administration workstations connect through a fixed wire link. The RM tablets connect to the RM server via a 11/54 Meg wireless link supplied by Opti-networks; the tablets only have an 11meg wireless card fitted internally. The tablet PCs have been built from an image, held on our server, which consists of the Microsoft Windows XP platform, Microsoft Office and RM Curriculum Window Box, software designed for use by primary aged children. This software allows us to meet the requirements of the Government’s National Curriculum 2000. All work is saved onto the server in the user’s Home folder.
Since Easter, Year 5 pupils have been using the RM tablets to support their education in a range of curriculum areas and have used programs including Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Windows Journal and have used the Internet.
Benefits
The impact of using the tablet PCs in the school has been enormous. Teachers have been very enthusiastic to use them but with certain anxieties. The change from 30 children sharing 15 laptops to all children with their own device has highlighted management issues regarding charging the devices between use, reliability of device, reliable logon to the server via the wireless connection
Futures
The school’s vision is that every member of staff and every pupil should have a tablet PC with wireless connectivity to the network. Where appropriate, these tablets will be taken home so that staff can prepare lessons and students can access material from the learning portal. The school premises will be opened up after school hours for community use including adult education.
Future targets for the project:
126. Staff training on the use of Microsoft Class-server and Ramesys Assimilate software;
127. The tablets are set-up so that children can take them home and connect to the internet via a common ISP to gain access to the Ramesys learning portal;
128. Training sessions for parents on using the tablet PCs and the associated software;
129. Evening courses are held at the school and led by teaching staff for adults from the local community. This part of the project has already been started and meetings have been held between the school and the local parish. Courses are scheduled to start in September 2003.
More information: bridge.kent.sch.uk
6 Kings Hill Primary School
Situation
Kings Hill Primary School was built in response to the needs of Kings Hill, a major development on the West Malling Airfield Site. All classrooms have direct access to the playground. The school opened in 1997 with an initial intake of 89 pupils, which has now increased to 401 pupils in fourteen classes. The building is an unusual linear design culminating in a round hall at one end – reminiscent of a Kentish Oast House. This additional facility was made possible by a donation from the site developers.
The Kings Hill development is a partnership venture between an American company, Rouse Kent and Kent County Council. Kings Hill School is a central part of realising the vision for this community of a high quality living and working environment, with planned growth towards 3000 houses. The development includes a landscaped business park, a day nursery, the University of Greenwich Campus, shopping, community and leisure facilities.
Approach
Kings Hill is very much part of its own growing community. Pupils will be given the opportunity to email work to their teacher when they take their Tablet PCs home. This will allow the pupils to develop their ICT skills further and reinforce the partnership between Home and School. Access to the internet at all times is allowing children to use world wide resources to enhance their learning. Less able children are showing increased self esteem, and are motivated and achieving their potential alongside their peers.
The teachers are also developing resources to make learning even more creative and interactive. Creating additonal resources using ICT has helped to increase speed and efficiency of teaching and gives the teachers more time to do what they do best – teach.
The Learning Gateway is enabling them to share resources, learn best practice and collaborate with other teachers and schools within Kent LEA and across the UK.
As part of the local community, existing home-school links are being developed, extended and enhanced. Workshops are planned to help support parents in developing their knowledge, so that they can better support their children.
Benefits
By using Tablet PCs, pupils are able to interact with their learning through teacher created resources. As a result, they are able to spend time developing their thinking skills and are encouraged to be independent learners.
Using ICT in the classroom has increased student motivation, leading to improved learning outcomes
Futures
Kings Hill will continue to develop links with local and wider communities, through home school links and community links with other schools and across school phases.
Expertise will be shared throughout the local cluster of schools, and through use of the Learning Gateway through the University of Greenwich campus.
More information: .uk
7 Sandwich Technology School
Sandwich Technology School is one of the ‘Proof of Concept’ Project Champion schools. The project is looking at the innovative use of the internet to enable greater independent learning and to share resources across the county.
Situation
Sandwich Technology School is a non-selective school with specialist school status in an area in which 30% of students attend grammar school. With over 1100 pupils, Sandwich Technology School serves a large number of small primary schools located in the villages that lie between Dover, Canterbury and Ramsgate. ‘Learning is at the heart of what we do’ is the school’s watchword and ‘hold fast that which is good’ is its motto.
Approach
Sandwich Technology School has pioneered the use of wireless LAN technology and is a centre of reference for many schools seeking to introduce similar technology. Registration is wireless and the school has worked in partnership with its supplier of the software to see it develop into a web-based system.
Sandwich Technology School has become a leading authority of the use of laptop computers in education, beginning with the inaugural project, “Anytime, Anywhere Learning”. Two tutor groups in each year of Key Stage 3 consist of students who are encouraged to use laptop computers in every curricular area, and a number of laptop computers were supplied through the LSC for Key Stage 5 students. Students have access to the school’s intranet as well as the internet through wireless connections.
Currently, Sandwich Technology School is developing new ideas through the use of a web portal for the dissemination of lessons, tests, projects and surveys. This will mean that students will have access to learning opportunities not simply at school, but at home. This, it is hoped, will further enhance independent learning strategies already being trialled and developed at the school. In addition to the web portal, the school has purchased sufficient numbers of tablet PCs for every student in year 7 to have access to a personal computing device in their lessons in both the humanities and science faculties. The school opted to purchase two different models in order to assess their usefulness on behalf of the LEA.
An increasing number of classrooms, laboratories and workshops are now equipped with digital projectors, and the mathematics faculty has recently taken delivery of interactive whiteboards to supplement those already in use in the design and technology faculty. A new project is being developed in which the science laboratories will be equipped with desktop computers and audio facilities designed to provide multi-media opportunities in lessons. It is the school’s intention to use DVD resources to a greater extent in lessons.
Plans are being drawn up to enable parents and guardians to have access to homework tasks through the internet. The school will also be exploring the use of the web-based portal provided through the County’s ‘Proof of Concept’ Project to improve home-school links and communication.
At a recent prize-giving evening, the headteacher was able to report that these developments and projects are generating a new excitement and vibrancy in the school. The school’s strategic intent to increase the level of e-learning opportunities will not only enable 24/7 learning 365 days of the year, but will have a positive impact on the workforce reforms – all of which can only but realise the potential of learning in Sandwich and its community.
More information: sandwich-tech.kent.sch.uk
References
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Boateng, P. (2003) “Every child matters”. UK Government Green Paper.
Delors, J. “Report of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century”. UNESCO. delors/delors_e.pdf
DfES (2003) “Fulfilling the potential – transforming teaching and learning through ICT in schools”. Department for Education and Skills. DfES/0265/2003
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KCC (2003) “Best value review of school improvement services”. .uk
KCC (2003) “KCC Annual Plan – June 2003”. .uk/cs/annreport/
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Southworth, G. (2003) “Leading learning and teaching primary schools”. NCSL.
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