The resource is a pdf document, available from Becta's archives. It is the result of a DfES and Becta funded project to produce a summary of the literature available on ICT and attainment, nationally and internationally, both in primary and secondary schools. The resource was published in 2003. It is one of a pair, undertaken by the same team at King's college, London and is number 17 in the DfES series of reports ICT in Schools Research and Evaluation Series.
The aims of the resource
Its stated aims are:
- To identify and use reliable, well documented sources of evidence from the published literature
- To consider evidence from this wider research literature relating to ICT and attainment to complement the ImpaCT2 findings (Harrison et al, 2003; Comber et al, 2002; Somekh et al, 2002)
- To identify the range of environmental, contextual and institutional factors that may have an impact on the association between ICT and improvements in attainment
- To provide an analysis of key issues revealed from the literature review for further research.
Key findings or focus
This study claims to reveal evidence of positive effects of specific uses of ICT on pupils' attainment in almost all National Curriculum subjects, with the most substantial evidence of these effects in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. There is, it says, a strong relationship between attainment and the ways in which ICT is used; where specific use of ICT is closely linked to learning objectives, there is a positive effect on pupils' learning.
The quality, authority and credibility of the resource from your subject perspective in relation to ITE
The resource is written by a team of respected researchers in the fields of ITE and of educational ICT. The members have written similar reports that have been received well in the education ICT and ITE community. The resource has authority, credibility and is of high quality, with excellent referencing to original sources. Some recognition should be made, however, of context. The paper is funded by and written for Becta and DfES, so might be seen as being influenced by those organisations and may, therefore, be perceived to have a pro ICT bias. Inclusion criteria for what is included and excluded from the report does not appear in the literature review. There is no clear evaluation of the studies utilised except to acknowledge that some of the authors worked for NCET/Becta.
The implications for ITE tutors/mentors
All ITE courses need to discuss the use of ICT in education. ICT is included in the standards for QTS. Successive governments have invested heavily in hardware, software and training on the assumption that ICT has a positive impact on employability, the needs of the economy and pupil attainment. The TDA has provided monies for ITE institutions to support the use of ICT by trainee teachers. Ofsted inspections of both schools and ITE include a focus on the use of ICT. A number of research projects have been used influentially to justify these strategies, e.g. ImpaCT, Impact2. It is valuable for ITE tutors and mentors to have the chance to examine these and other viewpoints so they can engage in informed debates on the true impact of ICT on attainment. This resource is an excellent starting point, providing a concise, readable but authoritative summary of a wide range of literature from that period. It provides references that mentors and tutors can follow up, as well as suggestions for areas of research that tutors/mentors may wish to investigate or encourage ITE students to investigate.
Tutors and mentors can use this resource to look at the picture across the curriculum, then and now and to focus on their own subject. It can help inform the content of ITE courses, where it could be used early in ITE courses to engage ITE students in this important debate. This author would suggest it might be a useful addition to a pre-course reading list.
The relevance to ITE students
All ITE courses will include ICT use, and schools will expect ITE students to use ICT efficiently and appropriately. It is important for them to know why the Government made ICT a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in all subjects and that they reflect on how ICT is used, when it should be used and its potential impact, benefits and pitfalls. If they are to think critically about the uses of ICT in education, they need to consider different perspectives and the messages coming out of research in the area. This resource is an excellent starting point to enable ITE students to engage in the debate about ICT and attainment. It is concise, readable, credible and authoritative. It would be an interesting ‘task' for ITE students to consider whether things have changed since 2003.
The document has historical worth, in that it shows the developing conceptualisation and use of ICT as a resource for learning.
Reviewed by:
Andrew Connell