Broadening access to the curriculum through using technology to link home and school: a critical analysis of reforms intended to improve students' educational attainment

This article reports on a UK study identifying innovative practice in the use of ICT to link home and school and its potential for enhancing learning. It is set in the context of recent political tensions and the mismatch between ICT use in the home and traditional educational systems. The theoretical framework draws upon curriculum theories and reviews what is already known about home use of ICT. A survey was administered to schools identified for innovative models of practice in both teaching and learning, and management and administration. From the 115 responses, eight contrasting case-study schools were selected. Three exemplars highlight a shift in practices: a move towards self-directed learning; greater flexibility and autonomy for students; and improved communication between home and school. We argue that technology could support a broader access to the curriculum, but that policy-makers should be aware of the digital divide issues. Young people's home use of technology suggests a rich experience involving exploratory activities, access to knowledge and the opportunity to publish their views. Curriculum reform is essential in order to maximize the potential of technology. It demands a shift away from current curriculum and pedagogy towards critical thinking and knowledge construction.     

A Research Approach to Information Technology Development in Initial Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the main ideas arising from the preliminary research and development work carried out by the Initial Teacher Education and New Technology project (INTENT) in the United Kingdom (UK). The opening two sections provide a rationale for integrating research with development in this field and describe the project's structure and aims (see also INTENT, 1992). The main body of the paper explores a number of issues including: possible management structures for supporting information technology development; strategies for leading the professional development of colleagues; and the resource implications of a project such as INTENT. The final section explores some questions of broader concern, such as: the possibility of teaching transferable skills for approaching technology; the need to take account of the diversities of ‘culture’ which exist in initial teacher education institutions; and the dilemma posed by the importance of subjecting information technology to critical appraisal while working within a national framework of mandatory criteria for initial teachers’ information technology competence.     

Theory and Passion in Action Research

The starting point for this article is Polanyi's insight that learning involves the personal participation of the knower in taking possession of knowledge, and that this process ‘takes place within a flow of passion’. Somekh pays tribute to Elliott's role in her own intellectual development, as her tutor while she was still a teacher, and later as her colleague. The article focuses on the contribution of the articles published in Educational Action Research, during its first 10 years, under the title of ‘Theoretical Resources’. The contested nature of this title is discussed and illuminated through an exploration of Elliott's writing about teachers' knowledge and the role of both theory and practice in theory generation. Somekh argues for the importance of intellectual engagement with ideas and theories through passionate participation within a ‘personalised and contextualised reality’ – she sees this process as akin to Elliott's notion of action research as a process which ‘problematises the ideas of theorists’.     

Towards a pedagogy for information technology

ABSTRACT

The authors of this paper have conducted research into the implementation of National Curriculum assessment at Key Stage 1 by local education authorities in one particular region of the United Kingdom, East Anglia. They found that policy documents were being interpreted in a number of different ways, thus allowing a variety of practices to develop. This has allowed policy implementation to be shaped to meet local needs, in particular with regard to audit or moderation at this key stage.     

Methodological issues in identifying and describing the way knowledge is constructed with and without information and communications technology

Abstract

The methods a researcher uses to identify and describe any element of human activity are dependent upon epistemological and culturalpolitical factors. In order to contribute to the improvement of education, researchers who adopt sociocultural methods need to recognise that policy makers are an integral part of the cultural-historical context of education, and adopt a stance of interactive engagement with them. It is clear that the context of learning is critically important, and educational institutions are not normally good environments for learning. Participatory research methods are suggested as the most appropriate way of researching the hidden, private and personally unique process of knowledge construction. A range of methods for data collection and analysis are described, including the use of texts retrieved from electronic communications. Activity theory is suggested as a good framework for intervention studies to explore how the structures of educational institutions could be radically changed to enable information and communications technology (ICT) to transform learning. Such studies would involve researchers working cooperatively with teachers, pupils, parents, the local community, and local and national policy makers in schools where all teachers and students have access any time, any place to ICT. The process of change would be informed by parallel studies of self-directed learning in innovative web-based learning communities, which would be fed back to participants in intervention workshops.