In 1998 the Government announced that it had allocated 230 million from the National Lottery to support training in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for teachers and school librarians in maintained schools across the UK. The New Opportunities Fund was to allocate the funding. The main aim of the training is to raise the standard of pupils' achievements by increasing the expertise of all teachers to the level expected of all newly qualified entrants.
Since September 2001 I have been working full time as an ICT consultant for the Foundation Stage in Lewisham, south London. I deliver New Opportunities Fund ICT training to schools for Talent, a training consortium made up of Lewisham LEA, Lewisham College and Goldsmiths College. The training model offers schools the equivalent of six sessions for face-to-face training and each individual teacher also receives up to half a day's individual support. This can be in the classroom, or as one-to-one help in, for example, planning, teaching, managing and assessing, or for the development of technical ICT skills. Talent also offers specialist training days for Foundation Stage practitioners.The typical programme for such a day covers:
* The role of ICT in the Foundation Stage
* ICT opportunities in the six areas of learning
* Planning issues
* Identifying and evaluating software, CD-Roms and websites
* Using and planning for the use of programmable toys.
My own personal interest in ICT grew from the need to word-process assignments as a mature student on my B.Ed course. It was also part of my subject elective! I became ICT co-ordinator at the first school I taught in, where I worked for two years in the nursery class. As part of my role I attended a ten-day GEST funded course that improved my knowledge of the subject both in pedagogic terms and the whole needs of the school. I ran sessions at the local professional development centre on the use of ICT in literacy, maths and art. Later I went on to work for five years in a nursery school, where again I used my ICT expertise.
While working as an ICT consultant for the Foundation Stage, I have found, unfortunately, that many Foundation Stage teachers often have to make use of software that is inappropriate. This is because someone buys it higher up the school who has little knowledge of the early years. Nursery teachers can also have problems planning for ICT across the six areas of learning, so below I give a few examples of ICT opportunities available across the six areas of learning. You will notice that these are not always at a computer, as the Early Learning Goal clearly states '...find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology...'
* Communication, language and literacy: Using a talking book; creating on-screen books using multi-media software, for example, Powerpoint/ hyperstudio/Kidpix; exploring the keyboard
* Creative: Using painting programs
* Knowledge and understanding of the world: ICT walk, within the setting and outside
* Personal, social and emotional: Using ICT to develop skills such as sharing, turn-taking, developing relationships; use of the Internet to support outings
* Physical: Use of the mouse and keyboard to develop and support hand-eye co-ordination and physical co-ordination
* Mathematics: Using a programmable toy.
For more help try:
* http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/talent/pricor/foundation.html
* http://www.canteach.gov.uk/community/ict/nof/nof.htm
* See also regular articles on ICT in the early years in Nursery World.
