It is important to note that while the role of school principal is important in improving the culture of the school, a whole-school approach in implementing any change is essential (Deal and Peterson, 2009). Tearle (2004) argues for the need for a whole-school vision and a strategy for ICT. The implementation of ICT is best undertaken in the context of a vision for how it will be used to enhance and extend teaching and learning with an associated commitment and flexible strategy to achieve this. In this study, second-level principals were asked about their views on ICT planning.
School Leadership, Culture and Technical Support | 47
The survey results show that most schools (95 per cent) promote the sharing of good practice in ICT integration among teachers. Fewer than half of principals surveyed (41 per cent) mention the existence of a school ICT plan, either as part of the School Development Plan (24 per cent) or as part of another document (17 per cent). In 66 per cent of the schools ICT planning was an integral (rather than separate) part of the overall school planning process (See Table 5.2). In 65 per cent of the schools a staff member had a special responsibility for ICT co- ordination. In 39 per cent of the schools ICT co-ordination was the responsibility of a designated eLearning team which included school management. The results indicate that while ICT is generally included in school planning, there is more scope for including teachers in the planning and decision-making process.
TABLE 5.2 Principals’ Views on ICT Planning
% Yes ICT planning is an integral (rather than separate) part of the overall school planning process 66 The school has a written ICT (eLearning)planning section which forms part of the overall
school plan 49
The ICT (eLearning)planning section is updated regularly to reflect overall school priorities 41
The school has a designated ICT co-ordinating teacher 65
The school has a designated eLearning (ICT co-ordinating) team which includes school
management 39
The 'NCTE eLearning Handbook' and 'Roadmap' are used for ICT planning purposes, in the
context of overall school planning 46
The school promotes the sharing of good practice in ICT integration among teachers 95 The school management and the ICT co-ordinating teacher jointly develop the ICT
(eLearning)planning section 53
The school eLearning team, including school management, ICT co-ordinating teacher, and all
teachers are involved in co-developing the plan 39
ICT/e-Learning is a regular agenda item at staff meetings 44
Source: Post-installation survey principal data (N=158).
The interviews conducted in the case-study schools showed that while the approach taken by school management, including the Principal, seemed to be driving developments regarding ICT use in schools, it was important to involve staff in the decision-making process, in line with the survey results:
I think it’s important that the teachers have an input as well... it’s important that the teachers buy in to it and by having a group like that [ICT team] teachers have an input and they’ll take more ownership then of what, what direction the school goes in. (Elm Road, Medium ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
In order to facilitate teacher input, Elm Road had set up an e-learning team consisting of six teachers who had an interest in technology. The group was responsible for implementing the e-learning plan, which at the time of writing focussed on policies regarding acceptable use of technology in school by the students. The co-ordinator hoped that the group will become a permanent feature of the school to ensure sustainable development in the area of ICT:
Going forward... this year it was a group that had a finite five hours meeting time, but I would be encouraging them to stay together. It’s going to have to be a permanent group, this is the first year we had any e-learning group here and it’s a group that has to be permanent. (Elm Road, Medium ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
The ICT Co-ordinator in a high-ICT-integration Juniper Avenue noted that teachers who tend to get involved in developing approaches to ICT and technology integration in the school tend to have prior knowledge and skill sets regarding the use of technology:
The people on the ICT Committee also teach the subject of ICT or are involved in ICT in a part-time way, in their own interest as a hobby or they're working with subjects like TCG or technology as a subject or engineering or the construction teachers. They're the ones you actually find, in most schools that I have been to, are usually the ones involved in the areas of ICT are generally the tech savvy teachers. (Juniper Avenue, High ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
The co-ordinator highlighted the importance of student involvement:
I'll tell you who are very, very important, is having an ICT Student Committee and they're really, really beneficial, especially in Transition Year where they have the time and I usually have a few First Years as well. We have an iPad Committee too and they meet once a week on a Thursday and if there's any issues they would bring me the minutes of the meeting and I would meet with them once a month then as well. (Juniper Avenue, High ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
According to the survey of principals, an ICT plan was included in the school development plan in 24 per cent of the cases. Seventeen per cent of schools included it in another policy document and the remaining 59 per cent of principals report no formal e-Learning plan. Table 5.3 indicates the individuals involved in drawing up an ICT plan. The main staff members involved included the school principal or deputy principal (99 per cent), ICT Co-ordinator (85 per cent)
School Leadership, Culture and Technical Support | 49
and teachers (74 per cent). The Boards of Management seem to have modest involvement (43 per cent). Some schools also included parents (38 per cent) and students (40 per cent).
TABLE 5.3 Parties Involved in Designing the School ICT Plan
% Principal/Deputy Principal 97 Board of Management 43 ICT Co-ordinator 85 Guidance Counsellor 11 Year Heads 22 Teachers 74 Parents 38 Students 40 other 9
Source: Post-installation survey principal data (N=158).
Note: Table refers to percentages where this has been mentioned.
The issue was further elaborated on in interviews with case-study school principals and ICT co-ordinators who were asked about ICT policies in their schools. Their responses indicated that schools vary in the extent to which they have formal ICT policies in place. The importance of ICT in guiding developments regarding ICT use was highlighted by the principal in Elm Road:
I think it does [guide developments] because I think it gives us a kind of a clear vision of the key priorities, you know, and gives us a little roadmap of where we want to go in terms of ICT development in the school. (Elm Road, Medium ICT, Principal)
The way policies are developed varied between the case-study schools. While in some cases schools used ETB broad guidelines regarding ICT policy,21 in other cases a team of volunteers worked on the project. In Elm Road the ICT plan was developed by a team of teachers:
We have an e-learning team, we set up an e-learning team this year. There’s six teachers on it. So we looked at the e-learning plan and we picked our different target areas in that to work on this year... An example, like this year we are looking at our acceptable use policy
21 ‘It's an ETB document, it comes down and we all, each school individually adapts it to suit their own needs’ (Daisy
and that’s, because the role is changing and students are using mobile technology more and more we find our existing acceptable use policy is a little bit outdated, so it’s, I suppose that’s one policy area. (Elm Road, Medium ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
In some cases individuals within the same schools gave different accounts of the existence of the formal ICT plan. For example, according to the principal in Beech Street, the ICT policy was part of the whole-school plan, and was integrated into general subject planning. The school also had an internet usage policy. At the same time, the ICT co-ordinator was not aware of the details of the ICT policy:
I'm not sure, I know me and [the principal] were working on something last year. (Beech Street, Medium ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
This suggests that closer collaboration is needed between school management and ICT co-ordinators in some schools. In a high-ICT-integration school an ICT co- ordinator noted that rather than have an overarching plan or policy, each subject area had developed their own approach to ICT use:
I suppose we’d be trying a plan as such, in terms of, we’d all have our individual programmes in place. Everybody would be different in terms of, how much they would use it. Or where they would feel the need to use it. But whether, I don’t think we have a specific long-term plan, of where we want to be in X amount of years. Everybody is well, everybody kind of dips into it, in terms of their own subject. (Juniper Avenue, High ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
In Cedar Avenue, a low-ICT-integration school, developing an ICT/E-learning plan was not finalised as it ‘wasn’t seen as a priority’. The importance of having a progressive plan in place was highlighted by the ICT co-ordinator in Daisy Road, who noted that forward-planning is crucial in ICT integration:
Let’s not kind of stand where we are. You know, if we’re going, if we envisage we’re going to be at such and such a height, in five years time. That’s what we should be putting in place now. You know, as opposed to five years from now going, Jesus, if only we’d done it. (Daisy Road, High ICT, ICT Co-ordinator)
School Leadership, Culture and Technical Support | 51