Lifelong Learning Programme

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Teachers’ Guide

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EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES TO PROMOTE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Table of Content

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.4 Teachers training
It is often argued that teachers are reluctant to use ICT in their class due to a lack of technological skills. Consequently, it is believed that younger teachers, who are more used to ICT, introduce ICT more easily into their practice. Yet, the two believes are erroneous: not only new teachers do not use ICT more often than older teachers, but there is no apparent correlation between a teacher’s technological skills and their educational use of ICT. “Technology-focused” training, based on the use of a software or platform, lead to a “back-office” use, to prepare or transmit educational material, but do not predict a use of technologies in class. Only training based on an educational use of ICT can make their use in class easier. The “Survey of Schools” came to the same conclusion as it reports that teachers use ICT mostly to prepare their lessons and that educational software and other digital tools are more used at home than in class.

In this respect, teachers’ initial training has an important role to play. It should not only explicitly train teachers to use ICT, but should also integrate ICT as a training tool. Indeed, an important “modelling effect” is observed insofar as future teachers would tend to reproduce the practices they were exposed to during their training, both in the courses they attend and in class situation they observe during internships (Viens, Peraya, Karsenti, 2002). Teachers should also learn when to use ICT (and when not to), and how to adapt their practices to make the best of ICT rather than merely replace traditional practices (e.g. replace a blackboard and chalk with an interactive whiteboard).

ICT training is not only a matter for initial training, it needs to be part of a school policy if a school genuinely wants to become a school community, with staff and students engaged in progressing skills and understanding on all fronts, there has to be a culture within that school whereby pedagogical issues, discussions about methods, teaching and learning are sees as having value and are encouraged. In this respect, it must also be noted that the most skilled and confident users of a particular piece of ICT are likely to be the pupils themselves. Therefore, teachers might consider ways in which pupils might make a contribution to ICT staff development.
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