Focus on people

70 Focus on people

Introduction

ever – it is important for those involved in the Although a robust technological infrastructure is a key

children’s workforce to have the requisite skills and factor in the implementation of the e-strategy, what

understanding to maximise any educational potential. is abundantly clear is that our interviewees saw the

That this will require appropriate support is self ‘people’ dimension as of even greater importance.

evident.

Related key implementation issues: Leadership (p77); Buy-in (p74);

In the early stages of the introduction of ICT into

Support (p79); Shared understandings (p82)

education the technical and pedagogical requirements were less apparent for two reasons. Firstly, the

The issue

early adopters of ICT tended to be people who The comments of the informants involved in this

were technologically conident and competent. review illustrate the extent to which they recognise

Secondly, they tended to operate on a small scale, that people are the drivers of change . It is people at

which enabled them to avoid many of the systemic all levels in any system who are the means by which

constraints that act as barriers to larger-scale adoption visions, aspirations and aims become operational

of ICT.

realities, whether or not those involve the use of ICT 115 . Thus people are central to the e-strategy

When considering the entire workforce, implementation, for no amount of technology will

implementation becomes more complex, not least bring about the transformations that it calls for

because later adopters – the majority – tend to be without the active involvement of teachers 116 and

less interested in and less conident about using the other people at all levels in the education system and

technology. One of the problems is how to break related sectors.

the ‘vicious circle’ of educators being unable to see how to use ICT effectively without irst using

Those involved in education have shown in recent it with learners but, paradoxically, as professionals, years not only their willingness to accept changes but

needing to see a purpose for using it with learners also their capacity to implement them in a ‘selectively

before being willing to do so 117 120 . Later adopters may welcoming way’ . Change on the scale that the

need support to break out of such a cycle. That e-strategy implies is complex and challenging. At the

support needs to address both the functional aspects very least it requires that:

of operating the technology and the educational • people have reached a minimum threshold

understanding of how it might be used in practice of technical competence 118 , because without

to enhance learning (see p79 Support ). that they will not be able to make best use of the technology

While the senior management team has an important role to play in fostering an ethos that supports

• people understand what they can do with the change (see p77 Leadership ), it is also clear that technology, and thus realise what its potential

the wider educational context plays a vital role as well. At present the culture within education does

is to support learning 119

• the culture within which people are working is not encourage people to take risks or innovate 121 . supportive of the kind of experimentation and

Additionally, many educators in schools are still risk taking that change of this nature entails

coming to terms with initiatives that they perceive • the education systems within which people

have been imposed upon them. This can lead to are working allow for the changes that using

‘initiative blindness’ (Interview 26 – LA) which acts ICT entails

as a barrier to further change. Competition, whether • the educational vision inherent in the e-strategy

real or imaginary, can also act as a barrier, inhibiting is clearly communicated and understood

risk taking and collaboration (Interview 30 – LA). by everyone involved in implementing and

A number of additional constraints currently limit embedding it into everyday practice at all levels

people’s ability to make effective use of the new of the workforce.

technologies that are essential to the embedding of As new technologies are reaching the market

the e-strategy. At the simplest level there is an issue with increasing speed, then now – more than

in a number of areas with the lack of availability and

People, people, people. Additional funds are useful but, without the people with the vision and the people to make it all work on the ground and the consensus, it wouldn’t happen. Interview 37 – LA

accessibility of technological resources. This includes staff in schools, including members of the senior limitations on internet access as a consequence of

management team, did not understand the varied demand being greater than can be supported by

ways in which a learning platform might be used, the available bandwidth. Both the literature 122 and

and so were questioning why they might want to interviews conirmed that in some areas broadband

invest in one (Interview 38 – CLC; Interview 45 – LA; access has yet to be achieved (for example Interview

Interview 43 – FE). It was clear from the data provided

16 – Commercial; Interview 20 – LA). Making time by informants that in most cases the communicative in an already heavy workload is a problem, but for

functionality of learning platforms was not being people to engage effectively with innovation and

used extensively. Several interviewees identiied that personal development an adequate allocation of

these components of the learning platform had been time and work space is essential. This appeared to

disabled because they were perceived by staff as

be a particularly serious problem facing staff in the ‘causing problems’ (Interview 20 – LA), for example, post-16 organisations in our sample, and was seen

or ‘… they are a bit young, and they got off topic by interviewees as becoming much more dificult in

so it [the discussion area facility] was turned off …’ schools as a result of tightening budgetary constraints

(Interview 12 – FE).

and changes related to workforce reforms.

‘Solutions’ being implemented

The traditional physical and logistical organisation

A widely recognised way of enhancing people’s of schools – including such things as the fabric of

engagement with new technologies is to provide the building 123 , timetabling arrangements 124 , class

them with ‘ownership’ of their own mobile device

(see p46 panel 16 ). Having ‘your own’ laptop or maximising the potential beneits of new technologies

size 125 and institutional rules 126

– also act as barriers to

PDA can help you to increase IT competence and for learning and teaching. At colleges, where

conidence in yourself as an informed user. Such workload is often based on the number of hours of

ownership allows people to become involved with face-to-face contact, respondents noted a concern

the affordances of the devices and so to develop that allocating staff time for creating the digital

increased understanding of the ways in which

resources essential to support self-study may result in students’ learning and professional activities can be staff redundancies. More fundamentally, as already

enhanced. Teacher or lecturer ownership of mobile indicated elsewhere in this report, current assessment

devices was something that many respondents

frameworks act as a signiicant barrier to innovation identiied in the questionnaire that they had achieved (see p54 New assessment (including e-portfolios) (23%) or were working towards (44%), though there

and p56 panel 21 ). were differences across pre- and post-16 respondents

Illustrating the issue

(see p44 Mobile devices: Implementation and uptake for more details). Providing staff ownership

The data from the questionnaires and interviews of a mobile device was seen as being an effective highlighted that learning platform use is, at approach to embedding e-learning, which had many best, patchy (see p31 Learning platforms: practical beneits for staff, sometimes making the Implementation and uptake ). In order for mobile device indispensable (for instance Preliminary institutions to make effective use of a learning interview 2 – LA). Several respondents highlighted platform, the technological infrastructure and the value of providing educators with a mobile device supporting arrangements must be in place and in conjunction with a data projector and learning educators need to know about the facilities available platform in order to maximise use in a range of and how to use them. The interviews provided

curriculum areas (for example Interview

examples of problems with each of these aspects

16 – Commercial).

of learning platform use, either individually or in combination. For example, the low level of educators’

Collaboration, a crucial aspect of the e-strategy technical skills was speciically highlighted as a barrier

(see p32 Collaboration ), was strikingly recognised to effective implementation by a small number of

within the interview comments as being an important the interviewees (for instance Interview 26 – LA;

way of acknowledging and overcoming some of Interview 23 – FE). A larger number identiied how

the ‘people’ issues identiied earlier. Our informants

We need to get people to stop concentrating on technology and concentrate on learning and teaching – that’s the hard bit. It’s the change management in schools that’s important. It’s the people – it is not about teachers having laptops: it is about them understanding the change in their roles that engaging with technology offers. Interview 46 – Commercial

saw collaboration between people engaged in joint paramount by the majority of respondents. However, enterprise as being essential at a number of differing

the literature highlights the constraints that the levels. A range of different forms of collaboration

current focus on accountability, deined narrowly were used at school and college levels to support

in terms of speciied learning outcomes, places on staff in learning how to use new technologies in their

the scope for risk taking 127 , and some interviewees teaching, including the use of mentors or ‘champions’

explicitly identiied this as a major block to progress. (this was particularly the case for the post-16 phase). Similarly people working together in collaborative

Areas for further research/development

teams within institutions, which sometimes included Further work is needed to understand the most software developers and designers working alongside

effective ways to encourage and support staff, teaching staff to develop activities and resources,

particularly those in senior management, to engage was seen as providing a positive solution (see p25

with ICT. This might include investigating the impact Example 2 ). Collaboration between people based in

of CLCs or of the recognition and accreditation other schools or colleges in order to share expertise

provided by the Naacemark and ICT Mark schemes. and resources was also considered a worthwhile way

It might also examine the effects of strategies such of producing gains (see p33 Example 4 ).

as incorporating requirements to engage with ICT as part of staff appraisal and review processes. Similarly,

A number of informants noted how working with ways of overcoming disincentives such as basing

a CLC, whose staff have the time ‘to keep in touch workload calculations on the number of hours of with all the national stuff and interesting innovative

face-to-face teaching, as practised in many colleges, stuff that teachers never have time to ind out about’

need to be explored.

(Interview 38 – CLC), produced positive outcomes. CLCs were regarded as offering educators a neutral setting and technical guidance if and when required that provides opportunities for ‘innovation and experimentation in a low-risk supportive environment’ (Interview 42 – CLC). Collaboration at a regional level, across multi-disciplinary teams and between individuals located at the various interfaces between institutions and organisations was also commented on as a key consideration (see p60 Example 12 ). Interviewees noted the importance of people involved in teamwork and in inter-agency liaison having high levels of interpersonal and communicative skills as well as suficient ‘status’ to ensure that any decisions agreed are put into operation. They highlighted the need for everyone involved to have a clear and coherent view of their own roles and responsibilities.

Strength of the evidence

The importance of focusing on people in order to be able to maximise the potential beneits of the use of new technologies in implementing the e-strategy is one of the strongest threads coming from the data and the literature. While some of the system issues identiied above – access to broadband, for instance – related more obviously to schools than to FE colleges, the importance of people was a consistent message across all of the interviews, and was seen as

Remember the emotional cost. Don’t underestimate the people. You need to win hearts and minds – back away a bit from the technology bit. Resources and delivery models can be easily deined, but what often gets forgotten is the emotional cost to the users. It is a big change and users have to take risks and sometimes quite public ones. The people factors are not just in relation to training: it is SMT support, engagement and encouragement that is also vital.

Interview 16 – Commercial

The current statutory framework is a real problem for innovation – schools are in a competitive environment: exam results, bad publicity, not illed up on irst choice, more dificult children, vicious downward spiral… schools won’t take risks in this kind of environment.

Interview 38 – CLC

The schools are just overwhelmed with initiatives. Interview 17 – LA

… In [LA name] we don’t innovate – we can’t afford to do that – can’t take risks – won’t take risks on pupils’ learning. Until something has been proven to have an impact on pupils’ learning we are not interested. We want proven solutions. Interview 29 – LA

Tutors will see it as an extra burden. And does this time come out of contact time, such as in monitoring discussions, or is it planning and admin time, or is it out of their own time?

Interview 12 – FE

CLCs are high-tech/multimedia bases that serve secondary and primary schools, community services etc. They provide cybercafés, seminar rooms, ICT suites and equipment and other technical materials plus tutors and support. They are a vital link between policy and practice and they are the link between sectors and very important for the e-strategy nationally. … For us the CLCs were essential. Interview 37 – LA

… securing connectivity to schools, for example hard-to-reach schools. As we move into the last phase of connecting schools, these are the hard to reach and so are more expensive solutions – they’re rural, small or urban hard-to-reach schools. (Urban hard to reach tends to be partly due to high take-up of phone lines in the area, and so lack of cable capacity to add the line in. In rural hard-to-reach areas, the infrastructure just isn’t there, so it’s the distance from the exchange to the school.) Interview 7 – RBC

Absolute clarity of the vision of your infrastructure – in terms of across the college… In some places I have seen excellent practice in little pockets, but it has no impact or by the time it has an impact, things have moved on. Our approach is to build infrastructure, simplicity, robustness. Pedagogy is vital too – we went with technical infrastructure irst. (No amount of pedagogical understanding will overcome the technology not working.) Interview 43 – FE

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