Government urged to boost IT use in schools
21-04-2006
by Ciara O'Brien

Irish students are being put at a disadvantage because of the failure to use technology properly in the classroom.

ICT Ireland, the association which represents the high tech sector within business lobby group IBEC, has accused the Government of failing to put in place adequate plans to boost the use of technology in the classroom.

The organisation has warned that Irish students risk falling behind their European peers because the IT strategy for the classroom appears to have ground to a halt.

The director of ICT Ireland, Kathryn Raleigh, said that this failure could limit students' career options in the future. Raleigh told Electricnews.Net that the organisation has had concerns for some time. She said that despite a progressive attitude in the Department of Education on ICT strategy for the classroom between 2003 and 2004, "it seems to have stopped".

Raleigh said the organisation would like to see a strategic policy on the use of ICT in the classroom. However, she pointed out that it is not simply about sitting down in front of a computer, but rather "using IT or technology as part of the curriculum".

ICT Ireland is calling for a central policy that dictates how ICT is used in the classroom; at present, it can depend on the decision of the school principal to some extent. Raleigh pointed out that there were some schools out there that had made great progress in this area.

Other groups have also called attention to this undesirable situation. On Wednesday, the ASTI called for the Department of Education to address the lack of technology use in the classroom.

An OECD report, published earlier this year, showed Ireland has one of the lowest percentage of frequent computer users at school among OECD countries. Student attitudes towards computers in Ireland are also among the least positive.

The report drew the conclusion that students who regularly use computers tend to perform better in key school subjects than those with a limited computer experience.

In August last year, IBEC called on the Government to provide a laptop for every second-level student in the country by 2010, which would put ICT at the heart of Irish education.