This document summarizes a report on the quality of ICT (information and communication technology) provision in primary and secondary schools in the UK and its impact on student achievement and standards. It discusses four key areas related to developing ICT education: assessment, qualifications and career pathways, classroom access to ICT resources, and funding. The document also notes that school leadership of ICT had improved, investments in resources had benefited teaching but not fully integrated ICT into daily learning, and using ICT contributed positively to student development and motivation in most cases. However, assessment was still inadequate in one in five schools.

1. The quality of provision of ICT in primary and secondary schools and its impact on
achievement and standards are explored initially with the four key areas central to developing
ICT education;assessment, ICT qualifications and progression routes, direct access to ICT
provision in classrooms and for money, discussed later in the report. Being forty pages long its
difficult to summarize in just a few paragraphs however some of the key findings include…
The leadership of ICT had improved during the period of the survey and the schools
visited had made ICT a high priority for development.Investment in resources had improved
teaching, but had still not made ICT a part of everyday learning.Using ICT was contributing
positively to the personal development and future economic well-being of students, developing
their skills of working independently and cooperatively and was in most cases motivating and
engaging.Support for pupils with learning difficulties was mostly good, enabling them to make at
least the progress expected.Most of the teachers observed had good subject knowledge in some
aspects of ICT and were confident and competent users of it. Assessment was the weakest aspect
of teaching and was inadequate in one school in five.
The schools visited rarely tracked the progress of individuals in ICT. There's a bit of talk
at our school about the NSW Quality Teaching Framework especially about higher order
thinking. It seems most teachers are already doing this in their classes without realizing. Take a
look below? Are they?? How many teaches are getting students to explore their creativity
through authentic real inquire/project tasks. It’s important to note that 'create' isn't even
mentioned in QTF. I think there is lots of confusion about what higher order thinking really is.
Not to mention other pedagogy terms like deep knowledge, deep understanding and
connectedness that are treated with a superficial understanding. I believe that all this met
language is confusing the issue. The emphasize all seems to be on the teaching but not on the
learning. No mentioned is made about how students really learn. No mention is made about
learning styles or brain function research in the QTF. There are no practical examples or
guidelines about how teachers are meant to implement this each entire lesson.