Teachers in England are making more use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the classroom thanks to New Opportunities Fund (NOF) training. That's one of the findings reported by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) in its first evaluation of the UK's lottery-funded ICT training program for teachers and school librarians

The New Opportunities Fund administers the Government's [pound]230 million ICT training program. The evaluation covers only findings from England, though the program is implemented throughout the UK. Fifty approved providers deliver the training in England, with the TTA responsible for quality assurance. Training has been provided or arranged so far for around three-quarters of the 415,000 eligible teachers and school librarians in England.

The TTA reports that teachers and school librarians are more prepared to explore the use of ICT to meet their teaching objectives and in their school library work, as well as their own professional use, as a result of the training. Teachers are beginning to focus on how ICT can help them achieve their teaching objectives and they are also becoming more critical users of ICT.

Senior managers have reported increased use of ICT in the classroom, particularly by teachers who had not previously used the resources. The support of the school's senior management team for the training is very important. ICT training needs to be an integral part of the school's overall development strategy for the training to have an impact.

Training providers who start by ensuring that teachers/school librarians understand how ICT can improve teaching and school library work are more effective than those that start by focusing on ICT skills.

Training providers were required to promote electronic communication between teachers/school librarians. TTA reports that it is clear that one of the benefits of the training has been that teachers and school librarians are more prepared to share good practice using technology. This has been particularly true of those people working in more isolated roles.

Successful Training Models

NOF training is delivered in a variety of ways. TTA broadly categorizes the methods into face-to-face and distance learning, although they are not mutually exclusive and there is a full spectrum of models between them. Those models that concentrate on face-to-face methods also offer further training, support and materials in hard copy, CD-ROM or online. Similarly, predominantly distance learning methods also include face-to-face sessions.

The TTA's evaluation found that distance learning training models are only effective for teachers/school librarians when the trainer maintains contact with them through effective mentoring and other support. The best distance learning providers have put good support systems in place to ensure that this happens. Less confident users of ICT particularly need continuous support. More confident users of ICT have sometimes expressed a preference for distance learning methods as it enables them to progress through the training at their own pace.

Face-to-face training is heavily dependent on the skills and expertise of the trainer. Some teachers/school librarians prefer face-to-face training sessions, citing the benefits of learning with colleagues and to check their understanding with trainers immediately. Schools have been attracted to face-to-face training, but it has not always been possible for training providers to find skilled and experienced trainers.

TTA indicates that training providers have not placed sufficient emphasis in their materials on the subject area and grade level context or adequately reflected the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to use ICT effectively in subject teaching and library work. Training is most effective where it is matched to identified training needs and where those individual needs are revisited on a regular basis to ensure progress.

All training providers have built activities into their training which require participants to practice their new skills, knowledge and understanding in the classroom. Teachers appreciate these activities where they can see the relevance to their own practice and to the training needs that they have identified.

The best training materials use technology to exemplify how ICT can be used to enhance professional practice. One of the problems identified by the quality assurance process was that some of the materials were too text based and did not fully exploit the potential of ICT as a training medium.

The complete report can be found at www.canteach.gov.uk/ info/library/nof/1514NOFreport.pdf.