ABSTRACT
Before you embark on promotional activities about ICT that you have planned, you need to ask yourself, ‘What are people saying about ICT in this school?’ You will need to ask questions about the image and standing of work in information and communications technology, how your school’s curriculum and provision in this area are currently perceived. You may wish to find out what those outside the school are saying
There are various avenues of information ranging from the school gate
parliament, local Rotary club, PTA, non-teaching staff and local
shopkeepers. None has a monopoly on the truth and it will be necessary to
interpret information for its degree of partiality, optimism and pessimism. (Bowles, 1989)
You may wish to carry out some research externally by eliciting the opinions and concerns of parents. Such an audit should aim to provide you with information about both curriculum development and provision. If we compare ourselves to an industrial or commercial concern then it is the curriculum which is our product on offer. It follows that the educational equivalent to product development is curriculum development. Are there weaknesses in the way children’s capabilities in ICT are promoted? What do the governors, non-teaching staff and influential parents believe about the way computers are being used in your school? What would they like to see? Is this realistic? Have you got the balance right between the different uses of computers and other ICT work and between its use and other important features of school life? Do parents feel that there is too much of one thing and not enough of another? Are there extra-curricular ICT activities parents would like to see? How do professionals feel about justifying their decisions to parents on these matters?
