BBC Wales Reports

Isn't it funny the way the press report things as if it were fact? Take yesterday morning's report from the BBC called "Wales' schools left behind in digital age, experts claim". The article is basically saying that if we don't implement changes recommended in the ICT Steering Group report then we will be falling behind England where the changes come into effect in Sept 2014. What caught my eye was the statement six lines in which says:

"a similar plan will not be introduced in schools in Wales for at least four years."

Four years? Where did this figure come from? I haven't seen anything announced by the Welsh Government saying that this is the predicted timescale of a new Computing PoS. Searching through the article I thought something must have been announced, but no, nothing. So who is it that's saying four years? Why not say 6 months, 1 year or 10 years? Four years seems to be an arbitrary figure, plucked from the ether by someone.

Interestingly this is the second piece in two weeks from BBC Wales on concerns over what they see as delays to the new curriculum, with the focus primarily on programming. I wonder where this story is coming from? Could there be vested interests pushing it for their own benefit? No, that's just silly.

Comments

Defining Digital Competence

In a couple of previous posts I looked at what was meant by the term digital literacy and what this could mean in the Welsh education context. These were written in response to a recommendation from the ICT Steering Group report , proposing a new statutory Digital Literacy Framework for schools. I attempted to define what digital literacy meant using definitions from groups such as The Royal Society, Becta, Futurelab , Jisc and Common Sense Media. It was very difficult to pin down exactly what it meant but there were certainly commonalities between all of them. This week however, Prof. Graham Donaldson published his report on the curriculum and assessment in Wales, "Successful Futures" , and in it referred not to digital literacy , but to digital competence (which is a term I'm far happier using). I therefore feel it's important for me to try in this post to understand what is meant by this term, look at some definitions and find out if there are any differences ...

Digital Literacy: The Context for Wales & Definitions

At a time when England have introduced digital literacy elements to their new Computing PoS, and with the recommendations from the ICT Steering Group report for a digital literacy framework alongside the new subject of Computing, I’ve been attempting to look closely into what exactly is meant by the term ‘digital literacy’, and ultimately what this could mean for primary and secondary schools in Wales. I intend to put together a series of blogs on the topic, mainly as a way to help me with my understanding around some of the current thinking in this field, but hopefully it will still be of interest to teachers and others. I'd welcome any of your thoughts or comments on this topic. The Context In June 2012, Leighton Andrews, the then Minister for Education and Skills, announced “an additional £3m of funding over the next three years to support a range of measures to improve computer science, digital literacy and ICT in schools and colleges across Wales.” This announcement came ...

Safer Internet Day 2012

If some of you weren't already aware, next Tuesday (7th February) is Safer Internet Day . The theme of this year's campaign is Connecting Generations with the slogan "Discovering the Digital World Together Safely". We are encouraging our schools to take part in this event. In fact we are suggesting to schools that they use could use this event to raise the issue of e-safety across the whole school community for the whole week. I'm going to one school next Tuesday to talk separately to both parents and to staff. We have, alongside a group of ICT coordinators, put together a series of assemblies for primary schools for the whole week, and should also have ready a brand new interactive esafety resource aimed at teachers and school staff on how to keep themselves professional online. I'll blog telling you more about these resources shortly. If you go to the UK Safer Internet Centre you will also be able to download a school pack containing an assembly, a s...

Head in the Cloud

Search This Blog