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 ...

The Digital Learning Den

Gareth Morgan Consultancy has now been going for nearly 7 years, providing advice, support and training to primary schools across Wales. Where did that time go? Throughout those years, I've always had an ICT skills ladder that I've offered to schools. It's been updated continually throughout those years with quite a change in focus when the Digital Competence Framework (DCF) was introduced and with the ubiquitous use of Hwb and its related cloud based applications and digital resources. Initially this skills ladder was paper based and at one stage I had four versions of it as the example activities were focused around specific applications e.g., Google for Education / Purple Mash or Microsoft 365 / Just2easy. The problem I found was keeping these documents up to date. Applications would change or I would have new ideas or web-links would die or change. So a couple years ago I moved everything online and created The Digital Den. Schools could buy into the platform for a ye...

Head in the Cloud

Search This Blog