Abstract
The National Grid for Learning (NGFL) is both an architecture of educationally valuable content on the internet and a programme for developing the means to access that content. The UK government made a commitment when it first consulted on its proposals for the NGFL that the Grid must be inclusive. It should be designed and develop to provide equality of access for learners, whether at school, college, at home or in libraries; those in rural and urban areas; the employed and those seeking work; those for whom English is not the first language; and those with special needs.
This presentation will consider progress that has been made to date, half way through this ambitious programme. What benefits are now evident to teachers and schools who strive to provide the best educational opportunities for all their pupils? Do the resources on the NGFL enable them to plan teaching and learning in an inclusive way that supports pupils individual needs? Is the power of ICT starting to be harnessed effectively to meet pupils needs? This presentation will look to answer these questions and more. The session will be illustrated with case studies from schools and local authorities.
This talk will contain 3 elements:
The NGfL is architecture of educationally valuable content on the Internet, and an initiative to support the equipping and networking of schools, public libraries, colleges and other institutions. A programme of activities which underpins this has over £1.7bn of funding.
The programme was developed from proposals and recommendations contained in a number of key reports - The Stevenson report on the use of ICT in UK School, the McKinley report and the DfEE consultation paper 'Connecting the Learning Society'. The strategy is seen as central to meeting the educational objectives articulated in the Government papers 'Excellence in Schools' and 'Excellence for All Children'. These papers set out a vision for modernising the comprehensive system, creating an environment where there are high expectations for all learners, and ensuring that disadvantage learners, including those with SEN are included in appropriate settings.
So What is the Grid?
It is a programme that addresses in practical terms the following dimensions: infrastructure, content and practice. In real terms this means:
1.1 Creating a national infrastructure to access the Internet. A programme, funded jointly by Education Authorities and Central Government to enable all school to access the Internet. This will include all aspects of technology (computers, cabling, network servers and a range of Internet content delivery technologies).
1.2 Growing appropriate content. The NGfL portal - a page on the web that provide an easily navigable route through to a large, and growing body of resources relevant to life long learning. A key area for teachers is the Virtual Teacher Centre (VTC) which bring together resources of particular including information of ICT practice that includes learners with SEN. A new development on the NGfL, which I believe may have a significant impact, is the Inclusion web site. I will come back to it later.
1.3 Developing practice. Having the technology available and access to good content, on its own, will not make a significant different. For that reason £230M of National Lottery funding is being allocated through the New Opportunities Fund to enable teachers to access training in the use of ICT in the curriculum.
2. Update on developments of particular relevance to this area
2.1 Infrastructure. The first Managed services were approved last year. Managed Services supply complete ICT solutions for schools for an annual fixed fee, i.e. the equipment, technical support, training, updating and replacement of equipment, Internet access. A clear contractual arrangement is put in place that sets out the services and how they will be provided. Such services are required to provide equipment that ensures that the needs of all pupils are meet.
2.2 Content. Information on the Grid to help teachers meet pupils' individual learning needs in an inclusive way has until now been minimal. March 2000 saw the launch of a site that plans to address this need. The Inclusion site aims to model and new way of working on the Grid and introduces a wide range of innovatory features. The underlying principle is one that is fundamental to the NGfL as a whole, but also reflects on of the real strengths that has always existed in the special education field o that of partnerships and a willingness to share. Inclusion web site is essentially an on-line database of appropriate resources that are described on a web page. The site plans over time to cover the wider aspects of inclusion but the initial focus is primarily on resources (but not exclusively) for teachers and supporting and meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs, gifted and talented youngsters and those from minority ethnic communities. The resources that are described and catalogued on the site may be books, learning aids including hardware and software, case studies of practice, worksheets and policies that schools have developed, objects, articles and guidance from voluntary and statutory agencies as well as on-line and downloadable web activities. The site allows people to search for resources, by selecting responses to a series of questions (you chose which ones to answer). The result of your initial questions allow you refine you request further or to look at the description of the resources on the database. Once you decide which resource you wish to view one click takes you directly to it and not just the Home page. The site has a number of other useful time saving facilities including the ability to save your search to view later and a new resources email alerting service. A key aim for the site was that it should be designed in accordance with international recommendations of accessible web content establishes through the Web Access Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium in 1999. The Inclusion site achieves conformance level 'AA' which means that the in terms of design the pages should be accessible to the majority of users. This is important for us not only in its own right but also in setting a principle, which we are encouraging other NGfL badged sites to adopt. There are few sites designed to ensure access and many that are not dynamic interactive sites such as the Inclusion site, but with effort they can be built. June of this year also saw the launch of the Contributory database. This area allows teachers to contribute items they have created to a central area to share with others. Teachers who use these assets are encouraged to come back to the site with comments and if appropriate modifications they have made. Over time we hope this will result in a range of teacher created and differentiate resources and approaches to curriculum delivery.
2.3 Practice. The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) training in the use of ICT in the curriculum, which started last year, offered must cover training on how teachers can use ICT to meet the needs of pupils with SEN. This training extends in September 2000 to see the first schools engaging training in the area of Severe and Complex special needs. Such training is not solely aimed at special schools and recognises that ordinary schools that are including pupils with disabilities and learning difficulties will find that their may be a complexity in meeting those pupils needs due to the location. The TTA, with significant input from Becta, has recently produced an ICT training needs assessment CD-ROM which provides a range of case studies illustrating how technology is can be used to include pupils with a diverse range of complex needs in different settings. (Available free on request from TTA on 0845 606 0323)
Key to the development of effective practice is communication. On the National Grid for are a range of SEN and Inclusion electronic communication fora. Starting with a feasibility study in 1995 investigating the value of e-mail as a means of support for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators there are now approaching 900 people on senco-forum regularly posting in excess of 500 public messages. And the number of lists has grown in response to demand. There are now nearly twenty focused lists (some closed) that are regularly used by teachers and other professionals, ranging from eal-bilingual for those working with pupils whose first language is not English, to easyspeak for those working to support pupils with speech and language difficulties. Other e-mail lists include ToD for Teachers of the Deaf, SCENT for hospital schoolteachers and others involved in the education of pupils with medical conditions and LEA-link for local education authority SEN Officers. Details of these lists can be found on the Becta web site and the public archives are on the Virtual Teacher Centre.
3. What is still needed in the development of the NGfL
There is still much to do in developing a truly inclusive National Grid for Leaning which can be used and benefit all. The potential benefits of ICT for pupils with SEN to be included are significant but the possibility of a digital divide is a real one. As is always the case with new technologies they can often bring great benefits for everyone but often there are barriers, which prevents such innovations being accessible to all.
I feel that the following must be addressed during the next phase of the NGfL programme:
Internet sites mentioned
TTA http://www.teach-tta.gov.uk/ict/index.htm
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