IT in post‐graduate teacher training

Abstract

The IT capabilities expected of all students training to be teachers are now laid down in government guidelines but time on one year postgraduate courses is limited. It is therefore important to be aware of the IT skills that students bring with them to help develop the courses on offer. A questionnaire survey of nearly 400 PGCE primary and secondary students was completed for a 1989/90 cohort. This study set out to find what prior IT experience students brought with them, and what they perceived as their IT training needs. Two thirds of these students were found to have little experience of using computers either at home, school, college or work, and there was a very low level of experience of some of the more high priority National Cumculum software packages (e.g. electronic communications, modelling software, control software). Most students gave high training priority to learning how computers can be used in teaching. These results are discussed in relation to other surveys of IT in teacher education, and the implications for PGCE course development.

Information technology in French education: implications for teacher education

“…The results, published in Baron & Bruillard, (1994a), concurred with those that were obtained in other countries (Dunn & Ridgway, 1991;Mellar & Jackson, 1992;Downes, 1993). They showed low levels of starting competencies, a rather high level of expectation towards IT as a pedagogical tool and difficulties in integrating IT in studies and in practical work.…”

Information Technology in Initial Teacher Education: preconceptions of history and geography interns, with reflections of mentors and tutors

“…However, these surveys concentrate mainly on whole cohorts and provide few insights into individual subject areas. One exception is Mellar & Jackson's 1992 article which reports differences in computer experience between subjects in a 1989-90 cohort of 230 secondary PGCE students: Their results showed that mathematics, science and geography students had greater experience than other subjects (a result which is in accord with* Summers's 1988-89 survey). Subjects where experience was particularly low included history and English.…”

“…Blackmore et al, 1992;Mellar & Jackson 1992, 1994. However, these surveys concentrate mainly on whole cohorts and provide few insights into individual subject areas.…”

Using Information and Communications Technology as a Pedagogical Tool: Who educates the educators?

“…In addition, over this period, monitoring in a number of countries has indicated that the levels of ICT skills of students on entry to higher education are steadily rising (Summers, 1990;Mellar & Jackson, 1992;Lienard, 1995) and in Scotland are now surprisingly high (Simpson et al, 1997), re¯ecting, amongst other things, the rapid advancement of the use of computers at home and in schools. This suggests that very soon, TEIs will be able to take for granted computer literacy in their incoming students, in the same way as they presently are able to rely on their attainment of adequate levels of numeracy and general literacy.…”