Michael Creed
Ceist:31 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans to evaluate students on computer literacy at primary and post-primary level. [28233/01]
Written Answers. - Computer Literacy.
Government policy recognises the need to ensure that pupils in every school have the opportunity to become computer literate. To achieve this objective it is necessary to put in place the ICT infrastructure required; ensure that teachers have the appropriate ICT skills; and integrate ICT into the curriculum. Since 1998 significant funding has been made available to schools to allow them to improve and develop their ICT infrastructure and a large-scale teacher training programme has been implemented.
The extent of the progress to date is highlighted by a recent survey carried out by the National Centre for Technology in Education which shows that the average primary school has 8.7 computers, up from 3.8 in early 1998; the average second level school has 42.7 computers, up from 31 in early 1998; and more than 95% of schools state that they are using the Internet – up from only 25% in early 1998 – and at least 34,000 teachers have attended one or more IT training courses since early 1998.
To build on these achievements to date, I have recently announced significant additional funding which will allow for further ICT infrastructure development in schools and the development of a teacher ICT training programme which will provide a progression path for teachers in developing the skills required for the integration of ICT into the curriculum. The details of this new initiative will be announced shortly.
As my Department continues to provide the necessary infrastructure to integrate ICTs into teaching and learning, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, is examining the issues related to specifying desirable levels of competence which students should reach in using ICT. At primary level, the NCCA has already piloted guidelines on integrating ICT into the teaching and learning environment. These are currently being revised, taking account of comprehensive feedback from teachers.
The next stage of the process of developing provision for ICT will be to identify, in conjunction with the NCCA, the range of skills and conceptual understanding that pupils should attain through their engagement with ICT right across the curriculum at different levels of education, particularly by the end of the period of compulsory education. This will draw on the best of international practice in this area.
At leaving certificate level, the NCCA is in the final stages of preparing advice to me on the advisability of introducing a computer-based subject at leaving certificate level. This advice will draw upon a feasibility study conducted by the University of Limerick. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the desirability of such a subject, its possible delivery format, potential content and the impact introducing it would have on the current programme at leaving certificate level. It is in this context that plans will be developed to evaluate progress as regards computer literacy in schools.