Teachers need more computer training

Last summer, Aidan Mulkeen, a lecturer in NUI Maynooth's education department, was commissioned by the NCTE to carry out a small study as to the effect of IT2000.

He assessed the impact in 15 primary schools (small, medium and large) and 15 post-primary schools (mixed, single-sex, community, vocational and secondary) in Dublin, Galway and Wexford.

The improvement was most dramatic at primary level: the ratio of pupils to PCs in schools with fewer than 100 pupils fell from 40 to 14 in the space of a year. In schools with 101 to 200 pupils, the ratio dropped from 63 to 25. And in larger schools, the ratio fell from 42 to 18.

The main use for computers at primary level was in creative-writing packages; there was a low level of Internet use.

At post-primary level, the ratio of pupils to PCs dropped from 26 in April 1998 to 19 in May 1999. All 15 post-primary schools surveyed had Internet access in 1999, compared to seven in 1998. The main use of ICT at this level was to teach IT applications.

Mulkeen notes that post-primary teachers cited lack of skills as the greatest barrier to using ICTs in their teaching, even though they had participated in the training programmes.

He says teachers' lack of confidence is consistent with only having received one week's training. "A lot more training is needed before teachers will use them in the classroom," he added.

Again, at primary level, 59 per cent of teachers cited lack of skill as a barrier to the use of ICTs in the classroom, with 11 per cent saying they could not see an appropriate use for it.