Impacts of ICT in education The role of the teacher and teacher training

Impacts of ICT in education The role of the teacher and teacher training.

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Dutch education is lagging behind expectation and desire. Hence, the advisory ‘Commitee On Multimedia In Teacher Training’ (COMMITT, at present PROMMITT), established by the Dutch Minister of Education, has drawn up recommendations on the design of the learning process in the future and the role of ICT to support this process, with a focus on teacher training. The committee argues for a powerful role of teacher training in the process of educational innovation and the implementation of ICT. The teacher training institutes are providing the teachers of the future and the committee assumes that teachers are the keyfigures in arranging learning processes. The institutes, therefore, have to anticipate new developments and prepare prospective teachers for their future role. The nature and extent to which ICT is being used in education is considered to be a result of synergy between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom up’ processes. In the latter especially, a contribution of the teacher training institutes can be expected. According to commit, teacher training institutes therefore have to shift their focus from dealing with present education to that of ‘future education’. Within the PROMMITT action-programme, Stoas Research analyses the future educational practices of the vet-professional. Accordingly, teachers can be as much as possible prepared and thus, can encourage the implementation of ICT in secondary vocational education.

ICT is a generic term referring to technologies which are being used for collecting, storing, editing and passing on information in various forms (SER, 1997). A personal computer is the best known example of the use of ICT in education, but the term multimedia is also frequently used. Multimedia can be interpreted as a combination of data carriers, for example video, CD-ROM, floppy disc and Internet and software in which the possibility for an interactive approach is offered (Smeets, 1996).

Generally, the following functions of the use of ICT in education are described in literature (SER, 1998, Moonen and Kommers, 1995, Pilot, 1998). ICT as object. It refers to learning about ICT. Mostly organised in a specific course. What is being learned depends on the type of education and the level of the students. Education prepares students for the use of ICT in education, future occupation and social life. ICT as an ‘assisting tool’. ICT is used as a tool, for example while making assignments, collecting data and documentation, communicating and conducting research. Typically, ICT is used independently from the subject matter. ICT as a medium for teaching and learning. This refers tot ICT as a tool for teaching and learning itself, the medium through which teachers can teach and learners can learn. It appears in many different forms, such as drill and practice exercises, in simulations and educational networks.ICT as a tool for organisation and management in schools.ICT-skills partly necessary for using ICT in education

Looking at the afore mentioned research results, it seems unnecessarily to argue for specific ICT-skills for teachers as a key for the problems experienced by the implementation of ICT in education. How to implement ICT in education mainly seems to be a design-problem (how does a teacher create a powerful learning environment?)

Required competences for solving this problem are defined within the concept of core problems. Core problems can be defined as the central problems and dilemmas in professional practice as regularly encountered by professionals and thus characteristic of the profession (Onstenk, 1997). Core problems are an interesting basis for education, because they define the professional core and structure and select the professional content. The professional, as an acting individual, is positioned in the centre. To guide learning processes can be mentioned as one of the core problems of future education. One of the dilemmas the teacher has to cope with is whether he should ‘direct’ students learning processes or ‘leave students at their own devices’. A student has to work as independently as possible, but when should a teacher intervene? And in what way can a student accomplish the best (independent) learning activity? How should the teaching- learning process be formed to establish the best learning achievements? The teacher has to constantly consider which teaching aids or materials are most suitable to use. Other dilemmas will arise. For example, how much a teacher has to know about each ICT application (to be aware that the application is available or to know how to use it). Another dilemma concerns the question whether the teacher develops the teaching material himself or lets someone else do it for him. A teacher requires many educational and didactical skills to deal with questions adequately (compare Ministerie OC&W, 1998). In concrete terms, it concerns matters like:

A great pedagogical, didactical an educational psychological craftsmanship.To be a professional on the subject matter (vocational content).A large knowledge of (the application possibilities of) modern educational tools.Skilled to ‘cut to size’ of student guiding processes (e.g., formulating assignments, structuring the guiding process, assessment etc.)

The new learning environment differs from the one we are familiar with; the teacher has to cope with many more uncertainties. A curriculum in which lessons and content are fixed no longer exists. As a result, the teacher has to organise his work in another way (working in projects is mentioned explicitly). Moreover, the teacher cannot create new learning environments completely independently (anymore). He has to depend on al kinds of things like the technical infrastructure, timetables and the activities of other teachers. In doing so, the teacher looses a part of his autonomy (another core problem) and therefore, he is forced to collaborate with his colleagues in a way entirely different from that he was used to.

It requires skills like:

·        Creativity

·        Flexibility

·        Logistic skills (e.g. for assigning work- and study places and grouping students)

* Skills for working in projects

*Administrative and organisational sills

* Collaborating skills.


Furthermore, the interviewed teachers especially underline the teachers’ attitude concerning the use of ICT in education. New things are intimidating and are causing resistance. The teachers point out a ‘professional attitude’. Important features of this attitude are being accessible for innovations in general and of ICT in particular. In the published literature, there are indications for this as well (compare Voogt en Odenthal, 1998). Within this topic, one of our respondents pointed out the fact that ICT is the most fundamental of changes (in education) so far. For the first time, children can do something their parents cannot and which parents actually will never learn it in the same way.Typically for vocational education in The Netherlands is the fact that schools often (called Regional Training Centre) provide small-scaled courses, mostly for the regional labour market. This requires an open attitude with a strong accent on exchanging information and a diverse offer of opportunities. Even for this, the teacher requires specific skills. It concerns skills like constructing and maintaining networks, social skills and sympathy for the problems companies are facing.