On Tuesday 05 February 2002 22:33, Bruce Miller wrote:
Yes what do you think of the new specialist school category for maths and computing? Especially when they say programming doesn't really matter ;-)
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This is the problem all round. Arts are separate to computing and so is Technology. The kind of stuff that I have outlined above just doesn't seem to fit anywhere. But it is really essential.
Specialist arts colleges are encouraged to use ICT as part of their plans.eg a media arts specialist school could use some of the additional money to set up a course in special effects drawing on video, audio and similar technologies combined with some programming. Getting a teacher with these skills could be a problem but again the recurrent grant is there for training. Schools tend not to think of things like this which is why they askme to help them write their bids.
Ian also wrote:
ICT is not up for grabs, its politically symbolic and has been hi-jacked by the likes of BECTa who get funded to the tune of about £12m a year to further their agenda under the guise of being official advisors to the DfEE. The only real way to counter this is to set fires burning at grass roots level that will eventually roast the quangos and LEA bureaucracy into action.
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Hopefully we can hammer on the right doors; especially if we have a united voice. - Internet Britain, Broadband Britain etc etc. This won't happen if we can't teach the subject because trained twenty years ago pen pushers at whitehall, mowlem hall or where ever can't see what needs doing.
We need critical mass which is why in earlier threads I have advocated getting and documenting sites using Linux, especially at the desktop because its more visible. If we can get 30 or 40 outspoken head teachers actully using it in their schools and saving money we can push some of the buttons on the grounds of best value, social inclusion, the environment or any other political flavours of the month. We need to gather the evidence of actual use first. Then the likes of BECTa will just follow because there are no leaders in BECTa. They don't see providing leadership as a role, they are just an administrative wing of the DfES. Also the DfES tend to want innovation without risk which is of course nonsense! So we do it ourselves to start with. If the programmers can do it with the technology, we can do it with the education marketing. Regards, -- IanL