SchoolNet SA, a non-governmental organisation tasked with advancing the educationally effective use of ICT in schools, has engaged in various professional developmental programmes this year to advance local ICT teacher training.
This year's training included the Intel Innovation in Education Teach to the Future, Oracle's Think.com programme, Ford Foundation's Global Education Initiative and the development of an open source version of the educator's network database.
The Microsoft Partners in Learning training that started this year has been successful so far, in giving teachers the confidence to use ICT themselves, as opposed to in their classrooms with learners, says Janet Thomson, SchoolNet SA CEO.
So far 2 374 teachers have undergone ICT training for the first phase of the Mircosoft Partners in Learning training, says Thomson.
The training programme was devised with a practical and realistic approach to training teachers in schools in that a range of activities was made available for individual customisation, seeing as almost all groups of teachers at schools contain a range of computer literacy and experience.
ICT teacher education is a cross-curricular area that has not been included in any one learning field. It has not become the responsibility of any standards-generating body, she says.
Commenting on the GautengOnline schools project, Thomson says: One key concern for us has been the preoccupation of hardware installation without the vital professional development element to accompany roll-out. We would advocate that the GautengOnline programme should improve its understanding of the concept of integrating educational ICT, and in particular the most effective methods for its implementation.
The Western Cape Education Department used to be leading the way in implementing ICT in schools, but unfortunately there are now so many sections of this provincial department dealing with ICT, their implementation of innovative programmes has become bogged down in bureaucracy.
SchoolNet SA tends to focus on teacher training. We have the Microsoft agreement, which has provided free software to all schools in the country. SchoolNet SA relies on the e-schools network for schools' technical requirements, says Thomson.
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