The impact of ICT on Pupil Attainment, Motivation and Learning.

University Degree Education and Teaching

Hibo Elmi (05017811)

Seeing as we are living in an age where the use of technology is vastly growing, technology is becoming part of our daily lives. Even throughout schools, students use the computer for educational purposes rather than it being just for leisure. ICT has been largely implemented in the Curriculum, as it is a requirement of ‘Curriculum 2000’ that ICT is used in subjects of the National Curriculum.

In this essay I will discuss the impact of ICT on educational achievement, how ICT influences inclusion and equal opportunity, the benefits of ICT in teaching and learning, and the theories of learning.

The concept of monitoring students’ performance has meant that we can identify how beneficial ICT has become. Since ICT is part of the curriculum, not only is it important for pupils to apply their ICT skills across the curriculum but it is also a requirement for the teachers to have an understanding of ICT. Before looking at the levels of achievement in ICT within Primary schools, the impact of ICT on both students and teachers need to address. For students ICT can help them address issues such as inclusion, by allowing them to participate in classroom. We all exhibit the need of belonging in our day-to-day life, participating in a classroom may seem like it is not much. However it develops into a great deal and for a child that is a starting point into feeling as part of a group and experiencing inclusive education. ICT can also be seen as a tool used to help develop us through stages of life, as it can help the learner become independent. This is useful, as a child can build on this for their future and career path. Thus, what we have seen is that ICT can help us outside of education, by helping us socialise and interact with a wide society. However not forgetting that it is a brilliant tool for educational purposes, such as offering different learning styles, as well as offering privacy and the chance to learn at your own pace. Teachers can also benefit tremendously, as it not only motivates the students. But it can stimulate the teacher, by offering a range of software and activities which could be impossible or time consuming to organise manually. This will mean less stress imposed on teaching and a simple way of creating inclusion. Teachers can collect materials of government websites designed to support teaching, so not only will it allow teachers to prepare for lessons. But will allow them to follow the curriculum, using materials of high standard. From looking at the benefits of ICT, the results collected by Oftsed’s Annual Report shows both teachers and pupils’ performances in ICT were positive. Pupils clearly engaged in their ICT skills and showed positive results.

These factors bring clear benefits to their learning, which was found to be good or better in 62% of lessons where ICT was used. (, 2004 Annual report, pg 28)

Government Initiatives in ICT have impacted on these results, teachers have proved this due to their performance in teaching.

Good teaching was seen in over 60% of lessons involving ICT, compared with 54% of all lessons in primary schools in section 10 inspections in 2002-03. The impact of teaching was rated as good or better in 53% of schools, compared to 46% in Oftsed’s survey two years ...

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These factors bring clear benefits to their learning, which was found to be good or better in 62% of lessons where ICT was used. (, 2004 Annual report, pg 28)

Government Initiatives in ICT have impacted on these results, teachers have proved this due to their performance in teaching.

From looking at the benefits in comparison to the results on performance of both Teachers and pupils, there is a major indication that ICT has a positive impact on educational achievement. This is makes it clear that if the teacher is motivated and feels confident, the learner should perform better. As well as if the learner is engaged and shows a positive attitude, the teacher will find it easier to communicate with the pupil.

Theorists such as Seymour Papert, understands the issues of learning through ICT. He sees different forms of technology as a good source of engaging with children, in ways that teachers and parents often can not. He created a programme called LOGO, a mathematical game, designed to help children develop communication skills with the computer. This programme not only teaches children to learn and become aware of space, which is fundamental in shapes. As there is always a pattern in maths, but it also allows the child provisionality and control. Like Papert said:

In the LOGO environment the relationship is reversed: The child, even at pre-school ages, is in control: The child programs the computer and in teaching the computer how to think, children embark on an exploration about how they themselves think. (Papert, S. (2nd ed) (1993 ) Mindstorms pg 19)

This is true, because rather than the child getting feedback from the teacher if he/she is wrong they can judge themselves and make critical decisions. Social constructivist Vygotsky also explains this through his idea of ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, where he sees children as constructing their own ideas in a social environment. Vygotsky sees ICT as a rich source for providing children with information. This is why he explains that adults should lead the children to an answer, rather than tell them. Therefore that is why ICT is much preferred by theorists, as it allows the child to think for themselves and take more control.

Over the years, the wave of ICT in the 1980s meant that it had also become a part of the National Curriculum, laws and policies have been designed to combat the issue of inequality in education. Because children, whatever their special needs or learning difficulty may be, have a part to play in our society after education. An early start in playgroups or nurseries, followed by education in schools and colleges is the best preparation for an integrated life. Therefore schools need to provide all students with relevant and appropriately challenging work at each key stage. The National curriculum takes into consideration principles for developing a more inclusive curriculum. Which are as follows, ‘setting suitable learning challenges, responding to pupils’ diverse learning needs and overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils’.()

ICT can contribute to inclusion within teaching and learning, in addition to providing equal opportunities for all. For instance, ICT can offer students who find the language to be a barrier, specialist software that communicates in other languages. It can also allow students who are having difficulty in reading to access ‘talking books’ on the computer, this will help the student not only familiarise with words, as they will learn from visual association and sound. But it will also give the learner more control, as there is no restriction as they are supported with words they don’t understand and they can learn at their own pace. ICT offers pronunciation, which is a key strategy when learning to read. Clicker 5 is a software that was created for children of Special Educational Needs (SEN), which offers a range of subjects e.g. literacy, numeracy, science, geography etc…But it has proven success, as it is not only used by those who it was created for. The use of software like Clicker 5 and others such as 2simple software, Hyper Studio 4 and MS Logo, has given pupils the opportunity to demonstrate not only their skills and abilities. But it also makes them all participate in the same activities, even if it is at a different speed. ICT is well-known for motivating and engaging people, all students can relate to this. Therefore taking into consideration that some students may not have the same attention spam as others, or may have learning difficulties or simply may not feel comfortable in their learning environment. The use of ICT can create a comfort zone, as children need a focus or they will not learn. If the focus is not meaningful, the child will then tend to be distracted easily. There are many ways in which children already express themselves through, such as movement, graphics, sound and writing. ICT can offer these forms of communication different multimedia. Therefore if children feel the resources of ICT can help them to express themselves, this will create comfort and that will result in motivation followed by self-esteem. From the child having self-esteem, this will gradually develop an educational focus.

However ICT raises concern over the misuse of the internet, schools must abide by policies such as Health & Safety, Child protection and anti-bullying. This is why schools must enforce limitations for staff and pupils, as well as following procedures for access authorisation. Because ICT has a big impact in our day-to-day lives, it is vital for us to understand how to use resources such as the internet. For most children the use of the computer may be less at school in comparison to home. Schools should try to therefore explain the policies to parents, so that the child is protected in school and at home.

The use of ICT in education, as well as for leisure purposes is growing phenomenally. Taking into consideration the disadvantages to ICT, which is the risk of not maintaining a safe and protective environment for children and this is important. Also the fact that at a young age it is important for classification. Children classify by sound, taste, materials etc…But images often help a pupil learn a new concept, an animation on the computer may help the learner gain meaning. However the image presented could take away demand of the child’s imagination or clash with the learners’ imagination of the image.

On the other hand, the benefits of ICT have proven to be more positive. Not only is the impact of ICT shown through the performance of teachers, and how they have grown to become confident in it. But most importantly the learner feels motivated by it and feels comfortable at engaging with it. Due to the fact that ICT focuses not only on a group of children, but rather takes into consideration all children. This is probably the main reason for ICT having an impact on education, as well as ICT being seen as leisure rather than educational.

ICT enables equal opportunity through specialist software and allows inclusion through classroom activities or group work on the computer. ICT also encourages children to think for themselves and find a solution to get out of problems they may have, like Papert and Vygotsky explained.