CESI Conference January 2002 St.Patrick's College

Ursula Hearne,Dominican Convent Primary School,Dún Laoghaire,Co. Dublin

ABSTRACT
The area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Education has become increasingly important over the last decade. In our mission of preparing our children to avail of further education and for a world beyond education, we are responsible for reflecting life experiences within the classroom. ICTs are an essential tool in this mission.

Change in educational practice rests in the hands of teachers. Fullan (1993), who has written extensively on change in Education tells us that educational change fails more times than it succeeds. Tuohy (1999) suggests that to bring about successful change one needs to focus on the inner world, or culture, of the school and to ‘reculture’ that world.

This paper questions whether the inherited organisational culture or ethos of a primary school supports the teacher who is struggling to integrate ICTs into her/his teaching. The paper concludes with suggestions for future approaches to using ICTs in classrooms.

Making I.T. Happen In The Primary School
Children today are growing up in a world heavily dominated by computer technology. No other development in modern times comes near the transformational potential of ICTs. New perspectives are now needed to work and live in an increasingly borderless world. The core mission of primary education is to prepare children to avail of further education and for a world beyond education. To succeed in this mission we are responsible for reflecting life experiences within the classroom and for providing situations that allow for the development of the strategies, skills and attitudes for children to succeed within their environment. ICTs have become an essential tool in this mission. Yet Mulkeen (2001) found that primary schools demonstrated uncertainty as to what they should be doing with computers.

It is clear that change in educational practice rests in the hands of individual teachers. They, however, are often constrained by the organisation in which they work. Schools are places with their own cultural and social contexts and with their own traditions, potentials and limitations. Somekh et al. (1997) point out that institutional culture, management style and micro politics play a crucial role in either supporting or blocking the change process. Tuohy (1999) agrees and suggests that to bring about successful change one needs to focus on the inner world, or culture, of the school and to ‘reculture’ that world. The concept of organizational culture is somewhat difficult to articulate. Tuohy refers to Schein’s (1990) exposition and development of this concept as something, which evolves around the meanings shared by a given group arising out of their history and purpose as a group. Schein applies the term organizational culture to the pattern of basic assumptions that has been adopted by the group. Tuohy (1999) points out that this pattern of assumptions develops over time and is influenced by two things.

1. Free choices made by the group from a number of alternatives focus the group’s activity and guide its future development.

i) The group responds to external forces and circumstances not of its own choosing.

This focus on culture marks a departure from the study of ‘how things are done around here’ to an exploration of ‘why things are done this way around here’. The focus goes beyond the visible symbols and artefacts to an understanding of the assumptions and values that promote particular artefacts.

Based on Schein (1985) Tuohy suggests three levels at which culture is studied and five areas in which cultural assumptions operate.

Three levels:

Five areas:
1. The Schools Relationship to the Environment

2. Human Activity

3. Truth and Time

4. Human Nature

5. Human Relationships

Hearne (2000) explored some of the assumptions in these five areas in a primary school in Co. Dublin. The primary school in which the study was undertaken is, as Tuohy (1999) would suggest, simultaneously the same as all other primary schools, as some other primary schools and as no other primary school. Also, the teaching staff can be seen as the same as all other teaching staffs, as some other teaching staff and as no other teaching staff.

Structured interviews, using questions suggested by Tuohy (1999), were utilised to obtain relevant data. The interviews were explorations of teachers’ assumptions about the school’s relationship with its environment, human activity, truth and time, human nature and human relationships. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to the researcher’s computer. A computer application - QSR NUD*IST – was used to manage, code and view the data.

Relationship with the environment
The original reasons for the foundation of a school represent the cultural artefact on which the core mission of the school is based. In private schools, or schools founded by religious orders, decision-making is often guided by internal criteria such as congruence with traditional practice and the understood value system. The focus may be more outwards in other schools and the criteria used may be based on principles of democracy and the satisfaction of demands made by various groups in the environment (Tuohy, 1999). Government policy in relation to ICTs in Education which is outlined in Schools IT 2000 was formulated as a result of demands made by various groups in the environment - from the teacher unions, parent associations, the EU and the business community - and therefore an outward focus in schools would probably facilitate its implementation.

Analysis of interview data suggests that on the whole the current teaching staff work to promote the culture of the school with an internal focus and an emphasis on continuity and predictability. Parents are expected to adopt school values. Although it is recognised that many groups outside the school are making legitimate demands on the school these demands are filtered and there is an emphasis on preserving the ethos of the school. As teachers join the staff, they become socialised into the inherited culture of the school, understand how things are done around here, become part of the culture and do not question why things are done this way around here. This could not be considered an ideal situation in which to implement major change.

Assumptions about human activity
A school’s aspirations as to what it hopes to achieve with its students define a perspective on the purpose of human activity. It raises questions on whether humankind should be passive and fatalistic in the face of nature or whether it should be dominant and proactive and strive to make a mark on the world. If orientation is to the former then the goal of education becomes one of reproduction and adaptation. There is an emphasis on the world as given. In a proactive orientation, the focus is more on process. Criteria for success are based on the ability of students to apply their understanding to new situations (Tuohy, 1999). It is a proactive orientation with focus more on process than product that would facilitate the use of ICTs to support learning in the classroom.

The data revealed that most school activities reflect an orientation to or perhaps an approval of humankind as passive and fatalistic. Although the majority of teachers view the talents and behaviour of good and successful students as dominant and proactive, most school activities tend to focus on reproduction and adaptation.

All of the teachers interviewed, however, mention art as an activity that has prominence in the school. A focus on the active learning processes involved in this activity would also facilitate the use of ICTs to support learning in the classroom. This finding indicates a strength, which could be exploited in future planning for ICTs.

Assumptions about truth and time
Truth can be viewed in different ways. One view is to see truth as determined by intellectual rational processes. Orientation is to the past and the wisdom, heritage and values of past generations are passed on to the next. A second view of truth involves a personal social construct. Here the product of Education is seen as the ability to cope with change and to reconstruct experience (Tuohy 1999). It is the ability to cope with change and to reconstruct experience that would promote the integration of ICTs.

The data reflects the fact that although ICTs are considered very important, the main orientation in the school is to pass on the wisdom, heritage and values of past generations. This orientation is reinforced by linking generations through the use of similar artefacts e.g. mottoes and uniforms. In the classroom context also intellectual rational subjects are considered most important. ICTs are not considered a priority for school development. Problems of funding and time in relation to integrating ICTs emerged. Few teachers saw the acquisition of more computers and more software as a challenge. Integration of ICTs into the Curriculum under such circumstances is likely to be a slow process.

Assumptions about human nature
Schools organise around what they believe about their pupils. Students may be seen as untrustworthy and in need of constant supervision or as positively oriented towards work. Their intelligence may be regarded as inherited and fixed or that it develops on a social basis. Their behaviour may be regarded as a symptom of some flaw in the student’s character or seen as something that is socially learned. (Tuohy 1999) There may be different expectations of the academic ability and behaviour of boys and girls giving rise to the development of inequalities. A view of students as equal, as positively oriented towards work, as intelligence developing on a social basis, and behaviour as something that is socially learned, would facilitate the integration of ICTs into teaching and learning across the curriculum.

The interview data showed that on the whole assumptions about human nature in the school are very mixed. The staff is equally divided as whether students are in need of constant supervision or whether they are positively oriented towards work and whether their intelligence may be regarded as inherited and fixed or whether it develops on a social basis. Boys and girls are mainly regarded as academic equals. There are some differences in expectations of male and female student behaviour. These assumptions influence the type of structures and behaviours that develop in the school. Although they are unlikely to give rise to gender bias, they are likely to cause significant resistance to a new concept of education necessitated by the integration of ICTs into the curriculum. They will also affect relationships among people, which in turn will affect the process of change.

Assumptions about human relationships
The culture of the school is built up around the human relationships within the school. A high emphasis on status may result in individuals being more professional than personal and acting out of a sense of competition rather than cooperation. Within the classroom some teachers promote homogeneity others promote diversity. Some teachers promote high levels of cooperation among students others promote high levels of competition. (Tuohy 1999) Implementing change would best be accomplished in a spirit of community and teamwork among staff and between staff and pupils.

Primary school teaching can be quite isolating. Teachers are responsible for a particular group of children throughout the working day. They have few breaks. In the school in question teachers have a thirty-minute break for lunch four days a week. On the fifth day they supervise the children’s lunch break. There is therefore little time for developing personal relationships in school. Staff do not socialise regularly outside school. Relationships with the pupils are seen as mainly professional becoming personal as the need arises. As a result relationships among teachers in the school reflect more of an emphasis on individuals than on teamwork.

A spirit of community and teamwork that would support the integration of ICTs into the curriculum could be seen as a challenge for this school.

The analysis above offers a perspective on the organisational culture of a school. It does not define it totally. Culture, as Tuohy (1999) points out is dynamic. There is, he tells us, “a tension between being and becoming, of aspiration and performance, of goals and achievement”. The findings however, support the likelihood that the assumptions, which underlie the organisational culture of this school, blocked proposed ICT related change in the past and as it is not easy to change deeply ingrained assumptions, may do so again in the future.

Fullan (1992) warns us that systems do not change on their own or through policy pronouncements. Integrating ICTs into the school curriculum will happen only through the actions of individual teachers working in a thousand small ways towards a new future usually despite institutional culture, management style and the micro politics of the school.

Towards a Future of Learning
The central “problem” of using technology in the classroom is, in essence, an educational one - not a technological one.

Woods (1999) argues that, arising from the work of Vygotsky, Piaget and Skinner, there are three great truths of learning and teaching that underpin the importance of this technology:

1. Children learn through and from communication

2. Children are natural learners. They set their own problems and are selective about what they attend to, learning from feedback from peers, teachers and adults

3. Practice makes perfect - not all learning occurs naturally; it takes time and effort to perfect skills to make them useful in later life

The social and communicative nature of learning can be facilitated by using the WWW to collect information from remote sites and to 'talk' to people there, by teddy bear exchanges and email projects, by designing and publishing web pages and by shared word processing and data handling projects. This is in effect using the computer as a tool for communication purposes and this is consistent with a Vygotskian perspective on the nature of knowledge and learning.

The child’s ability as a natural learner and problem solver can be developed and enhanced through the use of Papert’s LOGO and its development - MicroWorlds. MicroWorlds combines LOGO programming language and a sophisticated multimedia presentation facility. This is using the computer as a tutee and is consistent with a Piagetian / constructivist / constructionist perspective on the nature of knowing and learning.

The first person to see the opportunities that machines could give us for programming learning was the American behaviourist Skinner. This use of technology - the computer as tutor - helps children to perfect their skills through practice. Many excellent drill and practise software applications are available for learning support.

Conclusion
It is imperative that the impetus to implement Schools IT 2000 and to integrate ICTs into teaching and learning across the curriculum does not slow down. One of the most important challenges to an educational system is to empower the young with the intellectual tools of the culture. Electronic transmission has already taken over from oral or handwritten transmission in many areas of our lives. All our children need access to the very powerful intellectual tools of our culture otherwise we are creating a new disadvantage.

ICTs can support behaviourist, communicative, constructivist and constructionist views of the nature of teaching and learning. They can enhance the work that teachers do and help children to learn more effectively. Therefore as Butler et al. (2000) suggest educational and technological agenda need to be merged as a means of opening the gateways to new assumptions and ways of learning. A learning community, in which teachers can break old habits and become learners alongside their pupils, needs to be encouraged where children can express their sense of observation, their taste for fantasy and their joy of creating.

References

Butler, D., Martin, F. and Gleason, W. (2000) Empowering minds by taking control: Developing teachers’ technological fluency with LEGO Mindstorms. In Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Conference (SITE 2000), pages 598-603, Charlottesville, VA, 2000. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Fullan, M. G. (1992) Successful School Improvement. Buckingham: Open University Press

Fullan, M. (1993) Change Forces. Probing the Depths of Educational Reform. Falmer Press

Hearne, U. (2000) Implementing Change in Education A Study of the Implementation of Schools IT 2000 in a Primary School. M.St. Thesis TCD

Mulkeen, A. (2001) The Place of ICT in Irish Schools: Early Indicators of the Changes Since IT 2000. In Irish Educational Studies Volume 20 2001

Primary School Curriculum (1999) Dublin: The Stationary Office Schools IT 2000 A Policy Framework for the New Millennium (1997) Department of Education and Science

Schein, E. H. (1985) Organisational Culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schein, E. H. (1990) Career Anchors, San Diego: University Associates.

Somekh, B., Whitty, G. and Coveney, R. (1997) IT and the politics of institutional change in Using Information Technology Effectively in Teaching and Learning Studies in pre-service and in-service teacher education. USA and Canada: Routledge.

Tuohy, D., (1999) The Inner World of Teaching Exploring Assumptions which promote change and development London: Falmer Press

Wood, D., “Learning the three great truths: and the ICT Research Agenda” [http://telematics3.ex.ac.uk/ERF/present/lecture4/wood1.htm] (03/12/1999)