Computers are vital to improving schools, conference hears
Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Association, said schools without access to appropriate information and communications technology (ICT) are like accountants without accounts software or an engineer without a programmable calculator.
“To ensure that our schools and colleges are equipped to do their jobs, they must be provided with the ICT facilities essential to maximising services to their students,” he told the association’s annual congress in Killarney.
“Staff must also be trained in the effective use of these technologies and the reliability of the technology must be guaranteed through the provision of an ICT support service,” said Mr Moriarty.
Although there has been huge investment in school computers and provision of broadband by the Department of Education in recent years, research still shows Ireland lagging behind other EU countries in terms of student access to ICT.
Plans are being made for greater use of computers in key subjects, including maths and new technology subjects being introduced for Leaving Certificate students also rely strongly on use of ICT.
Mr Moriarty said integrated ICT systems are essential to help effective and innovative teaching and learning in school and informal settings, for key administrative work by schools and VECs and for staff training. “The effectiveness of all organisations now depends increasingly on success in harnessing the full potential of ICT in delivering their services and schools are no exception,” he said.
Mr Moriarty said increased English language teaching is needed to help increase inclusion not just in education, but in a society which is becoming more multicultural and multi-ethnic. But, he added, while Irish society has been revolutionised by a welcome addition of people from other cultures, this change must be managed by the State in a strategic manner to avoid social upheaval.
“The key to social integration will be the education system’s capacity to respond to new challenges arising from the number of students whose mother tongue is not English,” he told delegates. He said a feature of ethnic conflict, seen in Northern Ireland for many years, is the winner and loser dynamic where one group’s gain is seen as a loss for another.
“The primary key to social cohesion is the use of a common language, so strategic and target spending both in school and in adult literacy will be money well spent,” said Mr Moriarty.
