The BSF programme is still only in the early stages. But when more new schools are operational, there will be a much more widespread use of technology to help teachers do routine tasks, predicts Joe Nutt, a senior educational specialist at RM, an ICT supplier that fulfills around a third of local authority BSF contracts.
"That's definitely one of the big changes," he says. "There will be
registration by automation. There will be more use of information about children available online for assessment and reporting, almost always through a learning platform [where services, information and tools are integrated]. That's something teachers will have to take on board and, for your average teacher, that shift is quite a challenge."
Reconfiguration of school layouts will also demand new ways of working, Nutt says. "Quite a lot of BSF authorities have been asking architects and design teams to break down the conventional 'one teacher, one classroom, one timetable' model as a way of moving towards a more personalised experience for children. It means that a lot of the new schools will be structured very diff erently, both in terms of layout and in the way that these spaces are managed. It may mean, for example, that teachers won't 'own' a classroom but will instead be much more mobile."
Nutt, who taught English literature for 19 years before switching to his
technology role, believes that creativeminded teachers have most to gain
from opportunities being opened up by new technologies — in particular, instant access to vast collections of educational material in archives, museums, galleries and libraries.
"That's the huge advantage that a lot of teachers are only just beginning to realise is around the corner. What's out there is terrifi c and means you can build your lesson around a document or artefact. That's only just beginning to be grasped."
Steve Smith is director of learning for Ramesys, another ICT supplier for BSF schools, and he says that the over-arching, short-term impact of ICT on learning will be the "independence of the learner and their ability to self-manage their actual and virtual learning environment". He says that "fluid movement from school-based, to home-based, to work-based learning will be the norm; with staff and students maximising the use of handheld devices and online portals to manage and share information and to monitor the process and progress
