ICT in Schools - Department of Education and Skills

Evaluation methods Chapter 2
During the visits to schools the inspectors also administered a questionnaire to students. The
purpose of this questionnaire was to determine the views of students on ICT, not only with regard
to their interaction with ICT in school but also with regard to their use of ICT outside school time.
For primary schools an entire fifth class was selected for participation, while for post-primary schools
an entire Leaving Certificate year 1 class was selected. It was decided to select fifth-class students in
primary schools because it was thought that this group would have enough experience of ICT in the
school to be able to give informative feedback; this age group was also considered to be mature
enough to respond to such formal approaches as interviews and questionnaires. At the post-primary
level, Leaving Certificate year 1 students were selected because at that point in their schooling they
would have had three or four years’ experience of ICT in their school and so were considered to be
in a position to give informed responses to questions. A total of 437 primary students and 450 postprimary
students completed questionnaires. Reference is made to the findings of this survey of
students throughout this report.
2.6 Observations during classroom inspections
(primary) and subject inspections (postprimary)
During the period in which case-study schools were being visited by inspectors (October 2005 to
February 2006), the majority of the inspectors who were engaged in evaluative work in mainstream
primary and post-primary schools completed an “ICT review schedule” for each school they
visited. 24 These schools were not a subset of the schools that participated in the survey of primary
and post-primary principals and teachers but were simply those selected for evaluation as part of the
continuing work of the Inspectorate in the period in question. The ICT review schedules used by the
inspectors were a means of gathering first-hand information on the use of ICT in those schools,
particularly with regard to teaching and learning in the classroom.
2.6.1 Primary schools
The ICT review schedule used by inspectors at primary level contained three sections. The first two
sections were identical and were to be completed in respect of two individual mainstream class
teachers. The third section was to be completed in relation to the work of a member of the specialeducation
team in a school (for example the resource teacher, the learning-support teacher or the
resource teacher for Travellers). The first part of each of the three sections in the schedule required
inspectors to ask questions of the individual teacher relating to their ICT planning and their use of
ICT. The second part of each section asked inspectors to observe and evaluate the level of
integration of ICT in teaching and learning during the inspection period with that teacher.
24 In the course of their work, inspectors undertake WSEs in both primary and post-primary schools. These evaluations are usually
conducted by inspectors working in teams. In addition—and although subject inspections form part of the WSE process in a postprimary
school—inspectors also undertake separate subject inspections in post-primary schools.
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