Digital Strategy for Schools

DIGITAL STRATEGY FOR SCHOOLS – ENHANCING TEACHING, LEARNING & ASSESSMENT
6. ENSURING EFFECTIVE
IMPLEMENTATION
STRATEGY TIMELINE
The Strategy sets out a comprehensive set of actions to be achieved from 2015 to 2020. Each of the
deliverables in the Strategy has a timeline and clear lead responsibility for delivery. These actions will
be prioritised in line with available exchequer funding and system capacity.
Over time, it will bring significant changes to areas such as teachers’ professional development, the
way in which the curriculum in primary and post-primary schools is delivered, the way ICT is used for
assessment, and how schools communicate with parents/guardians and the outside world.
ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SKILLS IN ICT IMPLEMENTATION
The Department recognises the potential of ICT to transform teaching, learning and assessment
practices in our schools and will continue to provide leadership across the education system. The
Department will play an enabler role in leading and facilitating schools and teachers to adopt
new pedagogies so they can better engage their students in using ICT to create a quality learning
environment in a coherent way.
The implementation of the Strategy will be led and coordinated by the ICT Policy Unit in the Department.
In addition, the Unit will report regularly to Senior Management and the Minister on progress in
implementing the Strategy. To assist the Unit, a group will be established to oversee this work. This
group will include relevant senior officials from the Department, as well as representatives of the
agencies that are responsible for implementation of the strategy deliverables. The group will:
• draw on specialist advice from national and international experts;
• draw up and regularly update an implementation plan covering actions contained in the Digital
Strategy for Schools;
• monitor progress towards achieving the targets in the strategy and the goals set out in the
implementation plan and report to the Minister at least once annually;
• consult regularly with the education partners and other relevant interests regarding the
implementation and development of the Strategy through meetings, conferences and other
means;
• advise the Minister on the efficiency of the actions being taken to achieve the targets and suggest
improvements and changes to the actions and the targets as necessary in the light of experience;
• produce reports for dissemination; and
• develop and implement a communication plan for the Strategy.
TRANSFORMING LEARNING IN SCHOOLS
This Strategy sets out how we will work to realise the potential of ICT to transform the learning
experiences of students by helping them become engaged, creative and critical thinkers, global citizens,
and active and self-determined resilient learners in collaborative social-learning environments.
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