Digital Strategy for Schools

4. THEME 3: LEADERSHIP, RESEARCH AND POLICY
EVALUATION
Evaluation should form a crucial component of the new Strategy. There is a need to monitor
implementation of the Strategy and to ensure that the system is making progress towards achieving
ICT integration in Irish schools. Ongoing evaluation of ICT integration is an important element in
improving practice and outcomes in this area. This is relevant to both external evaluations that are
conducted by the Department’s Inspectorate and internal evaluation activities that are conducted as
part of schools’ commitment to self-evaluation.
Published reports of school evaluations conducted by the Department’s Inspectorate frequently
include evaluative comments and recommendations regarding the use of ICT in teaching and
learning. This will continue to be the case. It is envisaged also that the Inspectorate will collect
data regarding the implementation of the Strategy once schools have had sufficient time to make
progress on relevant actions in the 2016/2017 school year.
The Inspectorate supports the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process 42 through the publication of
guidelines and resources in printed format and on the web and through advisory visits to schools.
The evaluation criteria provided to support school self-evaluation include criteria relating to the
provision and use of ICT in teaching and learning. Evaluation and improvement in the use of ICT in
teaching and learning should therefore be an ongoing part of school self-evaluation activity as it is
relevant to literacy, numeracy or any other area that a school may have prioritised for evaluation and
improvement in a given year.
RESEARCH
The concept of teachers as reflective practitioners was captured in multiple submissions during the
public consultation phase of the Strategy, and it was suggested that the Strategy should support
teacher-led research on the use of digital technology in teaching, learning and assessment.
The submissions suggested there is a need for experimentation and reflection in relation to how
ICT can be integrated into teaching, learning and assessment activities. This would allow teachers
to reflect on their practice and to share it with colleagues, thus creating a database of teacher
developed case-studies. Other submissions also suggested collating and sharing existing teacher
research (i.e. Masters and Doctoral research in the field of ICT) to the wider education system. Such
actions have the potential to develop a collection of evidence relevant to Irish teachers that could be
shared with colleagues through projects such as Molfeasa 43 .
The Census Report also makes the case for rigorous research-based approaches to implementing
publicly-funded initiatives, so the Department can trial new technologies and approaches in
schools. Such initiatives should examine the effects of innovative practice, particularly in relation to
developing teacher knowledge and teacher professional learning. It suggests that there is a value
in conducting pilot studies prior to full-scale implementation of new initiatives, so that potential
implementation gaps can be identified and addressed at an early stage.
Options such as the Department seeking resources, primarily through EU funding, to enable the
42
School Self-Evaluation (http://www.schoolself-evaluation.ie)
43
Molfeasa (http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Partnerships)
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