Information and Communication Technologies pot

Table 2.1: Education in the Industrial Society and in the Information Society 21Table 2.2: Estimated percentage of students at ICT-using schools, definitions of target grades and grade r

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4.4 ICT-related learning outcome expectations and learning opportunities 64

5.4 Methods of transferring ICT-related knowledge 77

7.3 Analysis of South African examples of their ‘most satisfying experience

7.4 Examples of the ‘most satisfying experience with technology’ in

7.5 Towards cross-national case studies of innovative pedagogical practices

Table 2.1: Education in the Industrial Society and in the Information Society 21Table 2.2: Estimated percentage of students at ICT-using schools, definitions

of target grades and grade ranges, sample sizes, and response rate

Table 2.3: South African Schools in SITES Module 1 sample, by former

Table 3.1: Student:computer ratios, lower and upper secondary education 34Table 3.2: Average percentage of computers equipped with various processor

Table 3.3: Computers not in use, percentage of students in South African

Table 3.4: Available peripherals, percentage of students in South African lower

Table 3.5: Existing or planned access to the Internet and e-mail for instructional

purposes, percentage of students in South African lower and

Table 3.6: Types of content available on schools’ homepages, percentage of

students in South African lower and upper secondary education 44Table 3.7: Obstacles to achieving the school’s ICT objectives, percentage of

Table 3.8: Availability of particular types of software, percentage of

Table 3.9: Availability of software for school subjects, percentage of students

Table 3.10: Software obstacles to achieving the school’s ICT-related objectives,

percentage of students in South African lower and upper secondary education 52Table 4.1: Instructional objectives that were considered to be very important by

principals, percentage of students in South African lower and upper

Table 4.2: Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade,

Table 4.3: Expected acquisition of ICT-related skills by the end of the target grade,

Table 4.4: Specific ICT applications used by a typical student by the end of

the target grade, percentage of students in South African lower

Table 4.5: Use of e-mail/Internet for specific activities, percentage of students

Table 4.6: Principals’ perceptions that instructional activities had been realised

‘a lot’ with the assistance of ICT, percentage of students in South

Table 5.1: Goals regarding the training of teachers and their realisation,

List of tables and figures

Table 5.2: The transfer of ICT knowledge among teachers, percentage of students

Table 6.1: Average values and standard errors of principals’ attitudes towards

Table 6.2: Average values and standard errors of principals’ attitudes towards ICT,

Table 6.3: Policy regarding the use of computers for educational purposes

by students, percentage of students in lower secondary education 86Table 6.4: Policy regarding the use of computers for educational purposes by

Table 6.5: Existence and realisation of common vision on the use of computers

and the Internet, percentage of students in lower secondary education 87Table 6.6: Existence and realisation of common vision on the use of computers

and the Internet, percentage of students in upper secondary education 88Table 6.7: Existence of measures to regulate computer-related activities,

Table 6.8: Existence of measures to regulate computer-related activities,

Table 6.9: Computer usage to track student data, percentage of students in

Table 6.10: Computer usage to track student data, percentage of students in

Table 6.11: Computer usage for administrative activities, percentage of students

Table 6.12: Computer usage for administrative activities, percentage of students

Table 6.13: Obstacles in realising the schools’ ICT-related objectives, percentage

Table 7.1: Computer-related student learning activities, lower and upper

Table 7.2: Most satisfying experiences with computer-related technology,

Table 7.3: Most satisfying examples of curriculum domains, lower and upper

Table 7.4: Most satisfying examples of the impact of ICT-based learning

Figures

Figure 1.2: Schools without telecommunications facilities, 1996 and 2000 14

Figure 3.1: Availability of multimedia computers, lower secondary education 35Figure 3.2: Availability of multimedia computers, upper secondary education 35Figure 3.3: Computers accessible at the grade range connected to a local network,

Figure 3.4: Schools having access to the Internet for instructional purposes,

Figure 3.5: Schools using e-mail/Internet for instructional purposes at the grade

range and having a homepage, percentage of students in lower and

Figure 3.6: Types of information on the homepage averaged across countries,

Figure 3.7: Availability of types of software for use at the grade range, lower

Figure 3.8: Availability of types of software for use at the grade range, upper

Figure 3.9: Software coverage of school subjects for use at the grade range,

Figure 3.10: Software coverage of school subjects for use at the grade range,

Figure 3.11: Average expenditure in the last two school years for hardware and

Figure 3.12: Average expenditure in the last two school years for hardware and

Figure 3.13: Average expenditure on hardware across countries by level of

Figure 4.3: Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm,

Figure 4.4: Emerging and traditionally important pedagogical practices paradigm,

Figure 4.5: Indicators for emerging ICT-related opportunities, lower

Figure 5.1: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade

range take basic ICT courses, percentage of students in lower

Figure 5.2: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade

range take basic ICT courses, percentage of students in upper

Figure 5.3: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the grade

range update their ICT knowledge regularly, percentage of students

Figure 5.4: Existence and realisation of policies that all teachers from the

grade range update their ICT knowledge regularly, percentage of

Figure 5.5: Available in-house and external courses from a list of 12, average

Figure 5.6: Available in-house and external courses from a list of 12, average

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

Figure 5.7: Average values of self-ratings from technology co-ordinators regarding

the adequacy of preparation for supporting general and pedagogical

Figure 5.8: Average values of self-ratings from technology co-ordinators regarding

the adequacy of preparation for supporting general and pedagogical

The last time an international evaluation of Information Communication Technology (ICT)

in education was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation ofEducational Achievement (IEA) was in the early 1990s (Pelgrum, Janssen, Reinen & Plomp1993) Since then there has been a dramatic expansion of ICT around the world, with theadvent of new and faster technologies Therefore, by the late 1990s it seemed appropriate

to the initiators of the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) to re-evaluate the status of ICT in education This project was run on a comparatively small budget both internationally and nationally, as well as on a tight timeframe It offers

an overview of the status quo in ICT across 27 countries This is the first time that South Africa has participated in this kind of study with regard to ICT in education; thecomparison of South African data to that of other countries provides the reader with someinteresting insights

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) joined the IEA in 1994 Since joining, theHSRC’s Group Education participated in two international projects, namely the ThirdInternational Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and now the Second InformationTechnology in Education Study The HSRC paid the national costs of the study as well asfunding the international participation costs The study was funded internationally by theJapanese government, the Norwegian government and the Dutch Science Foundation

Many people contributed to the project both internationally and nationally It isappropriate to acknowledge the role and support of the international co-ordinating centreunder the leadership of Dr Hans Pelgrum, who supported the South African team

throughout the project Secondly, I wish to acknowledge my colleagues on the project, inparticular team members Mrs Nkhensani Mnisi, Mrs Mmamajoro Shilubane and Mrs ElsieVenter I would also like to thank Dr Hans Pelgrum for his assistance during the

compilation of the report and with the South African data, Prof Tjeerd Plomp for hiscomments on drafts of this report, and Karin Pampallis for her editorial skills Finally, thanks

to Ledile Kabuzie who contributed to Section 2.5.4 on the South African sampling strategy

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The Second Information Technology in Education Study

The Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) is an internationalcomparative study managed under the auspices of the International Association for theEvaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) The study follows the previous IEA study,(Pelgrum & Plomp 1993) conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s SITES was intended

to serve as a basis for participating countries to compare developments in informationand communication technology (ICT) in education, and to provide for future

developments to be judged against the baseline information gathered in 1998–1999

The entire SITES project comprises three modules, two of which have now beencompleted The first of these aimed to provide an overview of ICT in education inprimary and secondary schools across 26 countries by means of a survey conducted in1998–1999 The second module was an in-depth study of ICT in selected schools(1999–2003), whereby case studies were conducted in schools that had implemented ICT-based curriculum innovations The third module is planned as a survey of schools,teachers and students (2004–2006), to assess the changes accruing since Module 1

Module 3 will focus specifically on the assessment of students, and will evaluate theopportunities offered by teachers and schools to students in the field of ICT in education

SITES Module 1 is therefore an international cross-sectional survey with the primary aim

of evaluating the status of information and communication technologies in schools inrelation to the instructional activities of teachers and/or students Funding for theinternational overheads of Module 1 was provided by the Japanese National Institute forEducational Research (NIER), as well as the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science,Sports and Culture, the Norwegian Ministry of Church, Education and Research, and theDutch Science Foundation Further funding came from the participation fees provided bythe 26 countries taking part in the study

This report focuses on the results of Module 1, in which South Africa and 25 othercountries from Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America participated

The main aims of Module 1 were to:

• Ascertain the extent to which education systems adopt and implement objectivesthat are considered important cornerstones of education in the Information Societyand how this process develops over time;

• Determine how ICT facilitates the implementation of schools’ objectives;

• Ascertain the extent to which ICT is used in education systems and its developmentover time;

• Identify the differences in ICT-related practices existing within and between systems,and explain these;

• Determine the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes and outcomes

in different education systems; and

• Identify innovative practices in ICT in education

The designers of SITES developed a number of research questions for which based answers were sought in Module 1 (and which will also be investigated in Modules

empirically-2 and 3) These were:

• To what extent have education systems adopted and implemented objectives that areconsidered important cornerstones of education in the Information Society? Howdoes this process develop over time?

• To what extent is ICT facilitating implementation of objectives that schools intend toachieve?

• How, by whom, and to what extent is ICT used in education systems, and how doesthis develop over time?

• What differences in ICT-related practices exist within and between systems and howcan these differences be explained?

• What is the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes, and outcomes indifferent education systems?

• Which innovative practices exist that may offer educational practitioners new targetswithin their reach?

Curriculum, infrastructure, staff development, and management and organisation wereused to describe and compare ICT-related activities in education Indicators weredeveloped for all of these four key elements However, the curriculum was consideredthe focal point of the study A number of additional indicators, such as school

characteristics, were also developed

Research design and sampling

The study focused on three student populations, and three different types ofquestionnaire items were developed to distinguish between:

• Those referring to a single target grade;

• Those referring to a grade range that included the target grade; and

• Those referring to the entire school

School populations were defined in terms of the characteristics of students attendingschools Countries had to be able to collect data in at least one of three populations inorder to participate in the study, and Population 2 was regarded as the core population.Those countries participating in only one population were encouraged to select

Population 2

The population definitions were as follows:

• Population 1: The target age was ten years in the eighth month of the school year.The grade range was defined as the three grades within a school containing themost students who would be ten in the eighth month of the school year Therefore,the schools in Population 1 were those schools containing all three grades of the range;

• Population 2: The target age would be 14 years in the eighth month of the schoolyear The grade range was defined as the three grades within a school containingthe most students of the target age Therefore, the schools in Population 2 werethose schools containing all three grades of the range South Africa concentrated onGrade 8 students; and

• Population 3: Population 3 was defined as the final grade of secondary education,with the grade range being the penultimate and final grades South Africa

concentrated on Grade 12 students

For this report, Populations 1, 2, and 3 are be referred to, respectively, as primaryeducation, lower secondary education, and upper secondary education.

The base criteria for national sampling were as follows:

• Schools using ICT were to be selected on the basis of a probability proportional tothe number of students from the desired target population; and

• The response rate was to be at least 85% after one replacement, 70% in situationswith no replacements for non-responding schools, and 70% for complete enumeration

The minimum sample size was to be 200 ICT-using schools per population level

However, a number of countries, including South Africa, did not meet these criteria at thelower and upper secondary levels At lower secondary level, 109 South African schoolsparticipated (43% of initial sample) and 113 schools (46% of initial sample) participated atupper secondary level South Africa did not participate at the Population 1 level

The instruments for SITES Module 1 consisted of two questionnaires:

• A questionnaire for school principals; and

• A questionnaire for a technical support person in the school who wasknowledgeable about the ICT facilities and their use For purposes of consistencythis person will henceforth be referred to as the ‘technology co-ordinator’

Finally, SITES Module 1 was the first IEA study to rely completely on the World WideWeb, or the Internet, for communication between participants

The main areas of data gathering and analysis are summarised below

Infrastructure for ICT

The study collected and analysed data with regard to computer hardware in schools such

as the student:computer ratios, multimedia facilities, processors and operating systems,internal networks, peripherals, access to communication facilities and perceived obstacles

to hardware infrastructure Furthermore, the study looked at the availability of purpose and subject-specific computer software as well as obstacles to the use ofsoftware The schools’ investment in hardware and software was also explored

general-Generally, huge differences exist between schools in different countries regarding access

to ICT equipment and facilities such as the Internet This may be because somegovernments have the resources and will to establish ICT infrastructure in schools to amuch greater extent than others On the other hand, these patterns of access often derivefrom the initiative of individuals or specific communities which have the motivation andthe means to obtain and utilise ICT In South Africa, for instance, many private schoolshad the finances to establish the necessary infrastructure Under apartheid, a number ofthen ‘white’ government schools were targeted preferentially by provincial educationdepartments The patterns of school ICT access in South Africa are markedly skewed as aconsequence of apartheid discrimination and on account of the capability of advantagedcommunities to sustain their advantage in the post-1994 period More recently, initiatives

of private companies and international donor organisations have supported formerdisadvantaged schools across the country in establishing ICT

Against this background of inequity, schools in South Africa compare with countries such

as the Russian Federation, Bulgaria and Lithuania with reference to the provision ofhardware and software However, compared to Western Europe, Canada and Singapore,South Africa has a long way to go

One of the major obstacles that schools saw hampering the attainment of ICT-supportedlearning goals was the simple lack of a sufficient number of computers For politicaldecision-makers it may seem that the number of computers actually available ‘is neverenough’ However, the frequency of complaints about lack of equipment tended todecrease markedly in those schools that had increased their student:computer ratios(Pelgrum & Anderson 1999: 153) In schools where the student:computer ratio was 25 orhigher, approximately 80% of the respondents complained about a lack of equipment.However, this dropped to 50% in those schools with student:computer ratios of ten

or lower

Curriculum and pedagogy

A key focus of the study was curriculum The IEA makes a distinction between theintended, the implemented, and the attained curriculum so as to describe curricula in across-national, comparative way:

• Intended curriculum (macro-level): the curriculum plans which may be set out inofficial documents or which may exist as shared conceptions of what constitutesimportant curriculum content;

• Implemented curriculum (meso-level): the content, time allocations, and instructionalstrategies that teachers actually realise in their lessons; and

• Attained curriculum (micro-level): the competencies, aspirations and attitudes ofstudents that occur as a result of teaching and learning

The school survey of SITES Module 1 differentiated between:

• School-intended curriculum: This is the curriculum that schools aim to realise

It can be described in terms of ICT-related objectives, achievement targets, andintended educational processes (instructional processes, roles of teachers, evaluation procedures); and

• Implemented curriculum: This consists of perceptions of school principals of theeducational processes that take place at the teacher and student levels It can bedescribed in terms of the learning opportunities offered to students

ICT is understood to have the potential to facilitate changes in education that wouldbetter prepare citizens for the Information Society The conceptual framework of thestudy distinguished between the ‘traditional’ teacher-dominant paradigm of education thatwas appropriate in the Industrial Age versus the ‘emerging’ paradigm which emphasisesactive and interactive learners appropriate to the Information Society

An attempt was made in the study to probe the extent to which schools had adoptedparticular pedagogical practices It sought to do so by ascertaining what the ICT-relatedinstructional objectives were, and what skills were acquired by the target grade Datawere collected on whether learning outcomes and learning opportunities for using ICTapplications, such as e-mail or the Internet, reflected the emerging pedagogical practices

or the traditionally important paradigm as defined by the school principal

The presence of both emergent and traditionally important orientations to the application

of ICT in learning varied greatly across countries Clearly schools in some countries, such

as Canada and Norway (among others), seemed to have adopted and implemented theemerging practices approach across all levels of education to a greater extent thanschools in other countries Additionally, according to Pelgrum and Anderson (1999: 116),

it appears that schools with high emerging practice conditions seem to have low student:computer ratios This trend was not apparent for the traditionally importantpedagogical practices It appears that South African schools tend towards a moreemerging paradigm as the students mature in age (and probably experience) As thestudents become more independent and increasingly confident, teachers themselvesbecome more confident in using more emerging practices

Staff development in ICT at schools

The teacher is pivotal in determining the extent to which innovations are adopted andimplemented in educational practice Therefore, the training and regular upgrading ofteachers is important for the integration of technology into daily educational practice

SITES wanted to ascertain the extent to which school principals and technology ordinators experienced the level of staff qualification in ICT as problematic The studytherefore investigated the extent to which facilities for training teachers were availableinside and/or outside the school Perceived problems, priorities and financial investments

co-of schools in the area co-of ICT-related staff development were also explored

It would appear that the lack of ICT-related knowledge among teachers is perceived as amajor obstacle to achieving the ICT-supported learning objectives of schools It isunderstandable, therefore, that most schools had adopted a policy whereby all teachersshould receive training for using ICT in their instructional practice However, in themajority of schools this policy had not yet been satisfactorily realised Despite this, asubstantial number of teachers had attended basic ICT courses For most of the schools inthis study there appears to be a need for additional and continuous staff developmentregarding ICT This may be difficult given the shortage of training courses in mostparticipating countries, with the exception of Singapore, where ICT-related trainingfacilities for teachers were quite favourable However, for most participating countries,including South Africa, the challenge will be to determine how to improve teachers’

abilities to use ICT for instructional purposes given limited budgets

Policies and usage of ICT in schools

The extent to which school principals promote the use of ICT in their schools dependslargely on how useful they consider these technologies to be The study investigated anumber of issues related to principals’ attitudes towards ICT:

• The extent to which their schools explicitly adopted ICT policies (such as theregulation of computer-related activities);

• The extent to which ICT was used to monitor student learning progress and forschool administrative work; and

• The extent to which principals were aware of, and attempted to deal with,organisational problems associated with the introduction of ICT into their schools

Overall it would seem that schools in many of the countries participating in the study aredoing a lot to develop their ICT-related policies, visions, and attitudes Schools in SouthAfrica and other countries appear to be using computers increasingly for studentmonitoring and school administration However, it would also appear that there areschools in a number of countries that still have some way to go in the development andsuccessful realisation of their policies In general, principals (including those in SouthAfrica) are positive towards the use of ICT in their schools, although clearly there was abroad range of attitudes in this regard Internationally, about 50% of the schools in thisstudy have developed school policies concerning the use of ICT, and many schools werefound to address at least half of the policy issues listed in the questionnaire

Across countries generally, many schools appeared to be using computers for schooladministration, which may mean that computers are already providing much support forroutine school administrative work Teachers may be expected to gain considerablebenefit from monitoring students’ progress using a computer However, the study showsthat while some schools do use computers for monitoring, many do not About one-fifth

of South African schools in the sample did not use a computer for this purpose

Large percentages of principals, especially in eastern and central Europe, reported majorobstacles Some of these included the lack of resources, notably insufficient teacher-timefor preparing computer lessons, and not enough time to work with computers Theseissues were considered less of an obstacle for South African schools at the lowersecondary level than at the upper secondary level

The study reveals that the staff in schools (including in South Africa) have to beencouraged and need to be shown how they, their instruction and students’ learning canbenefit by making greater use of computers Schools have to find solutions for problemsthat they encounter when implementing ICT

Successful practices with ICT

School principals were asked to give ‘an example of the most satisfying experience of alearning activity in their school in which students use computer-related technology, whichgives students the most useful, effective and advanced learning experiences with

technology’ Each country was asked to provide a maximum of ten examples at eacheducational level to be reported on as part of the international comparative SITES study

The selection process aimed to exclude examples that emphasised only computer

programming, ICT basic skills (taught in a separate course), and the use of technology for

drill and practice, because they were seen as fitting more into the traditionally important

paradigm and less into the emerging paradigm.

An analysis of eight lower secondary and five upper secondary examples from SouthAfrica were included in the international database The characteristics of the South Africanset of examples is summarised as follows:

• Across the grades, the examples seemed to show an emphasis on communication and collaboration activities with students working in pairs or groups There werealso differences between the activities at lower and upper grades, with a

concentration of basic ICT skills at the upper level None of the examples focused

on remediation and practice

• While the examples at lower secondary level concentrated more on specificcurriculum domains, those at upper secondary level tended to have a more cross-curricular nature (combining mathematics and science, language and biology,science and computer studies, or art, geography, and music) At lower secondarylevel, domains represented in the most satisfying examples for students werescience, language and computer studies.

• At lower secondary level, activities involving improving knowledge and skills werecommonly found among the examples selected The examples varied from

increasing motivation and interest to increasing creativity, self-esteem andcollaboration At upper secondary level, the examples emphasised knowledge orskills and increasing self-esteem

Internationally, a great deal of similarity was evident between examples within lower andupper secondary levels of education Social studies, science, and mother tongue were thedomains that elicited the most satisfying examples (Voogt 1999) Most of the examplesgiven concentrated on a multidisciplinary approach where subjects were combined Ingeneral, students’ activities focused on information processing, production or

communication, combined with word processing, technology for seeking information andfacilitating communication General-purpose application and communication software wasmore commonly used than subject-specific software

Conclusion

In conclusion, the main findings for the study were as follows:

• The majority of countries had developed policies for strengthening the role of ICT ineducation;

• Governments internationally were aware of potential negative outcomes such asilliteracy and unequal access to technology;

• In South Africa, quite a few schools had policies in place, but in many cases thesewere not being implemented;

• In most countries, there were programmes to improve the infrastructure of ICT ineducation;

• There were substantial differences in the quality and functioning of ICT equipmentbetween schools, including those in South Africa;

• Countries and schools differed in their access to the Internet for instructionalpurposes;

• A considerable variation was found in the presence of emerging pedagogicalpractices, both across and within countries;

• According to the principals in most countries, including South Africa, teachers’ lack

of ICT knowledge was a major obstacle in realising the schools’ ICT goals;

• Significant numbers of schools in the study used computers for monitoring studentsand for administration;

• The implementation of ICT to enhance education was hampered in many cases byinsufficient time for preparing these lessons, as well as teachers simply not havingenough time to work on computers; and

• Most of the examples from schools about their ‘most satisfying use of technology’involved information processing and knowledge production activities of students.Co-operation and collaborative activities were also very common.

Given that less than 15% of the schools in South Africa have access to computers forteaching and learning, and that very few can be described as being well-resourced interms of computers, there are obviously severe constraints on what is being achievednationally at present in the field of ICT in education

A number of factors were identified in the SITES Module 1 study that constrained the use

of computers for teaching and learning These include:

• Financial constraints (lack of funds, insufficient number of computers);

• The lack of computer literacy among teachers;

• A lack of training regarding the integration of ICT into different learning areas; and

• The absence of a properly-developed curriculum for teaching computer skills.These findings highlight the importance of the pre-service training of teachers in this field.There are few, if any, teacher-training institutions that offer a comprehensive programme

of ICT in education Although it is hampered financially in terms of supplying all schoolswith equipment, the government could be proactive in this area

In addition to the factors that enhance effective learning using ICT, the IEA is interested

in identifying best pedagogical practices using ICT It is for this reason that it has initiatedthe second phase in SITES (Module 2), where the focus is on case studies investigatingthese practices This study, in which South Africa also participated, took place from1999–2002 and involved up to 12 cases per country

AISI African Information Society Initiative

COLISA Confederation of Open Learning Institutes of South Africa (Unisa,

Technikon SA, Vista)

FOTIM Foundation of Tertiary Institutions in the Northern Metropolis

IEA International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

NIER National Institute for Educational Research [Japan]

©HSRC 2005

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

1 Introduction

1.1 The Information Age

Much has been written about the impact of the Information Age on global economicdevelopment However, this literature refers primarily to the growth of information andcommunication technology (ICT) among developed nations An integral part of the globaleconomy is the Internet, which enables the generation and retrieval of knowledge andinformation and allows both productivity and flexibility due to the power of technologicalnetworks Given the severe underdevelopment of the technological infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations, the developing world risks falling even further behind Access to education, educational achievement of learners, andtechnological literacy among others are unequally distributed around the world This isnow further exacerbated in the developing world by the advent of the Internet While theInternet has diffused into more than 40% of society in Scandinavia and the USA, and 25% in the European Union, it is only so for about 3% of the world’s population (Castells 2000: 5) Developing-country governments must prevent their countries fromfalling too far behind and provide their citizens with the opportunities that ICT mightoffer Thus the challenge for developing nations is to design and develop policies andplans that allow them to implement ICT in a systematic and cost-effective way

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the broader context within whichthe SITES Module 1 study can be understood Firstly, it is necessary to provide a briefoverview of the prospects for generating ICT access and infusing ICT-mediated learninginto classrooms on the continent As elsewhere in Africa, large sections of the SouthAfrican schooling population lack access to ICT or the infrastructure upon which ICTusually depends

Secondly, the SITES Module 1 study has been undertaken in a period in whichconsiderable policy development has taken place in South Africa The new developmentswill be reviewed to provide a perspective on the gaps between current ICT provision andthe vision of the future education system

Thirdly, since the SITES Module 1 fieldwork took place, the Department of Education(DoE) has published the results of the system-wide second School Register of Needs(SRN) survey which was undertaken in 2000 (Department of Education 2001) The SRNsurveys conditions in all public schools and enables comparison with the baseline survey(Human Sciences Research Council, Education Foundation & Research Institute forEducation Planning 1997) This provides a useful context for the results of the SITESModule 1 study

1.2 Africa, the Information Society and globalisation

The current and future capacity of developing countries to harness ICT in order togenerate and sustain participation in global markets is an important development priority

In his keynote address on ‘Information Technology and Global Development’ to theEconomic and Social Council of the United Nations in May 2000, Professor ManuelCastells (2000) warned of imminent and catastrophic fragmentation, inequality, povertyand social exclusion for the South in the new global networked economy The problem

of social exclusion as it relates to information technology is a dimension that functionsboth between and within national contexts (Hendry 2000)

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

The recently published Human Development Report (UNDP 2001) focused on ‘makingnew technologies work for human development’ The importance of technology isrecognised in the report through the creation of a new index, the TechnologyAchievement Index, according to which countries are ranked Although the index adopts

a set of dimensions that assume a broad definition of technological innovation andsupportive infrastructures, it is dominated by measures related to information technology.The following African countries are ranked (number in parentheses) in terms of thisindex: South Africa (39), Tunisia (51), Egypt (57), Algeria (58), Zimbabwe (59), Senegal(66), Ghana (67), Kenya (68), Tanzania (70), Sudan (71) and Mozambique (72) (UNDP 2001: 45–49) Other African countries could not be ranked due to incomplete data What is quite apparent from this ranking is the marginal status of most of Africa interms of participation in the innovation and information technology fields

Concerns have been raised with respect to the actual contribution of informationtechnology to economic growth, but it is difficult – if not impossible – to separate theeffects of technology from the political, social and economic context within which it isembedded This publication will not entertain these debates, but will share the view ofCastells that the core element of concern is ‘not related to technology or to globalisation

per se, but to the institutional conditions under which globalisation proceeds and theinformation technology revolution expands’ (2000: 5)

Castells makes a plea for the implementation of a ‘technological Marshall Plan’ to assistdeveloping countries in generating the human and technical infrastructure for achieving

‘information development’ (2000: 6–20) In particular, Castells emphasises the importance

of human resources for sustaining ‘connectedness’ to the global economy, arguing that

‘human resources are critical the essential infrastructure without which technologymeans nothing’ As education and technological literacy become more importantdevelopment resources, ‘countries lacking these resources become locked in theirbackward conditions’ (Castells 2000: 4–5) This observation is supported by Cogburn andAdeya who argue that low levels of human resources development are ‘crippling theability of Africans to exploit the new generation of ICTs’ (1999: 13) Similarly, Madonobserves that the ‘toughest challenge’ for inserting the networked economy in developingcontexts is ‘training users’, which needs to take place on a large scale for the economicbenefits to be felt (2000: 99–101)

The response from Africa to the challenges of globalisation, driven through the primarymedium of information technologies, is growing Synergies are becoming evident amongseveral initiatives at the continental and regional levels to ‘catalyse a massive continent-wide effort to apply ICTs to greatly accelerate Africa’s economic and social developmentand economic development during the first decades of the twenty-first century’ (Adam1998: 4) This aim is to be carried forward via Africa’s five sub-regions Key to this drive

is the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), which was conceived and politicallyendorsed by Africans to produce a visionary statement on how Africa can make use ofICT for development AISI, which is co-ordinated by the United Nations EconomicCommission for Africa (UNECA), provides the framework for partnerships among AISImembers; they are linked through Partnerships for ICTs in Africa (PICTA) which includeAfrican and international private sectors, international aid agencies, bilateral developmentassistance organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the field

The first African Development Forum held in 1999, supported by UNECA, identified thekey theme of ‘Globalisation and the Information Economy: Challenges and Opportunitiesfor Africa’ In a wide-ranging paper prepared for this forum, Cogburn and Adeya identifythe importance of ‘international harmonisation of policy and regulatory frameworks’

(1999: 9) on policy issues relevant to the development of the Information Economy andelectronic commerce, which include communications infrastructural development, contentdevelopment and regulation, technical standard and inter-operability, and education and employment

The United Nations Millennium Declaration, which was adopted in September 2000,pledged the support of member nations across the globe for Africa’s efforts to address thecontinent’s underdevelopment and marginalisation African leaders have resolved to takejoint responsibility for devising a strategy to achieve sustainable development in the twenty-first century This took the form of the Millennium African Recovery Programme (MAP) aspresented at the OAU Heads of State summit in July 2001 ICT is a ‘priority sector’ forMAP, with its dedicated programme for fast-tracking The MAP document observes that

‘Africa has been unable to capitalise on ICT as a tool in enhancing livelihoods andcreating new business opportunities, and cross-border linkages within the continent andwith global markets have been constrained’ (Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 12)

The MAP document specifies that human resource development initiatives in educationshould include the objective of ‘working for improvements in curriculum development,quality improvements and access to ICT’, while related concrete action must involveestablishing a task team ‘to accelerate the introduction of ICT in primary schools’

(Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 19–20) According to MAP, infrastructural initiatives

in the field of ICT must include the objective ‘to develop the production of a pool of proficient youth and students from which Africa can draw trainee ICT engineers,

ICT-programmers and software developers’ Related concrete action must undertake to

‘promote and accelerate existing projects to connect schools and youth centres’

(Department of Foreign Affairs 2001: 20–21)

The MAP initiative evolved into the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad)which has prioritised ‘Bridging the Digital Divide: Investing in Information and

Communication Technologies’ as a key infrastructural sector The Nepad document sharesthe same focus and language as the earlier MAP interpretation of the strategic importance

of ICT (Nepad 2001: 24–25)

1.3 ICT curriculum policy and employment

The integration of ICT into the curriculum can benefit learners in at least two importantways Firstly, exposure to ICT will provide learners with valuable hands-on experienceand the opportunity to learn skills that will be useful in an increasingly technology-saturated work environment Secondly and very importantly, integrating ICT across thecurriculum makes it possible for learners to become creators of knowledge in their ownright, for example, through seeking for information on the Internet and then synthesisingthis information in the form of a presentation or project The skills associated withpersonal information management, self-regulated learning and working, and researchcapability in combination with communication skills and teamwork are highly prized inglobal and local labour markets Through the use of ICT, the learning of these skills can

be accelerated and sharpened

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

There have also been important changes in curriculum emphasis Pelgrum and Anderson(2001), Fullan and Smith (1999), and Voogt and Odenthal (1999) characterise the

paradigm underlying this shift as a process in which students become actively involved intheir own learning This paradigm is sometimes referred to as lifelong learning or as aconstructivist vision of teaching and learning This approach is characterised by theparticipation of educators as facilitators who guide learners to independent and self-regulated learning, which involves engaging actively and collaboratively on research-based real-world problems and tasks

Such an approach to teaching and learning is seen as appropriate to inform nationaleducation and training strategies and the supply of adequately trained human resourcesboth in the information societies and in developing countries that seek to avoid beingcaught on the wrong side of the digital divide

Although the importance of utilising information technologies in schools has beenestablished in research emanating largely from education systems of the North, in theoverwhelming majority of schools in the South many learners have never interacted with a personal computer The extreme underdevelopment of global technologicalinfrastructure is the major obstacle, especially in countries where poverty and lack ofbasic amenities such as electricity preclude access to ICT either at home or at school There is pressure to construct education transformation policy that takes account of theways in which the new information and communication technologies differentially andunevenly affect societies and economies across the globe Although much attention hasbeen given to ICT in schools in Europe, North America and Asia, little is known about itscurrent and potential influence in the education trajectory of developing countries.The need to develop information economy competencies in the African workforce hasnot been comprehensively explored The paucity of skills has not been properly exposed,partly because the penetration of ICT into African economies has been very localised sofar There have been urgent calls to develop information technology competencies fromAfrican universities and research and library systems (Madon 2000: 86–88) It is in thissector that the need for appropriately-skilled library and information specialists isarticulated strongly (Chisenga 2000; Thapisa 1999) What emerges from this work is notmerely the need for high-level skills, but also the need for the schooling system to lay thefoundations by providing earlier opportunities for learners to interact with ICT It is alsoclear that broadening the base of access to ICT at the school level will assist in

ameliorating the current pattern in developing contexts where only the privileged elitebenefit from technology (Madon 2000: 90–101) Furthermore, programmes which have thepotential to counter social inequality may present the opportunity in the formative

environment of the school to bring about greater gender equality

The development of well-elaborated national policies on ICT education in the Africancontext still seems to be in the making, if the situation in southern Africa can be taken asrepresentative of the general state of affairs Butcher observes that, ‘Despite the range ofapproaches used to establish education-specific ICT policies, the overwhelming sensewithin the [southern African] region is that very few policies exist Where they do, theytend to remain vague and make little reference to implementation’ (2001: 5)

The process of globalisation should not be assumed to bring about a homogenising effect

on policy As Castells points out, there ‘is not a single necessary path that all countries mustfollow to the informational society but there is a comprehensive global structure based

on the rules of the informational society that affects all countries in one way or the other’

(1994: 55) Moreover, the policy analysis of Selwyn and Brown (2000: 679) – and of Butcher(2001) in southern Africa – suggests that there are divergent trends in policy, and that this:

policy divergence does not reflect an evolutionary model of technological progressionwith some countries merely more advanced than others in their implementation, but rather reflects fundamental differences in political economy It is thereforeimperative that these variations in educational information infrastructures arerecognised and explored

In a similar way, the notion of the ‘digital divide’ needs to be taken beyond the rhetoricalassumptions of a binary logic which separates cleanly those who ‘have’ from those who

‘have not’ Damarin (2000) argues cogently that this framing of the problem blurs theimportant gradations between the different types, quality and locations of technologies Inaddition, an understanding of the ‘differences in levels at which individuals can workcomfortably with technologies [is] suppressed’ (Damarin 2000: 18) This recognitionrequires the investigation of the use of computers and related technologies in educationalsettings across the continuum This is of particular importance in developing contexts,such as in Africa, where a wide and divergent range of circumstances prevail

1.4 ICT in education in South Africa

Attention has focused on technology-enhanced learning in the hope that it may offersome solutions to the challenges of education in South Africa The White Paper onEducation and Training (DoE 1995) focuses on outcomes-based education, developingproblem-solving skills, and providing a creative environment in which new technologiesare harnessed to produce knowledge products Furthermore, the White Paper states thatthe DoE aims to integrate technology into these education strategies in order to advancethe country’s ability to adopt new technologies to facilitate its growth and development

More government support is to be found in the White Paper on Science and Technology(Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology [DACST] 1996), which stresses thataccess to ICT is crucial to national competitiveness and popular empowerment TheWhite Paper proposes a National System of Innovation1that will support and promote theattainment of national objectives by the creative use of the outputs of the science andtechnology system with regard to new knowledge and new technologies In pursuit ofthis idea, the DACST believes that: ‘the knowledge, technologies, products and processesproduced must be converted into increased wealth, by industry and business, and into animproved quality of life for all members of society’ (1996: 12)

Through the Universal Service Agency, there is a focus on community information andlearning centres around South Africa; these centres will be equipped on a large scale withappropriate mass media and technology Some have already been established

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1 ‘The process of transforming an idea, generated through research and development, into a new or improved product which relates to the real needs of society and which involves scientific, technological, organisational or commercial activities’ (DACST 1996).

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

There are currently a number of initiatives in various interest sectors in South Africa thatfocus on different aspects of technology in education Some of these are discussed below

1.4.1 Parastatal organisations

Over the years, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has been involved inseveral research projects regarding computer-based education, and now has a number ofprojects that focus on information technology These include distance learning and aresearch programme aimed at studying the effective transfer of development informationthrough the application of mass media technology

Telkom is involved in a number of initiatives to provide appropriate networks forcomputer-based and interactive education projects It has also launched the InfoSpaceproject based on Spacestream, Telkom’s Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellitenetworking capabilities, and 66 Degrees East, which offers training and support services

to communication technologies and distance learning The Thousand Schools Project isanother Telkom-sponsored initiative to introduce and support ICT in 1 000 schoolsaround the country

The National Research Foundation (NRF) is responsible for operating the UNINET, acomputer-based information highway linking universities, technikons and some schools.The NRF also facilitated the EDUNET Initiative, an interest group promoting interactivedistance education.2

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is investigating innovative ways ofproducing remote centres for distance learning, containing video facilities The Council forScientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) initiated and co-ordinates the Telematics forAfrica Development Consortium of organisations in technology and education, whichoffers technological support to users, and is involved in the development of newtechnologies The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has a number ofinitiatives using existing national television channels with varying degrees of interactivity,

as well as programmes using satellite transmission

1.4.2 Industry and non-governmental organisations

Numerous initiatives in private sector companies and international institutions offereducational training and information programmes via the Internet These fall across alldisciplines and levels of education, and tend to be largely in the non-formal sector wherethere are large amounts of money involved Industry is also collaborating with parastatalorganisations in sponsoring some new initiatives such as the Telkom Centres of

Excellence and the Soweto Technology Project, to mention only two

Recently, the South African Department of Trade and Industry, the Information Systems,Electronics, and Telecommunications Technologies (ISETT) Sector Education and TrainingAuthority and the State Information Technology Agency launched a youth internshipprogramme aimed at building skills-capacity in the information technology sector whichinvolves placing interns in private sector companies

The non-government sector is changing so rapidly that any initiatives mentioned could beoutdated by the time of publication There is evidence of a need and a willingness fororganisations to work more closely together – for example, the Telematics for AfricaDevelopment Consortium

1.4.3 Higher education institutions

A number of higher education institutions have projects or programmes in various stages

of development These include:

• The University of Pretoria has an interactive tele-teaching project and expertise onhardware and software infrastructure;

• The University of South Africa (UNISA) has wide-ranging experience in distanceteaching and has established the Centre for Educational Design and Technology whichwill make contributions to the design, development and evaluation of courseware;

• Technikon South Africa has established a Centre for Media Technology and a Centrefor Courseware Design and Development These form the central components oftheir interactive distance education; and

• Potchefstroom University offers programmes such as MBAs through the TelematicLearning Initiative

In addition, consortiums have been formed to collaborate on initiatives These includeCOLISA (UNISA, Technikon SA, Vista) and the Foundation of Tertiary Institutions in theNorthern Metropolis (FOTIM), which involves all universities and technikons in thegreater Gauteng area

• Geographic information systems;

• Packet radio (radio with modem, antenna and computer);

• Compact disc-interactive;

• Tele-CD-interactive;

• CD-recording and CD-erasable;

• Wireless communications;

• IT/Lightsat satellites; and

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

Usage of the Internet has grown dramatically in South Africa with many private sectorcompanies, parastatal institutions, NGOs and institutions of higher education havingaccess South Africa ranks 16thin the world in terms of usage of this technology

There are definite pressures in South Africa for the inclusion of technology in educationand for changes in education, including the following:

• The workplace increasingly requires employees who are scientifically,technologically and information literate;

• Educating so-called ‘knowledge employees’ requires an emphasis on solving, access to information, evaluation, analysis and decision-making;

problem-• Learners need a flexible approach to education;

• Learners need to update their knowledge; therefore knowing how to accessinformation is critical;

• There are large disparities in abilities and ages of learners, requiring solutions tolifelong learning;

• There are financial pressures, as there is an increase in the number of learners and adecrease in funding; and

• There are not enough facilities (including classrooms) and there are substantialpressures on teacher:learner ratios

This reality has led to the belief that traditional methods of education alone will not meetthese massive learning and training requirements Among the documents recently

released, there appears to be a shared sentiment that the following principles shouldbecome common goals:

• Partnerships and collaboration in proving, developing and producing informationand communication technology in education;

• A co-ordinated audit of resources in ICT on a national basis;

• A learner-centred approach to learning and teaching;

• Development of a network of community centres; and

• An emphasis on joint development of high quality multi-media courseware

1.5 The South African policy context

In South Africa, the Technology Enhanced Learning Initiative (TELI) planning document(DoE 1996) presented a model of the upgrade paths implied in the developmentalintegration of technologies into the learning and teaching environment In addition tooutlining four possible stages in the use of technologies, which culminate in theimplementation of ICT facilities, the document also specifies the broad technical andspecifications parameters for any schools planning for educational technology acquisition.The TELI document aimed to provide guidelines for educational institutions

It is quite clear that in the intervening years, the importance of ICT in national economiesand in national education systems has increased hugely within the global context InSouth Africa, as elsewhere in the world, it is no longer sufficient for governmenteducation departments to guide ICT policy and to rely on local initiatives In the twenty-first century it is essential for national education departments to initiate education-relatedICT policies This is necessary for four key reasons:

• To ensure that national human resources development can be enhanced so that theworkforce has the skills to extract maximum value from ICT availability in theworkplace and in civil society;

• To ensure that national human resources development policies are attuned to ICT so

as to sustain competitiveness in the global labour market;

• To ensure that ICT access and skilling does not exacerbate inequity in education,which is likely to happen if ICT acquisition and integration into the curriculum is left

to local initiative; and

• Even though the emerging global economy places significant pressure on theeducation and training sector in South Africa with respect to knowledge productionand acquisition, it is important to balance the imperative of skilling educators andlearners to facilitate national and information industry needs within an economicrationale with the importance of preparing learners for the optimisation of their owndevelopmental needs as individuals and as lifelong learners

Some argue that employers do not want schools to produce specifically-trained workersbecause applications and systems are so easily superseded From this perspective, thetime and effort spent on particular skilling at the school level will produce an ‘under-skilled’

labour force because the fundamentals are missing What the labour market needs,therefore, is a worker who has the confidence and skill to learn, think and workindependently and who is able to adapt easily to changes in workplace systems and needs

This means that school education should concentrate on the development of conceptualunderstanding of the uses of ICT as a tool across contexts rather than learning specific skills

Educators will have to fulfil a pivotal role in ensuring that teaching and learning is geared

to equipping learners to engage flexibly and adaptively in the creation, management andapplication of knowledge in an information-intensive world The design of programmesfor educator training is an urgent priority given the national commitment to IT-ledeconomic growth as articulated through the vision of the New Partnership for Africa’sDevelopment (NEPAD) and specific South African policy The temptation will be to drawupon curricula and programmes developed in other countries An appropriate balancemust be achieved between adopting what is useful and developing indigenousknowledge about the articulation of ICT in the South African education system

Finally, the experience from the roll-out of IT and information systems projects in boththe private and public sectors overwhelmingly points to the strategic importance ofdeveloping human capacities to leverage the full value of the hardware and softwareinvestments The lesson is clearly that while IT and infrastructural elements are (relatively)easy to put in place, the generation of human competencies and skills is a much longer-term process It is clear from the literature on ICT implementation in national educationsystems that the same problem applies – namely, that mobilising educators to use andintegrate ICT into the curriculum is a slower and more slippery process than placing thehardware and connectivity in the schools

The meaning of curriculum ‘integration’ can be widely interpreted when applied to ICT inschools On the one hand, the term could be taken to mean merely the use of drill andpractice programmes in a learning area For example, it has been observed that manyschools have invested their entire software budget in buying computer-assisted learning(CAL) programmes that do nothing for ICT skills development other than indirectly teachkeyboard skills On the other hand, the integration of ICT in the curriculum is taken tomean the use of ICT as a resource and as a learning tool in part of, or across, thecurriculum It is in the latter sense that this report understands the term

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

On 19 November 2001, the DoE and the Department of Communications (DoC) published

their joint policy document, Strategy for Information and Communication Technology in

Education(DoE & DoC 2001) The document clearly gives notice of the intention of theEducation and Communications Ministries to intervene strategically in the field throughexplicitly stating the following outcomes:

• All schools will possess a means of telecommunication (landline or cell phone);

• With rare exceptions, all schools will have at least one Internet-linked computer foradministration and support purposes;

• Schools will have access to Internet-linked computing facilities for learner andeducator use;

• At the end of the Foundation Phase, all learners will have used computers in theacquisition and enhancement of their numeracy and language skills;

• Learners and educators will have basic competence in the use of word processing,spreadsheet, flat database, e-mail and web-browser applications;

• Learners and educators will have used a host of user-machine interfaces, includingkeyboards, touch pads and other devices;

• Where practicable, computer facilities will be utilised out of school hours by theschool and wider community, with cost-recovery as appropriate;

• Educational software will comply with the Curriculum 2005 assessment standards; and

• The Department of Education portal, Thutong, will provide access to a host of

curriculum and support material (DoE & DoC 2001: 15–16)

It should be noted that the outcomes as stated are ‘open’ with respect to the nature of thetechnologies which are to be applied to take into account developments in the hardwareand especially the software fields

The DoE and DoC aim to achieve the above outcomes through the following basicobjectives:

• Basic connectivity;

• Wired schools;

• The statement of curriculum objectives; and

• Educator development (2001: 15–16)Aspects relating to connectivity, delivery of computers to schools, and curriculum will begiven significant attention in this report At this point it is necessary to identify the keyeducator development intentions, which are to:

• Harness the Internet ‘which has a special role to play’ in meeting the need for service training;

in-• Develop courses that will ‘both prepare educators for the new learning areas ofCurriculum 2005 as well as provide them with exposure to computer literacy thevery basic management skills needed to keep the computers up and running’;

• Ensure that new educators are trained ‘with an understanding of how to incorporateand use ICT in their school teaching’ within higher education environments whichare ‘congruent’ with the goals of the wider education system; and

• Recognise that the introduction of ICT in schools will ‘fundamentally change the role of educators and the way schools are run and administered’

(DoE & DoC 2001: 15–16)

Clearly the new policy recognises the importance of educator development However,since this is a broad policy statement and does not focus explicitly on educatordevelopment, the DoE’s intentions in this regard have to be inferred from the previousTELI document which does provide further guidance in this respect In Section A, Part 5,the ‘minimum skills that a teacher using technology should possess’ are defined as follows:

• The ability to infuse the use of technology into the classroom to facilitate teachingand learning, to develop the problem-solving critical-thinking abilities of learners inorder that they may effectively function socially and economically and becomelifelong learners;

• A practical knowledge of the more common computer application packages in theareas of word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and the widely-used operatingsystems (e.g Windows 95/2000, Linux, NOS);

• With regard to the qualifications required by teachers for the educationalapplications of ICT, a computer literacy teacher (a teacher with a workingknowledge of computers and their use in education) cannot fulfil the functions anddemands of a computer science teacher (ideally, a teacher with an in-depthknowledge of computers, their educational applications, computer languages andcomputer programming) – qualifications to be a computer science teacher areobtained through in-depth and concentrated study in the appropriate field;

• The ability to apply technology in support of the instructional process and classroom administration;

• The ability to use telecommunications among stakeholders;

• The ability to apply appropriate assessment of learning practices in a right environment;

technology-• An understanding of the equity, ethical, legal and human issues of technology use asthey relate to an ever-changing Information Society;

• The ability to discuss these issues with students and to model appropriate behaviours;

• A basic understanding of computer hardware and the terminology associated withtechnology, telecommunications, and networking; and

• An understanding of the range, source and uses of quality instructional technologiesrelated to one’s own subject area and grade level – this requires also a knowledge ofavailable resources and of the current trends in the use of educational technologies

Meeting the ICT and communications needs of schools is not only the responsibility ofthe DoE The South African government is seeking a co-ordinated interdepartmentalapproach to generating ICT-enabled learning This is evident in the joint announcement bythe DoE and DoC of the national schools ICT strategy This has been taken further by theDoC which issued the Telecommunications Amendment Bill in August 2001 (DoC 2001) The

amendment relevant to this report (of Section 45 of the Telecommunications Act 103 of

1996) stated the following:

From a date to be determined by the Minister, all public schools as defined in

the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No 84 of 1996), and all public further education and training institutions as defined in the Further Education and Training

Act,1998 (Act No 98 of 1998), shall be entitled to a 50% discount on: (a) alltelecommunication calls to an Internet service provider; and (b) any connection orsimilar fees or charges levied by an Internet service provider for accessing theInternet or transmitting and receiving any signals via the Internet

or for such access and transmission and reception

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

The provision of such a basket of discounts is critical to the sustainability of ICTimplementation in schools and has been implemented in other national educationsystems This basket of subsidisation measures, referred to as the ‘e-rate’, is likely toincrease the expectation and demand from schools for supply of the basic infrastructure.This in turn will raise the demand from learners for additional opportunities to accessICT, and this will increase the expectations for educators who can facilitate ICT usage aspart of the learning process

Finally, in the policy domain, it is important to recognise the importance of policies thatmay not appear to have direct application to ICT in schools The most important policy inthis regard is the Revised National Curriculum Statement, which has been reviewed interms of its scope, sequence and specification The ICT policy document states that the

‘widespread introduction of computers in schools should support Curriculum 2005’ (DoE & DoC 2001: 15) In a recent study by the HSRC, the existence of computers in thecase-study schools seemed to support the Curriculum 2005 goal; more importantly,however, computers were seen as an ideal medium with which to attain independentlearner-centred learning processes (Paterson & Singo [forthcoming])

1.6 ICT in South African schools

Computers were introduced into schools in South Africa during the 1980s, primarily inprivate schools that had independent funds as well as in some well-resourced

government schools Initially, computers were used mainly for school administration –timetables, student records, examination marks and school reports This started to changewith the development of more appropriate and relevant software, an increase in

computer-literate teachers, hardware development, and the advent of the Internet According to the SRN survey (DoE 2001),4 there are 2 311 schools in South Africa withone or more computers It is estimated, however, that at least 10% of South Africa’salmost 28 000 schools have access to one or more computers The implementation of ICT

in schools is being facilitated by SchoolNet,5which also provides staff development andsupport to schools introducing ICT

Provincial education departments do budget for acquiring different technologies butsimply cannot afford to purchase computers for all schools when so many still lack thebasic amenities of running water, electricity and sanitary facilities Therefore, manyparents and school governing bodies – largely in the more advantaged communities –have had to raise funds for computers and their installation Power supply, communicationand access to computers are clear stumbling blocks to the government’s policies, and adiscussion of each of these follows

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4 The first SRN survey was conducted in 1996 to measure the infrastructural needs of South African schools It was the first comprehensive survey of its kind in South Africa, using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology The second survey, conducted in 2000, provides an up-to-date picture of the extent to which schools have access to computers and to the essential infrastructure of electrical power and telephone lines to make computer access possible The timetable of the government departments to roll-out this infrastructure will have to be taken into account in the process of educator training It should also be noted that the SRN covers other important infrastructural aspects, such as school facilities and size, as well as community characteristics, such as poverty, that will affect the use of computers were they installed The relevance of these factors are noted but cannot be covered in detail here.

5 SchoolNet is an NGO operating nationally.

1.6.1 Power supply

The provision of electrical power is an important precondition for the implementation ofICT infrastructure at a school In the four years between the 1996 and 2000 SRN surveys,there was a significant increase in the number of schools supplied with power, from41.8% in 1996 to 57.1% in 2000 (see Figure 1.1) A small number of schools nationwide –

973 (or 3.6%) – reported the use of solar power (DoE 2001) The proportion of schoolswithout power and the time taken to roll-out electricity supply will limit the access oflearners to ICT-based learning on those campuses Other considerations must also betaken into account, such as the extent to which school buildings are wired for electricityand the quality of the power supply

1.6.2 Telephone lines

In 1996, 59.5% of all schools nationwide had no telephones; by 2000 35.5% of schoolshad no access to any form of telecommunications (see Figure 1.2) (DoE 2001) The sharprise in schools with some form of telecommunication is attributed to the rising

accessibility of mobile telephones The statistic, therefore, presents an underestimate ofthe actual number of schools which must still be provided with landline access to enablecomputers to link to the Internet Furthermore, it is clear that there are significantvariations in access to telephone infrastructure between provinces, with NorthernProvince6and Mpumalanga Province lagging behind Western Cape and Gauteng As withthe supply of electricity, the roll-out of telephone lines will also play a role in the extent

to which schools are able to offer their learners access to the Internet

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Figure 1.1 Schools with electricity, 1996 and 2000

6 Although Northern Province is now called Limpopo, the text will refer to it as Northern Province since that was its name at the time of the research.

Source: School Register of Needs (DoE 2001)

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

1.6.3 Computer access within schools

Apart from the constraints outlined above, the provision of computers in South Africanschools is in itself a significant undertaking It was reported in the SRN 2000 that 6 616 or24.4% of schools indicated that they had access to computers which were used for anypurpose from administration to teaching and learning Just over 70% (19 094) of SouthAfrican schools, mainly in the more rural provinces, do not have any computers

The nature of the process with which computers have been brought into schools forteaching and learning is also of interest First, the percentage of schools which reportedthe existence of computers for teaching and learning increased from 2 335 (8.7%) in 1996

to 3 351 (12.3%) in 2000 This means that the proportion of schools which are able toobtain computers for teaching and learning is not keeping pace with improvements inelectricity and telephone supply

Second, even though the number of computers in schools has increased fourfold – from

16 359 in 1996 to 70 711 in 2000 – this hike is concentrated in a small number of schools.Third, according to the SRN 2000 data, there are significant provincial variations, withGauteng and Western Cape respectively reporting 58.6% and 54.8% of schools withoutcomputers for teaching and learning On the other hand, Eastern Cape and NorthernProvince reported that over 95% of schools were without computers for teaching andlearning in 2000 (DoE 2001)

Finally, reference is also made here to the provision of ICT facilities in schools servicingcommunities of learners with special education needs (LSEN) This is because it isimportant to highlight the need for provision of ICT hardware and software designed tomeet the needs of specific education communities It will also be necessary to makeprovision for certain educators to receive specialised training in the application of ICT inschools offering education for learners with special education needs (ELSEN)

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Figure 1.2 Schools without telecommunications facilities, 1996 and 2000

Source: School Register of Needs (DoE 2001)

In 2000 there were 390 ELSEN schools Only 2.6% of ELSEN schools were withoutelectricity, with Free State, Gauteng, Northern Province and Northern Cape reporting thatall their schools had electricity Similarly, in 2000 – despite some variation between theprovinces – only 4.6% of ELSEN schools overall had no form of telecommunications

Almost all ELSEN schools are supplied with infrastructure for the support of ICT

According to the SRN 2000, 204 (52%) of 390 ELSEN schools have computers There arealso more computers available, with the learner to computer ratio having improved from68:1 to 19:1 between 1996 and 2000 (DoE 2001)

1.7 Introducing SITES

The SITES is an international comparative study managed under the auspices of the IEA

The study follows the previous IEA study, Computers in Education (Pelgrum & Plomp

1993), conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s SITES was intended to serve as abasis for participating countries to establish their comparative developments in ICT ineducation, and to allow future developments to be judged against the baselineinformation gathered in 1998–1999

The SITES project comprises three modules The first of these provides an overview ofICT in education in primary and secondary schools across 26 countries by means of asurvey conducted in 1998–1999 The second module was an in-depth study of ICT inselected schools (1999–2003), where case studies were conducted in schools that hadimplemented innovations as a result of ICT The third module will be a statistical survey

of schools, teachers and students (2004–2006), assessing the changes accruing sinceModule 1 Module 3 will also include the assessment of students, and will evaluate theopportunities offered by teachers and schools to students in the field of ICT in education

This report focuses on the results of Module 1, in which South Africa and 25 othercountries from Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America participated The main aims

of Module 1 were to:

• Ascertain the extent to which education systems have adopted and implementedobjectives that are considered important cornerstones of education in theInformation Society and how this process develops over time;

• Determine how ICT facilitates the implementation of schools’ objectives;

• Ascertain the extent to which ICT is used in education systems and its developmentover time;

• Identify and explain the differences in ICT-related practices existing within andbetween systems;

• Determine the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes and outcomes

in different education systems; and

• Identify innovative practices in ICT in education

Twenty-six countries participated at one or more levels in the schooling system – namely, primary school, lower secondary school, and upper secondary school SouthAfrica participated at the lower and upper secondary school levels The countriesparticipating in the study are listed in Table 1.1 in relation to the student populationschosen for investigation

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Table 1.1 Countries participating in SITES Module 1

Slovak Republic * *South Africa * *

1.8 Structure of the report

This first chapter provides the background against which the study was initiated, as well

as a short introduction to SITES In Chapter 2 the background and methodology of thestudy are discussed and the indicators used are summarised Chapter 3 describes the ICTinfrastructure with regard to hardware and software provision at each educational level

Chapter 4 describes the curriculum indicators, with a focus on distinguishing the

‘emerging’ and ‘traditional’ pedagogical paradigms and their implications In Chapter 5 thefindings are discussed in relation to the indicators of ICT-related staff development in theschools Chapter 6 discusses management and organisation issues related to ICT Chapter 7describes a number of cases proposed by principals as the most satisfying experiencewith ICT in their schools Finally, Chapter 8 presents the conclusions based on thefindings as well as a number of implications of the study

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2 Background to SITES

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2.1 Background to the project

During the 1980s many schools worldwide began to introduce computer technology forlearning in classrooms At the end of that decade, schools were able to link this IT tonetworks and other communication technologies However, it was not until the 1990s thatboth information and communication technologies became an established part of theeducational systems in many countries The rapid introduction of ICT into education,primarily in developed nations, occurred simultaneously with advances in and decliningcosts of technology, as well as the diffusion of this technology into the community as

a whole.7The rapid and escalating growth of technology8has created a huge challenge foreducation Questions have been raised about the effectiveness and impact oftechnological applications (Pelgrum & Anderson 1999) One area where information waslacking was the actual infusion of technology in education The IEA contributed

significantly to addressing this with two studies on computers in education in 1989 and

1992 (Pelgrum, Janssen Reinen & Plomp 1993; Pelgrum & Plomp 1993; Plomp, Anderson

& Kontogiannopoulou-Polydorides 1996)

It is anticipated that education systems in many countries will continue to adopt andimplement educational programmes that reflect new ways of learning in order to preparecitizens for the Information Society A major question confronting most people involved

in the planning and implementation stage will be the extent to which progress is made inimplementing such reforms

The designers of SITES developed a number of research questions for which based answers were sought in Module 1 (and which will also be investigated in Modules

empirically-2 and 3) These are:

• To what extent have education systems adopted and implemented objectives that areconsidered important cornerstones of education in the Information Society? Howdoes this process develop over time?

• To what extent is ICT facilitating the implementation of objectives that schoolsintend to achieve?

• How, by whom, and to what extent is ICT used in education systems, and how doesthis develop over time?

• What differences in ICT-related practices exist within and between systems and howcan these differences be explained?

• What is the impact of ICT on educational organisations, processes, and outcomes indifferent education systems?

• Which innovative practices exist that may offer educational practitioners new targetswithin their reach?

7 The information contained in this chapter is derived largely from the international report of Pelgrum and Anderson (1999).

8 In the past ten years, educational communities increasingly have used the term ‘technology’ to refer to ‘information technology’ (IT) or to ‘computers’ This trend stems from the growing integration of computers with communications, video, and audio technologies Audio and video communications are rapidly becoming digital in form, which gives the computer a new and expanded role as a controller and manipulator of audio and video as well as text and numeric data Although many people refer to IT simply as ‘technology’, many European countries refer to it as ‘information and communications technology’ or ICT This report uses the terms ‘technology’, ‘information technology’, and ‘information and communications technology’ interchangeably.

ICT in South African Secondary Schools

2.2 Development of the study

The above questions provided the foundation for the IEA to initiate the planning of anICT study consisting of three modules (Anderson, Haider, Pelgrum & Watanabe 1997),with slightly overlapping time schedules:

• Module 1: A survey of principals and technology co-ordinators in primary, lowersecondary, and upper secondary schools (1997–1999);

• Module 2: Case studies of innovative pedagogical practices using ICT (1999–2003); and

• Module 3: A survey at school, teacher, and student levels (2004–2006)

The pilot study of SITES Module 1, using draft instruments, was completed by June 1998.The data collection of the main survey was conducted before December 1998 Entry,cleaning, and processing of the data were conducted during the first quarter of 1999,leading to the completion of the first draft international report in April 1999 and finallythe release of the international report in November 1999

The International Co-ordinating Centre (ICC) of SITES Module 1 was located at the Centrefor Applied Educational Research (OCTO) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.The International Steering Committee of the study consisted of members from the USA,China, Hong Kong, Norway, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Japan

Funding for the international overheads of Module 1 was provided by the JapaneseNational Institute for Educational Research (NIER), as well as the Japanese Ministry ofEducation, Science, Sports and Culture, the Norwegian Ministry of Church, Education, andResearch, and the Dutch Science Foundation Further funding came from the participationfees provided by the countries taking part in the study

Each of these countries was represented by a National Research Co-ordinator (NRC), andtheir national research teams played a crucial role in the process of defining the studydesign and instrumentation These people were responsible for collecting the survey data

in their countries In South Africa, the HSRC was the national centre for the SITES project.Researchers within the Group Education worked on the project under the leadership of

Dr Anton Muller, who acted as the South African Research Co-ordinator for SITES Module 1.Educational systems from 26 countries participated in the data collection for SITES

Module 1 (See Table 1.1 in the previous chapter for a list of these countries.)

2.3 Conceptual framework 2.3.1 Introduction

The primary aim of SITES Module 1 was to evaluate the status of ICT in schools inrelation to instructional activities by teachers and/or students This was done by means ofinternational comparative statistical surveys at three stages in the school system – primary,lower secondary, and upper secondary education SITES Module 1 was intended toprovide a picture of ICT in education at one point in time (late 1998), allowing forresearch into developmental trends based on previous worldwide surveys (1989 and1992), and providing a baseline for future assessments