Information Technology in Secondary Schools and its Impact on Training Information Technology Teachers

There are concerns about the teaching and learning of information technology (IT) in English state secondary schools (ages 11-18 years), and the way IT resources and the curriculum are organised. These circumstances affect students who are training to be IT teachers when they are on teaching placement in secondary schools. They may find that the curriculum model used in one teaching placement school is very different from that used in another; contact with pupils may be too brief, causing difficulties with teacher-pupil relationships; different approaches to teaching and learning may be encountered; there may be difficulties with continuity and progression in the IT curriculum; and expected standards may not be consistent. Student teachers may be better qualified and have more practical experience of IT systems and resources than their subject mentors in schools. However, these may regard students as lacking in basic subject knowledge as the hardware and software in schools do not match students’ previous experiences. Few of the above concerns are unique to Bachelor of Education and Postgraduate Certificate of Education courses in IT; however, they can be relatively more significant. Some helpful strategies are suggested.