I’m not impressed by the decision to drop ICT advisors from our education centres. I’ve decided that I should do something to register my disgust. If any members of Anseo.net would like to add their message by clicking on Add a Comment, I will send all messages on behalf of Anseo.net members to the Minister for Education. Please add your comments before Friday when school ends.
Podcast Show Notes: Access Undone Ep 1
22nd September 2024
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If you were to walk into any primary school and compared it to the classroom you might have sat in only a generation ago, apart
0 thoughts on “Loss of ICT Advisors”
I won’t miss my ICT Adviser …. am waiting for promised help since March 2007.
I recognise that losing the (overall) service is a step backwards … in my case, however, it’s a case of status quo.
The ICT Adviser in my local Ed Centre was always on the ‘missing list’ when help was asked for.
With this latest announcement we might as well put ICT in long term storage!
This decision is utterly ridiculous. A completely retrograde step. The equivalent of hospital bed closures in the 80’s – and we’re still paying for that one today. The current generation of school children will be the casualties due to their inflexibility and inabiltiy to adapt to an ever changing digital world. It’s demoralizing to think of how short sighted this move is. It prooves once again that there is no joined up thinking in government. Knowledge based economy, my arse!
In our school we were shocked and appalled at the decision, our local ict advisor gave invaluable support and advice. We would not have reached the current level of use of ict in our school without the service, I agree with the above comment a ridiculous move which totally undermines the professional commitment which we experienced.
this is terrible and what worries me more is what is going to be “dropped” next?
How come Education are the first to suffer when the funds are not in the government’s pocket?
Roll on the elections next, I know which party I will not be voting for!
ICT advisors are a symbol of the government’s thinking around ICT. We can clearly see what the government think about ICT now..
Actually, ICT really cannot go down any further, nothing else can be dropped as most teachers who are passionate about ICT have bought their own equipment or do it their own time…
Here’s to a future of ICT illiterate pupils..Fianna Fail, don’t say we didn’t warn you!
schools do badly in ICT as is, we have creaking out of date computers, if we want any new ones parents pay, likewise whiteboards, digital cameras etc. Our ICT advisor has been fantastic in helping us make our precious fundraised euros go as far as is possible, I wll be telling all of our parents he is to be scrapped.
This needs to be fought all the way. Who decided that they were surplus to requirements? Not anyone who has ever visited our school and seen them in use. We were part of a DES evaluation this year on good practice in education and I would like to know what the inspector who came to our school makes of the decision. She was amazed by what she saw even the youngest children doing. We could never have reached our level of expertise without the ICT advisor. To the first poster here I wonder were you just unfortunate or did your school not grasp the help which we found so readily available.
I’ve just e-mailed this comment to the Minister but wish to add my voice to the other comments here.
Minister, as a practising primary school teacher with a personal interest in the ICT area, I’m appalled at the decision to cease the service provided by the ICT advisors through the local Education Centres. With politicians continuously talking about the importance of the “knowledge economy”, this decision seems very short-sighted indeed. Without the encouragement and expertise of these highly skilled people, many schools and teachers will fail to value the importance of the integration of ICT into the curriculum.
This indeed is a retrograde step and surely if we want to get back to the days of the “Celtic Tiger” economy the one area that we should be investing in is education and more partciularly the area of ICT as this is the area where many jobs of the future will be available.
On a professional level, both the timing and the way this information was released to both the ICT advisors and the education community was regrettable but probably not co-incidental. Was it necessary to wait until secondary schools were already on holidays and primary schools almost on holidays to announce this cutback in education services? Surely it was well known weeks ago that this decision was imminent? Would it not, therefore have been courteous and responsible to allow the people concerned time and opportunity to seek out other jobs if they so desired? What if any of these people wish to take a career break, are they not too late now to apply for one? This is shoddy treatment indeed from an employer.
In summary, this is a very poor decision – short-sighted, under-handed and one which you may regret in the future.
I can’t believe this decision. Surely the most short sighted decision ever made by the Dept.We are already lagging behind other European countries in our ICT provision. Who will now help the schools who find themselves in difficulty with their ICT provision? Where will we turn to when we need support? Surely one ICT advisor in each Education centre is not going to make any difference to the overall budget in Education? We should fight this decision as strongly as possible as it is a most regressive step.
I am uterrly disappointed with both the news and indeed with the underhand way in which it was imparted. What a way to treat people who have stretched themselves to provide a service with such limited resources? We should be getting extra support, but instead what little there was has been pulled away.
I too fear that this is the beginning of the end……
Short-sighted??? Should have gone to Specsavers! No professional opinion required to predict the future of ICT in schools or rather the lack of a future….
One is tempted to say why should WE bother? However we are more professional than our politicians it would seem!
In St. Mary’s Primary, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon we are disgusted at losing our ICT advisor Noel Sheerin based in the Carrick on Shannon Education Centre. When we have limited funds Noel gives sound advice. Noel was available to call to schools to evaluate our systems and plan forward. Teachers in this area of the country are ICT literate as a result of courses that Noel has organised all year round.
Anna Feely, Principal.
Re ICT Advisors
I was out of the country when the crazy decision not to renew contracts of the ICT advisors was announced. I was here by the way in March when the decision was reached.
I have seen the value of the ICT advisors over the years, and the contribution that they made to the take up of ICT in schools is enormous. They all were enthusiastic and dedicated to the task of the educational use of ICT in schools .They also introduced many innovative projects to schools and teams of teachers .They visited schools regularly and were the only part of NCTE who daily visited and were present at the chalkface. As a member of a BOM of an Education Centre I saw the long hours above and beyond the call of duty spent by the local advisor and I know this was typical. E.G. Twenty schools in Laois were part of an innovative project and as a result have lovely websites….parents,teachers and pupils were all inspired by the work of the ICT advisor .
All one has to do is to read the Annual Report of any Education Centre and see the courses etc organised by the local ICT Advisor.(Available on most Education Centre websites) EG http://www.laoisedcentre.ie
Value for Money Audit
There is an impression that a “Value for money Audit” into the value of the ICT advisory service has taken place .No one seems to know what is in the report.
I want to know :
1. Who were the personnel who acted on this audit.
2. What were their competencies to conduct this audit.
3. Whom did they consult .( Were any teachers, Education Centre directors , inspectors interviewed ?)
4.What were their conclusions ?
Would the FOI work here ?
I know that in some DES responses to queries it was stated that this audit was not part of the decision not to renew the contracts, I also know that the waiting for this audit to be completed was used as an excuse for not appointing 3 ICT advisors to 3 Education centres that have been without ICT advisors for at least a year.
The DES has within its own regulations that contracts to be renewed should be done in time to allow schools to make substitute arrangements .These were never properly adhered to and especially this year when most schools had already signed contracts with substitute teachers for the coming school year. The public service Ombudsman should be alerted to this shoddy practice.
The timing of the announcement was really very unethical from a Department from which we expect better .An email was sent on the last Friday evening in June to Education Centres(no warning, no consultation ,) so as to arrive when staff would have gone home .As a matter of fact some Education Centres didn’t receive the email that Friday at all. Individual ICT advisors surely deserved to have been notified.
I am disgusted by the shoddy way the ICT advisors have been treated. I hope the INTO ,ASTE, TUI . ATECI and CESI will fight tooth and nail to have this decision rescinded.
I am a retired primary principal . I was one of the original 12 designers (INTO and NCTE) of the first courses for teachers by NCTE . I was a member of CESI for over 20 years and it was supported by all the ICT acvisors , before and after they were seconded. I was involved with the European Virtual School…..I mention those facts to show where I’m coming from. …it is very disappointing to see the things you gave your life to broken…
Paddy Bates
Thanks for all the comments. I got a bog standard response…sorry meant to put this up ages ago!
Thank you for your recent e-mail in relation to ICT Advisors.
The position is that a Value for Money Review of the ICT Support Service has been finalised by the Department. While concluding that the Service is generally effective and efficient, the Report recognises that each school must plan and execute its own policy for ICT integration across the curriculum. It concludes that now, ten years on, the resources currently utilised by the ICT Advisory Service operating from the regional Education Centres would be better employed focussing supports for ICT leadership and change within each school.
The role of the school’s ICT coordinating teacher will be prioritised as central in the provision of ongoing ICT support and advice to teachers. This is in keeping with international practice to focus on local school-based and peer to peer support as the most effective way to further ICT integration in schools. The Department intends to redirect the funding to support school leadership in integrating ICT within schools and to assist, advise and encourage teachers to continue the process of integrating ICT in each subject area.
Education Centres have been advised that teachers seconded as ICT advisers will return to the classroom and the implementation of these arrangements is being discussed with the relevant parties.
I hope this information is of assistance to you.
Your sincerely,