Talking Sense - Volume 45, No 1, Spring 99
The National Grid for Learning was launched last November by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, with the promise that it will ‘offer opportunities to all learners, particularly those who would otherwise be excluded.’ An ambitious challenge, but in reality how will this initiative affect special educational needs teaching? Jacqueline Galyer investigates:
The National Grid for Learning is part of the government’s £1 billion investment in information and communication technology (ICT) up to the year 2002. The Grid is both:
- the Internet structure from which learners will access information and teaching, and
- a programme developing the means by which learners can access the Internet.
The aim is not only to develop the nation’s ICT skills, but to provide a resource of information linking together teachers, pupils, schools, libraries and colleges.
Making the link
The British Educational, Communications and Technology Agency (BECTa) is facilitating the Department of Education’s (DfEE) work on the National Grid for Learning. This involves managing a standards fund to equip schools to access the Internet and supervising The Grid’s content, including the development of a Virtual Teacher Centre. Chris Stevens is BECTa’s Head of Special Educational Needs and heads up a team of four who work on projects related to special education. He said ‘we are working on many aspects of the National Grid including curriculum, IT support and life-long learning. Our work covers all areas of special needs teaching; for example, the development of voice recognition packages.’
The Virtual Teacher Centre will enable specialist teachers to network together. As Chris Stevens said ‘The Virtual Teacher Centre is a broader use of The Grid to enable teachers to access advice, support and materials which could be used in the classroom.’
Philippa Clark, who used to work for Sense as Family and Educational Advisor in the South West, is now Headteacher of Lonsdale School in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Lonsdale caters for physically disabled children from nursery age through to Sixth Form. Under the National Grid for Learning, Hertfordshire, Lonsdale’s local education authority, has provided each of its schools with a computer linked to the Internet. Philippa admits that the school is entering a ‘critical period’ with the introduction of the Internet but welcomes the National Grid saying ‘this is an opportunity for my students to say - here is something we can do like everyone else.’
How will the Grid benefit multi-sensory-impaired learners?
The cognitive ability of deafblind and multi-sensory-impaired students varies considerably and some students may not be able to directly benefit from the Internet. Before the benefits of The Grid can be explored, the practical implications of computer adaptations and accessible software packages needs to be thought through.
Websites use sophisticated language and imagery, and are often inaccessible to those with learning disabilities. For deafblind and multi-sensory-impaired learners, software programmes need to be specialised and, in some cases, tailor-made to meet individual needs. Unless appropriate software and teaching material is available on the Internet, The Grid won’t be beneficial. As Mike Gamble, ICT Co-ordinator at Sense East said ‘In theory the Internet could work as a teaching resource but only with appropriate adaptations and specially designed software.’
The Grid initiative can, however, provide the opportunity for a creative use of the Internet. Sally Paveley works as an IT consultant providing training for schools and teachers. She used to work as a teacher for pupils with severe learning disabilities and now spends two days a week teaching IT at Rosemary School in Islington, London. If, and when, Rosemary School is connected to the Internet, Sally intends to establish a website for the students to work on. ‘It is an opportunity to ask the students what would you like to say to the world’ she says, ‘and a valid way of celebrating their achievement.’
Spinning a website
Many schools have already developed websites outside The Grid initiative. The Royal School for the Deaf in Manchester has established a website which is being used as a prospectus. Dominic Tinner, ICT Co-ordinator at RSD said the website is primarily used to ‘promote the school and show what we do.’ The School is currently developing a gallery section and, with the help of a digital camera, the school aims to display the pupils’ work and activities directly on the website. The school is also linking up with other schools world-wide, and is encouraging pupils to communicate through e-mail.
Sharing Ideas
The development of a Virtual Teacher Centre could also benefit many teachers and intervenors working with deafblind and msi students. Sally Paveley welcomed the Virtual Teacher Centre saying it will help prevent teachers ‘theoretically reinventing the wheel’. The sharing of ideas is very important for teachers of deafblind and msi students, who often work in isolation. The National Grid offers organisations, like Sense, the opportunity to act as resource centres providing information and teaching materials, and linking together professionals within the field.
‘The opportunities are very exciting’ says Eileen Boothroyd, Sense’s Education Officer. `Sense will be developing information and materials that we hope will be of relevance, in particular, to teachers, parents and educational support staff,’ she says. ‘We also want to provide a place for all our colleagues who work with deafblind and multi-sensory-impaired pupils to share ideas and offer support. In such a low incidence field teachers experience quite considerable professional isolation and The Grid could really go some way in bringing people and expertise together.’
The bottom line
There are many potential learning opportunities available through The National Grid. However, The Grid’s success will depend upon teachers armed with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to support students’ learning, and the development of appropriate software materials.
The National Grid for Learning is still in its infancy and it will take time to gauge its success. It will only be through evaluating those who have taken up the challenge that the long term benefit of The Grid can be truly assessed.
Useful websites:
The National Grid for Learning
The Government has committed over £1 billion to support the delivery of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education and lifelong learning as part of its strategy to the year 2002. This initiative aims to achieve the following targets:
- connecting all schools and public libraries to the Internet;
- raising the ICT competence and confidence of teachers and librarians;
- enabling school leavers to have a good understanding of ICT;
- and to make Britain a world leader in the field of digital learning.
