'Incorporate ICT into primary schools'

INFORMATION and communication technology (ICT) use must be taught at primary schools so that students would be aware of the appropriate media tools to use as they progress into secondary schools, said a foreign expert yesterday.

United Kingdom's Parkside Federation Director of Technologies Keith Addyman said that pupils need to have access to media, as they are now growing up with different communication tools.

It is important for teachers to change their ways of teaching, by incorporating what children are accustomed to outside the classroom, he told The Brunei Times on the sidelines of his talk, "The use of ICT awareness in the curriculum with particular emphasis on media literacy", at an education workshop held to mark Teachers' Day.

Addyman said: "We have to use ICT in classrooms and allow it to work, given the situation that children are now accustomed to it," he said, adding that teachers too must change and must be willing to learn.

He said that at least one teacher had to be enthusiastic about using ICT tools in (each department or faculty) at schools. "In the UK, we try to have one expert (in ICT) in each of our faculties, so that they can cascade the information onto others."

He also spoke of how a "programme development" could be used to ensure that teachers had the necessary skills to relay the use of ICT to their students.

Addyman explained that at his institution in the UK, they conducted the programme to test whether teachers had attained that level of necessary ICT skills, and whether they were carrying it out effectively in their classrooms. "Someone has to ensure that it is led from the top, and that person who does the testing could be the school's principal."

Meanwhile, a primary school teacher who did not want to be named, agreed that teachers need intensive training to get acquainted with ICT knowledge and skills, especially with the National Education System for the 21st Century (SPN21).

She explained that it was important for teachers to be trained, so they could educate students on the use of ICT and ensure they are not left behind.

"We do not want our students to go abroad for further education in the future without ICT knowledge. Other students might just laugh and pick on them," she said, adding that if students were not equipped with ICT knowledge, they would be left behind instead of moving forward.

The primary school teacher said that as she had been using ICT tools to teach her students, it has enabled her to "bring the outside world into the classroom" by teaching phonics through games from websites.

However, the teacher said she was concerned with teachers in her school who are "dependent" on using projectors, as they lack those facilities. "Right now, we have two projectors which are being shared among 32 teachers. It would be great if such facilities were increased," she said.

A teacher at Muda Hashim Secondary School agreed that teachers should make use of computers during teaching, as computers were linked to ICT and children are interested in computers. "Having a projector is the key in providing ICT lessons. I wanted to be proactive so I decided to buy my own projector, instead of waiting for it to come to the school," he said.

He added that students need to have basic knowledge in primary school so that teachers do not have to teach students how to use it when they reach secondary schools.

About 420 teachers attended the talk at the International Convention Centre.

The Brunei Times