Neil Munro and John Cairney report from the Scottish Education and Teaching with Technology show in Glasgow
Sheena Dyett, a teacher at Croftfoot primary in Glasgow, works in an “ICT rich” classroom that delivers the entire curriculum to P7 pupils.
She told a seminar it was “a big success”. Children were more motivated and there had been nothing but positive comments from parents. “It has also motivated me as a teacher and it is perhaps the revival I needed,” Ms Dyett said. There were no behavioural problems in her class.
She acknowledges that not everyone is so interested in computers. “I wouldn’t dream of going along to another teacher and saying she should do it my way.”
Among the applications ICT has been put to are a new maths and mental challenge every week, research and design work in art, and downloading resources for environmental studies.
But Ms Dyett stressed that traditional approaches of using the school library and writing in jotters have not been ditched: spelling, for example, uses a balance of written work and spell checking on a computer.