The world is increasingly reliant on technology, with every business in every industry requiring a digitally literate workforce. Digital skills are fundamental to employment and, consequently, the further education and skills sector has a huge role to play.
We prepare our students for work and help to make them employable by equipping them with a range of vital skills. With digital aptitude high on this list, effective use of technology in the classroom has never been so important. To deliver this to our students, we need tutors who can not only use technology effectively in the classroom but who are also confident and keen to do this.
And this is where the problem lies. Many teachers feel that their digital skills are underdeveloped and are nervous about their students knowing more than they do.
This situation isn’t helped by the fact that teacher training courses fail to prepare new recruits to use technology innovatively in their classroom practices.
This issue was highlighted in research commissioned by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) last year, which revealed that 70 per cent of respondents across 40 FE institutions felt that their digital literacy skills were “insufficient”.
This comes as no surprise when you consider a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report on adult skills, which reviewed work-related skills of 16- to 65-year-olds in 33 countries. The UK results indicated that 75 per cent of adults nationwide have digital skills at level 1 and below.
As principal of Northumberland College, I believe that developing staff digital literacy must be a priority. It is essential that the digital capability of tutors matches the rapidly changing learning environment and, indeed, the needs of employers.
I want to ensure that my staff are equipped to utilise the amazing new learning tools and technologies available to them, which will enhance our students’ experience and career prospects.
In order to do this, an effective CPD programme is required. However, in this summer’s Further Education Workforce Data for England report from the ETF, 60 per cent of teachers in the FE and skills sector were revealed not to be accessing CPD. There are a number of reasons for this, with time being a critical factor. With staff shortages across the sector, many colleges are simply unable to release staff to attend a whole day (or more) of training.
In terms of digital-specific CPD, this is a tricky one for colleges to define. With few mechanisms in place to analyse the digital capabilities of teachers, it makes it nigh-on impossible to identify areas in need of development and, therefore, difficult to justify.
We are working hard to overcome these hurdles. Our college is moving towards an increased use of blended learning and we are supporting our staff with specific training around the use of learning technologies.
To ensure we know what training is needed, we offer a digital literacy self-assessment tool that all staff can access and will use the data to develop CPD plans for individual teams.
This analysis will enable us to target our CPD to meet specific skills gaps rather than a more generic approach, which would waste precious money, time and resources.
Once the CPD is complete, we will use the self-assessment tool again to evaluate the impact of our activities. Such an approach is cost-effective and measurable making it essential in such a tough financial climate, when all spending is under scrutiny.
In terms of the CPD itself, some staff have already undertaken bitesize digital courses, developed by the Career Colleges Trust on behalf of the ETF. These short, online courses focus on specific areas such as social media and video learning, and consist of five hours of guided learning. This is much more doable for staff and managers than full-day courses, and the feedback from those who have taken part has been very positive.
My aim is for teaching staff across the college to not only become more confident about their digital abilities but also ensure that they know where to turn if they need further support. I am convinced that the whole college will see the benefits of using innovative teaching tools in the classroom. Students will become more engaged in their learning and be more prepared for successful careers.
Colleges need to step up and invest in the development of digital literacy across their workforce. We simply must ensure that the future generation is ready for the digital revolution and capitalise on the many benefits it is set to bring.
Marcus Clinton is principal of Northumberland College
