Angela Briggs and Mary Watts share their views on the SLICT course with Steph Lennon, primary consultant.

How SLICT Changed My Life
(or rather My School!)

There have been a number of courses lately where we have overheard delegates talking about how much they have enjoyed a recent ICT course and that it really helped their vision of using ICT strategically across the school. After further investigation we found it was the SLICT (Strategic Leadership of ICT) course run by NCSL that delegates were so enthused about. We wanted to know why, so we delved a little further. SLICT is a course for Primary or Secondary Headteachers which is designed to broaden their knowledge and understanding in the key issues of ICT and demonstrate how to utilise ICT to enhance and extend learning in and out of schools. The programme combines analysis of key issues and school visits with thinking and peer discussion. The course, in the main, is over a two and a half day residential which incorporates a school visit where ICT is a feature although there is online support and guidance to help with implementation and the driving of change in the school

It seems that the initial attraction to the course, apart from the fact it was funded, were feelings of inadequacy of using ICT coupled with the desire for moving the school forward and placing it at the cutting edge of using technology to enhance learning and teaching. Also some Heads have the role of ICT Co-ordinator and wanted a stronger lead on ICT and to envisage how ICT can be customised to their setting.

The expectations of the course were mainly how ICT could be used to help learning, teaching and management in their school. A pre-course task was required to be completed in the form of an online assessment of their ICT skills and experience with using ICT in different contexts.

The residential part of the course focused on the management of ICT whilst the day visits out to leading schools were more focused on exhibiting how ICT is used for learning and teaching. The groups were small with one BECTA ‘expert’ to approximately six delegates. Having an ‘expert’ on hand was particularly useful as they were able to answer questions or go into more depth about specific aspects of ICT.

The visits to schools in many cases proved to be inspirational and Heads came away feeling really motivated to improve standards of ICT in their school. The school visits highlight how easy it can be to incorporate ICT into the curriculum and move learning forward. The schools are selected because they are doing this really effectively. It is important to note that the visits highlight opportunities that all schools are able to achieve through simple re-organization of resources or planning.

Continuing support is also available via the Talk2Learn forum which is part of the NCSL website and delegates found this useful for asking questions of other SLICT colleagues or to further their understanding on developing strategies to move learning forward using ICT. There is also a course that Heads can attend to follow up the residential and discuss the impact the SLICT course has had on their school.

The course overall was extremely valuable for Heads to share their vision about the use of ICT but also enabled them to measure and compare where they might be in relation to the other schools represented on the course. It also proved very useful in obtaining ideas on how to move the school forward. People had that vision in their heads, but now needed those vital steps to move closer towards that vision and the SLICT course was able to facilitate this.

One of the main benefits of attending the SLICT course that has had a huge impact is giving Heads time, away from the telephones and knocks at the door, to reflect long term and to think strategically about how ICT can have a real impact in their school and have opportunities to clarify their vision.

As a result of the course Heads feel inspired and have a clearer vision in knowing how to move the school forward using ICT and how to implement this. They have started with revisiting their ICT development plan looking at how ICT can be effectively planned across the curriculum in order to enhance learning and teaching. Other schools have employed an ICT technician to take the burden of technical issues away from teachers and TAs.

As a result of the school visits in particular, it has helped Heads to see which software and hardware would support areas such as the  Foundation Stage or ICT equipment that was seen to have huge motivational and educational benefits like the Digital Movie Creators. Heads have also noted a change in e-learning confidence of staff as a result of their dissemination from the SLICT course.

SLICT has certainly given Heads that have attended the course a real zest for improving the quality of learning, teaching and strategic leadership in their school using ICT.

Should you have been inspired by the comments made in the document to enrol in the SLICT programme, please find the details at the following website http://www.ncsl.org.uk/programmes/slict/index.cfm