IT in post‐graduate teacher training

Abstract

Abstract The IT capabilities expected of all students training to be teachers are now laid down in government guidelines but time on one year postgraduate courses is limited. It is therefore important to be aware of the IT skills that students bring with them to help develop the courses on offer. A questionnaire survey of nearly 400 PGCE primary and secondary students was completed for a 1989/90 cohort. This study set out to find what prior IT experience students brought with them, and what they perceived as their IT training needs. Two thirds of these students were found to have little experience of using computers either at home, school, college or work, and there was a very low level of experience of some of the more high priority National Curriculum software packages (e.g. electronic communications, modelling software, control software). Most students gave high training priority to learning how computers can be used in teaching. These results are discussed in relation to other surveys of IT in teacher education, and the implications for PGCE course development.