ict policy in new zealand

New Zealand has the world's highest access to telecommunications per capita, with the cost of accessing the Internet being almost as low as it is in the United States. Research shows that New Zealanders are usually quick to embrace new technology. New Zealanders have been buying computers, signing up to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and going online at an internationally impressive rate.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategy for Schools, 2002-2004 has been developed in consultation with schools, researchers, tertiary education providers, businesses, and others. It builds upon the achievements of the 1998 strategy (Interactive Education: An Information and Communication Technologies Strategy for Schools) and the lessons learnt from it. The ICT strategy recognises that to focus on technical skills alone is to limit the vision of ICT in education. Rather, the focus must be on extending and deepening educational experiences (and on sharing those experiences) to work towards further developing an innovative and thriving society.

The Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES), an international research project New Zealand participated in, and The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Schools Survey was undertaken by the Information Technology Advisory Group (ITAG) and involved over three hundred schools. Research findings and feedback indicate that no single model will ensure that ICT is used to its greatest effect in every school. However, some key insights have emerged, useful in guiding the future developments of all countries:

Insights for future ICT developments

• Informed, high-quality leadership is essential. School leaders need to be committed to change and to support collaboration among teachers and the school community.
• Bringing about improvements, and embedding those improvements into day-to-day practices, takes time. However, short programmes are important because they raise awareness of ICT, generate enthusiasm, and clarify the roles of educational leaders in enhancing their school's teaching and learning. Short programmes are also valuable because they promote collegial support and the development of networks.
• When approaching ICT, teachers are sometimes oriented towards skill development. However, the acquisition of technical skills does not necessarily lead to critical and creative thinking or improved pedagogy. When identifying purposes for their ICT developments, successful schools appear to go beyond technology, drawing on their knowledge of how people learn, higher-order thinking, effective knowledge management, information literacy, teamwork, and self-evaluation.
• To transform their practice, teachers must have ready access to technology and be active, confident technology users with a desire to learn. They need to become researchers of their own practice.
• Teachers are most open to change when they have collegial support. The greatest benefits for teaching and learning appear to occur when teams of people work together, learn from each other, and have access to sustained support as they integrate ICT into their teaching.
• The "school-cluster" model has proved effective. Schools determine the model they will use, their needs and priorities, and their pace of work. Schools appreciate their autonomy, and this engenders a sense of ownership and responsibility.
• The amount of readily available information about how teachers include ICT within their classroom programmes is limited.
• The amount of readily available information about how students use ICT in their learning processes is limited.

Further areas for development include:

• developing leadership skills, because leaders and facilitators with a sound understanding of ICT and its use in teaching and learning are crucial to successful professional development;
• focusing on long-term goals and solutions rather than on short-term improvements;
• ensuring that classroom practice involving ICT is seamlessly linked to the curriculum;
• ensuring that newly qualified teachers have the skills and knowledge to begin using ICT effectively in their teaching and learning;
• developing and sharing information about ICT and how it links to the ways in which people learn, higher-order thinking, effective knowledge management, information literacy, problem solving, teamwork, and self-evaluation;
• enabling learners to critically evaluate material from the Internet for its authority, accuracy, and relevance to their task;
• considering how ICT can be used to its best effect at the senior-secondary level, given the pressure of qualifications;
• ensuring that the ICT infrastructure is able to respond to the educational demands for ICT;
• supporting partnerships and community initiatives.

Bearing all this in mind, the following plan has been developed:

Vision
The vision is:
for all students, irrespective of their backgrounds,

• to develop the knowledge, understandings, skills, and attitudes
• to participate fully in society,
• to achieve in a global economy,
• and to have a strong sense of identity and culture.

This vision will be achieved with the combined skills and leadership of teachers, principals, boards of trustees, Màori, students and their families and communities, tertiary education providers, businesses, and the government.

Principles
The following principles, which are drawn from The New Zealand Curriculum Framework, have guided the development of this ICT strategy. The strategy supports the Framework, which:

• establishes direction for learning and assessment in New Zealand schools;
• fosters achievement and success for all students;
• provides for flexibility, enabling schools and teachers to design programmes which are appropriate to the learning needs of their students;
• encourages students to become independent and life-long learners;
• recognises the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi;
• reflects the multicultural nature of New Zealand society;
• relates learning to the wider world.

Goal

The broad goal of the ICT strategy is:

• to enhance the development of
• students' knowledge, understandings, skills, and attitudes
• through the appropriate and effective use of ICT.

Subgoals

The following subgoals will contribute to achieving the broad goal:

• Learners - to enable learners to succeed to the best of their ability in the New Zealand Curriculum;
• Teachers - to support and develop education professionals so that they are able to effectively use ICT for teaching, learning, and classroom management;
• Màori - to improve the educational experiences of tauira Màori (Màori students) and the educational outcomes for them and to expand their opportunities to embrace their tikanga, te reo Màori, and other capabilities and to participate fully at home and abroad;
• Leaders - to support and enhance leaders' effective use of ICT in school learning, teaching, management, and administration;
• Infrastructure - to support the development of an effective, efficient, and appropriate ICT infrastructure;
• Families, communities, businesses, and other stakeholders - to effectively engage families, communities, businesses, and other stakeholders to enhance students' knowledge, understandings, skills, and attitudes.