Butterfly42

While collecting the Christmas decorations from the loft I ‘fell over’ a box of old Child and Junior Education magazines going back to 2000. At one time the stalwart support for most teachers and probably still are, there were very few classrooms that did not have centre page picture from those or their sister magazines ‘Projects’ and ‘Art and Craft’ on display. Up to a couple of years ago I had been buying them since I first entered a classroom on the teacher side of the desk. I could not resist a look at the ICT sections of both magazine 8 years ago, in December 2000. How have things changed I wondered? In Junior Education’s news section there were two technology entries. Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allan says “the current provision of IT equipment and support in our schools in inadequate ... in spite of support from the Government weaknesses in ICT remain ….. Liberal Democrat proposals include increasing equipment to that every pupil in England and Wales is guaranteed to have...

For all children, everywhere on Christmas Eve, 'Track Santa' with the aid of Norad ( bi-national US-Canadian military organisation responsible for the aerospace and maritime defence of the United Sates and Canada ) who have been doing it for over 50 years now, using the technology of the time. This year Santa can be followed using Google Earth, downloaded to computer or mobile phone, and strategically placed web cams giving realtime glimpses of his journey. The frequently asked questions section in 'About Santa' give sensible answers to our important questions and, useful for some, technical details about the sleigh. There are seven language to choose from at the beginning. The real action is of course from December 24th but the site with it's simple games, video and information about Santa, countdown tool ( in seconds) and the option of text in seven languages it would be a valuable tool for creativity and fun in the days before. So have fun on Christmas ...

Sir Jim Rose's interim report - the Primary Curriculum Review - is due on Monday. and already the press are talking about it. While the the BBC spends time talking about summer born children and the opportunity for part time starts for these children. The Times online has two articles mainly about the curriculum changes. Under the expansive headline " Traditional subjects go in Schools shake-up " they say "under the plans, information technology classes would be given as much prominence as literacy and numeracy, and foreign languages would be taught in tandem with English." While the article "Primary School Children 'should be taught technology, not tradition' " It's reported that " Computer skills should be given the same importance as reading, writing and arithmetic, and children should be taught to use podcasts and PowerPoint presentations in primary school, a curriculum review will say today. Th...