The lack of electronic communications in initial teacher training

Abstract

Abstract Recent reports have highlighted the lack of Information Technology (IT) in UK initial teacher training (ITT). In contrast, the new guidelines from the UK Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education state that all students must be able to use IT personally and the National Curriculum (NC) for England and Wales has highlighted its presence across the curriculum. Electronic communications are a part of the NC and a means to locate teaching materials. This paper reports on a survey of electronic communications in ITT. It found that although most ITT institutions have these services only about 10% of students are exposed to them. The publication of databases on compact disk is expected to improve the situation. Additional action is recommended to improve uses of electronic communication which involve a phone line.