A new Naace?

Posted in: Blog,Education,Educational technology
» Tags: Becta, Naace
» 9 Comments

I was very fortunate to be invited to attend a Naace members focus group meeting, which took place earlier today.

I give Naace a lot of credit for inviting members to voice their opinions and concerns in such an open forum and for listening to what its members had to say about everything from how to best collect membership fees to the very raison d’être of the organisation, even when what was said wasn’t always easy to listen to.

It is clear that Naace is having a long, hard think about its role in providing support and guidance to those who share its aim of “advancing education through the appropriate use of ICT”.

The time is right for Naace to do some soul searching about its role and what it has to offer to the education community, especially now we have a new government that isn’t yet showing any leadership as regards ICT in education and is, in fact, on a vicious offensive against bodies such as Becta.

Perhaps the demise of Becta represents a golden opportunity for Naace to take on the role of champion of ICT integration into the curriculum.

For what it’s worth, I would like to see a Naace that is broad and represents ICT across the curriculum. A Naace that isn’t a forum for Heads of ICT to slag off Vista and jabber incomprehensibly about network issues, but a place where teachers – of any especialism – can turn to for advice and guidance on the use of ICT to better deliver their subjects.

I would also like to see a Naace that is inclusive. A Naace that is a resource to members and non members alike by offering a wealth of self access CDP materials and case studies to any teacher who is looking to “advance education through ICT”. A Naace that reaches out to non-members and stops treating information as a tradable commodity, but rather as a resource to which anyone is welcome.

I like Naace. Its heart is in the right place. I hope they make the most of this golden opportunity to rethink its role and transform itself into what Becta was not allowed to become.

Photo by Mait Jüriado

http://twitter.com/advisorymatters Gareth Davies

I think Naace has been pretty inclusive for some years now, but it has taken time to get that message across. When it merged with the other organisations that supported educational ICT (MAPE and CEG 6 years ago), and then took over the remnants of ACCITT basically because these teacher-led associations were dying on their feet, it took on a huge task and was nearly swamped by it. All these interest groups thought things would remain the same, but of course they could not if the association was to survive at all. At the same time, Becta, as the Govt agency for ICT, took a lot of the support services that Naace had previously provided as part of its charity remit, for example, NaaceMark for Schools became the ICT Mark, and a lot of CPD for LA consultants and advisers was done directly by the Becta team. Now this was all for the better, a significant amount of resource could be thrown at these issues through Becta that would have never happened through a member-led organisation. As such Naace had to re-invent itself some time ago, to begin carving a new niché for itself in the educational ICT landscape. This includes many of your aspirations. Nobody really expected Becta to be scrapped so swiftly when and if a new government came to power. Changes of government since computers first came into schools have led to changes of emphasis in how the state supported computers/IT/ICT in education, but there had always been a political consensus about its efficacy. That's what's really different now. Suddenly Naace has not only to embrace the direction it was going, but maybe also revisit where it has been before. An interesting challenge that can only be met by all its members genuinely committing both time and effort to that cause.
daibarnes

Nice Naace post Jose. I think there are different issues here. One which you raise is very interesting – money. If Naace are to survive they require subscriptions. I would like to see a situation whereby schools could subscribe to Naace services for all their teachers. Teachers would receive membership access as part of the school package and this would highlight the schools commitment to advancing education using ICT.Broadening their scope would be beneficial but equally it is essential that infrastructure debates are had so as to determine Naace advice on issues such as web filtering. Maybe we are looking for new braches under one umbrella. Not unachievable because, in my experience, the use of ICT in classrooms is not subject specific in the main. Maybe time for a figurative re-birth? The question is who funds that process? Everyone has to earn their bread somehow. It can't all be free. I do not think it is fair to shoulder this burden at the level of the individual teacher. It is okay for budget holders but many teachers wanting to use edtech will not be so fortunate. Also, this will drive Naace to make sure it is offering a competitive and relevant agenda so schools will renew subscriptions annually.
http://www.josepicardo.com José Picardo

Many thanks for your thoughtful comment Gareth. It is interesting times for Naace indeed. Particularly since some of the changes I am advocating, such as opening up resources and to non-members, can appear to be anathema to a membership organisation.Having said that, if Naace wants to attract members who are not almost exclusively ICT teachers (I was the only non-ICT teacher present at today's meeting) or consultants, it needs to reach out to non-specialists who share Naace's aims. In short, Naace needs to consider what the best ways are to attract a broader membership so it doesn't preach solely to the converted, as unfortunately happens so often in organisations.An interesting dilemma: open up too much and people won't see the need to become members. However, if you focus solely on existing members you don't attract new ones. Time to think of an alternative model that isn't exclusively funded by members and sponsors perhaps?
http://twitter.com/advisorymatters Gareth Davies

Dai, it is all about getting the message out there, Naace does have the school membership category you describe see http://www.naace.co.uk/724. However you are quite right funding is the all important issue, even with an enthusiastic and committed group of members, everything cannot be done by willpower alone. Good quality advice often as not does have to be paid for, since it takes time to acquire that knowledge and is therefore a "tradable commodity" as José put it.
http://twitter.com/MarkAMacInnes Mark MacInnes

I don't think Naace deters non-ICT teachers from involving themselves in its discussions or work. I think the biggest factor that limits their participation is that a large number of teachers just haven't heard of it. So task number 1 is a bit of self-promotion I think.Now, I think Naace should keep doing a lot of what it is doing at the moment. Schools do need direction and support for implementing ICT at an organisation-level, and Naace can provide this expertise. Naace also has some excellent ICT-related CPD, which I think it should keep working at.I think there is a major role that needs to be filled, and that is encouraging and supporting the better usage of ICT at a classroom level. As a PGCE student, I haven’t seen any coordinated effort in promoting ICT in schools that actually touches the classroom. (Of course, I may well have missed this happening.) Most teachers and PGCE students have no idea about the number of brilliant resources and blogs created by teachers that exist. Before training as a teacher, I was a web developer so very used to social networks and blogging. Without having a natural passion for technology it can be very difficult to find ICT that would fit. I think this is where an organisation like Naace can really flourish. It doesn't necessarily need to create content, but it could certainly have a library/resource directory to help people to discover relevant content.
http://www.josepicardo.com José Picardo

Thanks for your comment Mark. I agree that Naace needs to promote itself better among teachers. But not only that, there is also another perspective to be considered: that of FE and HE, for example.
http://twitter.com/advisorymatters Gareth Davies

I like your particular take on what Naace does and how it might proceed. I'd like to add Naace Connect http://www.naace.co.uk/naaceconnect to your list of great things the association has started recently to 'touch the classroom' and show what teachers are doing in their classrooms, José being one of them. Naace does have a 'knowledge depository' facility http://knowledge.naace.co.uk/ [Naace login required] which has not really taken off, probably because it needs a volunteer to inspire and cajole members to get involved and contribute.
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http://www.josepicardo.com José Picardo

Gareth, rank and file teachers would really welcome the continuing development of Naace Connect. Naace is onto a winner here.In terms of knowledge -you know my views about information as a commodity-, I think that, in an age of open information Naace, ought to consider releasing the knowledge to everyone, not to those who are able or willing to pay for it.In my view, Naace could still make ends meet financially by focusing on school memberships, sponsorship and grants from the government – especially now they're saving millions they may be more partial to handing out cash for specific projects to self-funding organisations like Naace.Relying so heavily on individual memberships may well be simply storing problems for the future. What's going to happen, for example, in the next 5-15 years when the current bulk of Naace individual members retire? Is Naace recruiting youngsters as fast as members retire? At nearly 36, I was probably one of the youngest persons at the Members Focus Group Meeting last Wednesday. My inkling is that the more resourceful younger candidates for membership are going to loath paying £100 for accessing information they can easily access elsewhere for free.Lots to think about there. I hope Naace all the best, after all I would like to get the most out of my £100!