Research Findings 2001-2005

Introduction

The first phase of the DEEP research (2001-2005) was carried out in primary schools in Egypt and South Africa with 48 teachers and over 2,000 primary school students. The majority of participating teachers and their communities had no prior experience of using information and communications technology (ICT). Teachers worked in pairs to implement and evaluate a short, curriculum-focused, school-based professional development programme, using a range of new technologies including hand-held computers. Activities focused on the teaching of literacy, numeracy and science.

The research found that the new technologies were used for a variety of purposes that benefited teachers, pupils, schools as a whole, as well as many of their communities.

The study showed that new digital technologies are appropriate for use in the African context and have the potential to revolutionise the quality of teacher training when carefully integrated within teacher education programmes that are pedagogically strong and well supported. Increase in school attendance was evident in both country contexts (Egypt and South Africa). Teachers, together with parents, governors, school principals and community members reported that the use of new technologies had positive effects on areas central to Universal Primary Education (UPE), including attendance, motivation and the quality of student learning.

Teachers and schools in poor environments can benefit from the many advantages that ICT is currently affording richer peers, whilst leap-frogging expensive mistakes made by more developed countries. Mobile digital devices that have, to date, been largely aimed at the business market could be exploited by teachers and students for a range of professional and learning experiences. Most significant of all, perhaps, the study suggests that the use of ICT in some of the poorest parts of the world, if well planned and implemented, can have a significant impact on the self-image, confidence and professionalism of teachers. In this sense ICT offers the potential to redefine and enhance the status of teachers within communities and more broadly across the societies they serve.