Managing and Monitoring the ICT Policy

funding may inevitably impose for the school. It is wise, therefore, to have a costed list of action statements written to help you prioritise actions.

On the other hand, some actions statements can be attainable within existing resources. Examples of this would include being able to change the management structure which may only need some minor adjustments of existing responsibilities and the allocation of a limited amount of time. Furthermore, some action statements may also not be attainable without considering additional expenditure. For example, developing and extending the ICT curriculum to include groups of students who currently do not have an adequate experience of ICT.

Other things to consider include:

1. Whether action statements can be implemented by extending the functionality of existing resources. 2. Including action statements in the school ICT policy as a result of being funded by the following year’s budget.

Earlier on, I stressed the importance of involving other staff in the development of the ICT policy for your school. When it comes to the management structure of the document it is equally as important to ensure that it supports the whole school approach.

It is important when developing the ICT policy to organise ICT across the curriculum. Particularly now with national curricula such as that in Australia now incorporating the integration of digital technology into subject areas and thus the opportunity to develop student ICT capability.

At this stage, understand that the planning of the curriculum, assessment, recording and reporting, access to ICT and the CPD of staff will be coordinated throughout the whole school. So the de-

The management structure will need to be sufficiently effective and authoritative to organise the development, implementation etc of the ICT policy.

The structure may typically consists of the following people and responsibilities (Crawford, 2013, p. 263):

• ICT coordinator who reports directly to senior management. The ICT Coordinator should be responsible for organizing pupils’ ICT experiences throughout the curriculum into a coherent, integrated framework. The ICT Coordinator should have the skills to work with other teachers. • A HoD ICT who is responsible for the ICT department and discrete ICT. • An ICT Manager who is responsible to the ICT

Coordinator. The ICT Manager will have the technical skills required for the management of the school’s ICT resources and will have time allocated to do this task. The ICT Manager is the line manager for ICT technicians. • A Coordinating Group for ICT chaired by the

ICT Coordinator. This committee considers the school’s ICT Policy and implementation plan, and reviews practice. Membership of the

Coordinating Group includes the HoD ICT and representatives from different subject departments, preferably HoDs. The subject department representatives: will prevent important decisions affecting the whole-school curriculum being made by a few ICT specialists acting alone.

This structure can be adapted, changed or reviewed whenever needed. You should consider the following: 1. What is the current management structure for organizing the staff involved in delivering the

ICT curriculum? Which roles and responsibilities have these staff in relation to ICT? 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the existing management structure?