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8/14/2019 Ireland's Technological divide - 511
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Ireland’s Technological Development 1
Ireland’s Technological Development
Group 5
Kevin Kaiser 88480975
Suzanne Tompkins 21984067
University of British Columbia
ETEC 511 64B
Marianne Justus, Ph.D.
October 15, 2006
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Ireland’s Technological Development 2
Ireland’s Technological Development
The Celtic Tiger roars, but does it roar for all socio-economic areas of Ireland?
Like all countries, Ireland must juggle the past, present, and future to meet the needs of
its students who will drive the future economy of the country. The unique aspect of
Ireland’s school system is the changing face of the economy and the socio-economic
divide within its region. The small country of Ireland is experiencing growing pains in
terms of the social impact of educational technology and the strategies used to implement
technology into the school system.
Educational DivideThe economic boom in Ireland is known as the Celtic Tiger. It is this very
economic boom that has brought many of Ireland’s sons and daughters back home from
abroad. These people have not only brought money, but they brought many new skills
and youth back into the country. This has put a strain on the education system to live up
to already high expectations and understandings of what is needed from the schools. This
also gave the entire island of Ireland an opportunity to share ideas through technology.
“The Dissolving Boundaries Programme uses Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) to facilitate cross-cultural educational linkages between schools in the
North and South of Ireland and jointly funded by the two governments.” (DB, 2006. Para.
1) What was once a very separate island; Northern and Southern Ireland are attempting to
come together through the use of technology.
Still, the divide among the rich and the poor within Ireland continues to trouble
the education system. In a country that has seen tremendous growth in wealth and
stability, there remains the educationally disadvantaged. “310 primary schools are
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Ireland’s Technological Development 3
included in the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme serving 64,700 pupils in disadvantaged
areas with 293 additional ex-quota teaching posts in 250 of these schools.” (DES, 2006)
The disadvantaged schools are a major concern in the school system. The Educational
Disadvantage Committee (EDC) states, “In the In-service: provide continuing
professional development for teachers, and leadership and management development for
principals, linked to the strategic goals of educational inclusion and equality (for example
active learning methods, using ICT, classroom interaction, group work)” (EDC, 2006)
Within the EDC’s strategy to help these schools, it states that their 35 page plan must be
carried out using “… existing resources and expertise to best effect, and adequateadditional resources need to be made available to implement the strategy. Implementation
is most effective when resources are employed flexibly, concentrated in priority areas,
and not spread too thinly.” (EDC, 2006. p. 35) The need for a technological
implementation is obvious to the planners, but they have limited resources to rectify the
plan.
Ireland has steadily made its already demanding K-16 education system more
rigorous, creating links between industry and education and formalizing and supporting
work-place education. The disadvantaged schools will have trouble not only graduating
their students, but they will also have trouble putting their students to work in the
lucrative IT sector of Ireland’s economy. “Designated schools also fared better in terms of
pupils’ access to computers, with an average of 37 pupils to each computer compared
with 75 pupils to each computer in non-designated schools.” (Weir, 2004. p.19) The IT
sector is the heart of Ireland’s economic growth, and if the growth is to be sustainable, the
schools must address this problem with a feasible plan.
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Ireland’s Technological Development 5
programs provides solid evidence against the social practice counter-argument that their
outlook is merely another example of rampant techno-utopic thinking. The three-year
policy, Schools IT2000 originally implemented in 1997 with a 50 million dollar budget
outlined a plan to target ICT infrastructure, teacher professional development and
integration of ICT into the curriculum. A second policy targeted broadband access, and
the third is directed toward advancing online learning through improved school
networking. To monitor the progress of these programs a 2004 ICT School Census was
effected which notes that "75% of all Irish teachers have availed of ICT courses."(Carr-
Chellman, 2005, p.74) Both policies were considered a success with regard to improving pupil-computer rations. “37:1 in 1998, 18:1 in 2000, 11.8:1 in 2002.” (Carr-Chellman,
2005, p. 74) These statistical results form part of the governments current functionalist
approach to education, emphasizing cost/benefit analysis over a humanist respect for
different perspectives, or the more radical humanist voices concerned with cognitive
limits to social fulfillment. David Noble's perspective that "the technology education
trend is deeply embedded in the interests of trans-national capital which constructs
education as a commodity to be sold on the free market" is thinly disguised, if at all in the
government’s agenda.
Despite the governments promising census results social practice discourse can
find strength in the counter argument by noting that access in primary schools is still only
39%, post-primary 66%, special schools 33% and that internet service "typically provided
through a standard telephone, thus limiting users to having one computer online at a
time." (Carr-Chellman, 2005, p. 75)
Prohibitive costs of leased lines "means that satellite is often the only realistic
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Ireland’s Technological Development 7
References
Carr-Chellman, A. (Ed.) (2005). Global Perspectives on E-Learning: Rhetoric and
Reality . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Department of Education and Science (2006). The Disadvantaged Area Scheme.
Retrieved October 09, 06 from
http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=17216&ecategory=34279&la
nguage=EN
Dissolving Boundaries (2006). The Dissolving Boundaries Program . Retrieved October
09, 2006 from http://www.dissolvingboundaries.org/
The Educational Disadvantage Committee (2005) Moving Beyond Educational
Disadvantage, Retrieved October 10, 2006 from
http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/edc_moving_beyond_educational_dis
advantage.pdf?language=EN , October 11, 2006
Weir, S., Archer P. (2004). Report to the Educational Disadvantage Committee ,
Educational Research Centre, Dublin. Retrieved Oct 9, 2006, from
http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=17216&ecategory=34354&la
nguage=EN