First Priorities for a new ICT Co-ordinator

his article appeared in the journal “ICT for Education”, Summer Term 1 2006, issue 18

The role of the ICT Co-ordinator is without doubt an exciting and fast moving one because of the ever changing nature of technology. It can at the same time be immensely challenging because of the range of responsibilities and sheer size of the role.

Whether you are the newly appointed ICT Co-ordinator in a small or large, primary or secondary school, you have two immediate priorities. One is to identify the school’s current priorities within its ICT strategy. The other is to identify the key people in your school’s senior leadership team who have responsibilities for ICT (these are the people you need to work closely with).

In the early weeks of being in post, it should become clear how actively senior leaders promote and support the effective use of ICT as a whole school development. Recent research from Ofsted’s Embedding ICT in Schools – a dual evaluation exercise (December 2005) found that “the involvement of senior managers, especially the headteacher, was the most critical factor in good ICT leadership. The way in which this was complemented by effective co-ordination of ICT was also critical”.