UNIVERSITY OF BATH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Managing Staff Development in the light of the introduction of the

Schools Pilot Notebook Programme
Mariela Castro
MA In Education
Managing Staff Development

The introduction of a Notebook Programme in our school gathered full strength midway
through the present year and suddenly staff started facing all sorts of pressures regarding
the use and application of these devices in their teaching.
Staff were issued notebooks at the beginning of the year with the idea that they would
have enough time to get acquainted with the tool, get more IT skills through constant use
and have time to develop material to be published on the schools Intranet.
However, there is a feeling of uncertainty, very few people have any clue of what to do,
how to face a notebook classroom, how to assess work, how to prepare lessons and
what sort of materials to publish. They feel, in a way, as newly graduated staff who have
not been qualified for this new job - they might have read about the theory but have no
idea how to put it into practice and have not seen anyone else doing it.
This is the result of uncertainty itself amongst the Senior Administrative Team and the
Headmaster who took it on board to launch this programme against all odds, without
defining a comprehensive Staff Development Programme leading to the implementation
of this pilot. Whilst there is a comprehensive Technology Plan which caters for
implementation of all the communications and information systems needed for this pilot,
training attempts have only taken the form of seminars, crash courses and updating
workshops, but none of them focusing really on the issue itself: the educational practices.
The following document analyses this situation and tries to define a staff development
plan which will try to bridge the existing gaps and make it possible for the pilot in 2001
to become a success.
Introduction
Though the school has been using information technology for the past eleven years or so,
it has always been on a lab-based situation. Initially, the labs were only used to teach
computer skills and a specialist IGCSE Computer Studies course, hence, the only
qualified staff was either a Mathematics teacher with some computer programming
knowledge, or, as it happened later on, an IT specialist with a Computer Science degree.
This seemed an acceptable way to go for pupils to acquire IT skills until five years ago
when we moved into the direction of applying the computer skills learned in other subject
areas and make the use of educational software widespread.
The senior management identified then the need for staff to be trained in the basic IT
skills such as basic system operations, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation
techniques, and communications technology. This lead to the implementation of the Staff

IT Diploma, which was a compulsory scheme for all staff aimed at obtaining an in-house
certificate, which credited the acquisition of these skills.
The courses were broken down into two units1:
Unit 1 basic skills, word processing and spreadsheets
Unit 2 presentations skills, Internet and multimedia
These units were offered twice throughout the year during afternoon sessions, to give
staff the flexibility of booking for them whenever suitable. IT Examinations were also set
twice a year so that staff could credit the completion of a unit. By December of 1999 all
staff had to have completed both units in order to obtain their IT Diploma2.
Even though some staff were initially reluctant to follow a mandatory course, the senior
management had, at that time, also introduced a scheme by which staff salaries were to
be reviewed according to qualifications and performance. This obviously motivated staff
to get the extra qualification to aim at an additional bonus or pay incentive.
This worked well in the sense that permanent staff or long serving staff all got their
qualifications, but it didnt cater for part-timers or new staff entering in 1999 or 2000
who did not have the same level of skills and could not register for the courses. At
present we can say that 80% of our staff are qualified according to the IT Diploma
scheme which can be compared to the Cambridge IT Certificate and the IntouchLearning
Pre-requisite Level Schemes3.
The results in terms of the effectiveness of this scheme were mixed, probably because the
orientation and motivation were not the right ones. Some staff saw immediate application
of what they learned into their subjects and started booking labs and developing IT-based
activities. Others used their skills just for administrative purposes or to develop their own
materials (e.g. worksheets) while a few never made use of these facilities and became deskilled.
What this scheme clearly lacked was someone to liase with the Departments and carry
out a follow-up to identify further training requirements and development areas. All the
effort was placed in the teaching rather than in the development and consolidation of
skills.
The scheme, rather than leading to school improvement, lead more to personal
improvement for those who were motivated, and had the time and energy to experiment.
In the case of English, the Head of Department took it on board to introduce IT
components within the curricular programmes of all years and made special booking
arrangements for the computer labs to be used regularly and evenly by all his teaching
staff. This was a great idea which was not taken on board by other departments partly
because of the lack of lab availability and also partly because of the lack of time or the
fear to implement something new. Science developed towards the use of educational
software and data logging, requesting to have their own computers in the science labs.
Later on Spanish tried to follow a similar scheme to the English Departments with some
success. Mathematics had its own lab installed but is underused for unknown reasons as
they have the educational software.
1

See Appendix A for complete Unit structure

See Appendix B for results of IT Staff Diploma
3
See Appendix C for comparison of schools schemes against other IT accreditations.
2

It seems that each Department works in isolation to the rest and this is not a good starting
point for the introduction of a notebook programme since the whole philosophy evolves
around cross-curricular, cooperative activities to create life-long learners.
The feeling after five years of compulsory IT training is that the goal of leading to wholeschool improvement has not been met fully and this is one of the reasons why, jumping
into the notebook pilot programme under these circumstances has become a serious issue
regarding staff development. If a whole-school policy is not clearly defined we will run
into terrible problems having some staff who will know what to do with the notebooks in
the classroom and others who will not, having them completely underused or not used at
all. Being this an expensive equipment financed by the parents themselves, we cannot run
the risk of having this situation arising as it may make the whole programme collapse.
From the point of view of the students there is little to worry as they are the ones who use
the computers intensively, whether or not the subject requires it. They very seldom
present handwritten work (unless it is required in their copybooks) and will invariably
back up their work with research on the Internet. They also use email to communicate
with staff, sending assignments and receiving feedback.
What makes the difference? Students receive formal training in IT skills form Grade 2
(primary) all the way up to Year 2 (secondary), following a progressive curricular
structure. It must also be taken into account that at least 90% (if not 100%) of them have
computers at home and use them regularly. This makes them feel competent and
confident about their skills, allowing them to work in an easy and fast way.
So it seems that students will use the notebook, whether or not it is used for educational
purposes, but it will up to the staff to ensure that these machines are used for the purpose
they were bought for in the first place: as a powerful educational tool.
The Notebook Programme
We base ourselves in the belief that information technology will
transform the classroom, making the pupil an active and powerful
participant of his or her own education. This is why there must be
every available opportunity for staff and pupils to integrate
technology seamlessly into the learning process and, for this reason,
we have chosen a tool which will provide the flexibility and power
required to learn anytime, anywhere: the notebook. Markham
College Technology Plan (2000-2001), pg.2

The senior management established the following management structure to deal with the
notebook programme:
A Senior Systems Manager responsible for the technical implementation of the
programme. An ICT4 Coordinator responsible to liase with the Senior Systems Manager
in the technical implementation in addition to organizing the Central Service Facility, the
Educational Intranet and Staff Training.
To gather some experience from pioneering laptop schools abroad, the ICT Coordinator
went on a month-and-a-half trip to the UK and Australia to visit some of these schools
4

ICT Information and Communications Technology

such as Cornwallis and Lynn Grove in the UK, and Trinity Grammar, Methodist Ladies
College (MLC), Geelong Grammar and Kilvington High in Melbourne, Australia.
Meetings in Australia also included Microsoft representatives form the Anytime,
Anywhere program, and Computelec staff, company which at present provides most of
the service and support to many of the notebook schools in Melbourne.
On returning from the trip it was discovered that staff had already been issued with their
notebooks and so the first crash course on the care and maintenance of the notebooks,
with some useful hints and tips on its proper use, had to be done in a haste during the preweek.
After this hurried start to the programme, the ICT Coordinator found it necessary to be
available for staff at all times, even through email, for support. However, as time went by
and staff were forced to carry out routine tasks such as software installation,
configuration, etc. support was less and less required. Being able to provide support
through email was also very helpful.
The ICT Coordinator forces all staff to check their email regularly as all communications
come via this service no more notices on notice board!
Once staff felt comfortable with their notebooks, the next seminar offered was on HTML5
and web page creation using Microsoft Office tools. This seminar was intended to give
them the tools to create their own material to be published on the Intranet. Even though a
burst of enthusiasm and material production was expected, this did not happen. Staff
were absorbed by their day-to-day teaching routines and had little time to sit down and
think and prepare material for the Intranet.
It wasnt until the Headmaster put pressure on the Heads of Department at an Academic
Committee Meeting that material started flowing to the Intranet Assistants for
publication.
In an attempt to help staff understand what was expected from them, it was agreed to
bring a team of experts, either from the UK or Australia, to train our staff. However, this
did not prosper due to the cost and date crashes.
In a last effort to bring some light into this chaotic situation, Microsoft offered a free 3day seminar on creating collaborative projects but it was discovered that the trainers had
no experience on notebook teaching/learning just on Microsoft products!
From what we can see, there is no real plan or structure to bring staff into line to the start
of the pilot programme next year. This is like having no induction programme for new
staff coming to a new school. Staff all know that they will be facing an educational
revolution for which they havent been prepared for in college or university, for which
they havent been given guidelines on how to perform and for which there isnt even a
mentoring system by which they could look upon an older, experienced brother for
help.
What to do under these circumstances when we are only a bimester away from the
summer holidays and the start of the new school year 2001, the start of the first Notebook
Pilot?

HTML Hypertext Markup Language: language used to write and program web pages

What the experts suggest

Heinrich in Tagg (1995 p. 51) states that successful schools have always benefited from
management strategies that sought to develop quality of both teaching and learning,
provide and allocate resources and raise the standards of achievement of their pupils.
The introduction of the notebook programme should bring about increased quality in the
teaching and learning thus raising the achievement standards even more but the school
has apparently failed to provide and allocate enough resources to a crucial area: staff
training.
Training has unfortunately been considered the Cinderella of IT development in many
schools, as priority has been given to the more technical aspects such as hardware and
software. It is easier to deploy thousands of dollars in getting the latest equipment but this
will only become a very expensive doormat if not properly used by staff and pupils, it
will not represent value for money in relation to the efficiency of the school.
As documented by Dettman in Davies and West-Burnham (1997) p. 74, one of the
notebook pioneer schools, MLC, had different approaches to staff development over the
years with mixed-success. Their first step was to bring experts into the school to develop
staff expertise in relation to commonly used software packages. Markham did not bring
experts from outside but had its own IT staff carrying out the training on these packages
in an attempt to tailor the courses to the schools environment.
The result was the same in both cases as it not only depended on the nature of the
individual instructor but also on the nature of the teacher himself and his/her ability to
grasp the concepts and put them into practice easily. It wasnt until staff got their
notebooks and had 24-hour access to the technology that the development of resources
and the application of IT into the various subject started to take off at Markham.
MLCs second step was to offer several 2-3 day in-service courses, over school days and
weekends, again with mixed success. Markham has attempted 1-day in-service courses,
taking the form of course updates or crash seminars on specific issues which have been
somehow useful. It did become evident that, just like for MLC staff, Markham staff were
also more open to learning when they were free to follow their own individual needs
relating to their capacity and teaching activities of the time.
MLC took a step further as several of their teachers enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in
Computers in Education by correspondence from a local university. This option is not
available to Markham staff at present as no such programme is offered by any local
universities and there isnt a budget which would cater for a correspondence course with
a foreign university.
Trinity Grammar adopted similar strategies but went beyond the teaching and
development of skills in using the application packages, the emphasis on training now
being on the analysis of current curriculum and identification of opportunities to enhance
training. Carnegie and Potts (1997, p. 40) state in the notebook handbook that
professional development was best achieved on a departmental basis and that observation
of practices in other departments and in other schools also proved useful.
A number of teachers who developed sufficient skill levels were also used as trainers or
mentors amongst their colleagues and, in some cases, skilled students were also used as
staff trainers.

Markham cannot benefit from observing practices in other schools yet as we would be the
pioneering school in Peru. However the idea of using skilled staff and/or students as
mentors/trainers is viable within the Markham context and seems a good idea to put into
practice.
So how do we know where we stand in terms of professional development regarding the
notebook programme? Even though we seem to be in line with MLCs experience and
Trinity Grammars, are we on the right track?
It is important we understand first of all what staff development is about and what does it
imply. Matheson (1981) defines it as the activity of staff training, that is a conscious
institutional approach intended to improve the capability for staff to fill specified roles,
particularly in relation to teaching.
This statement, as analysed by OSullivan et al. in Kydd et al. (1997) pp. 179-181,
involves four major aspects which need to be closely looked at:
1. Staff development is concerned with a range of staff training activities: voluntary or
mandatory, in-school or externally based, knowledge or skill-based, of personal or
school interest, related to curriculum-led staff development schemes or otherwise.
2. There should be an agreed policy statement about the aims and obligations of the
individual and school towards staff development the schools first task is to create
the right climate for school-wide staff development to take place.
3. There should be regular reviews in the light of curriculum development plans;
availability of funds and opportunities for staff to undertake staff development both
inside and outsides school and school time; the setting up of structures and
procedures for collating staff needs into a coherent plan for staff development; and
acceptance and support from senior management for staff development.
4. Staff development should lead to staff improvement, in other words, people are better
at their jobs as a result of staff training.
Markham does provide a variety of staff training activities among which are included the
IT courses, and fit in the characteristics listed above. However, though a general school
policy and guidelines for staff development exist6, these are very general and do not
make a distinction for specific IT training nor a specific budget is available in this
respect. The staff development budget is designed to cater for all training needs, whether
it implies sending staff abroad to other schools, organising seminars with other schools,
organising INSET sessions, etc. We have been lucky in the sense that having our own IT
staff delivering the courses made them free of cost to the school. The Microsoft
workshop was also free as it resulted from negotiating with the company a special deal
included in the Software School Licensing Agreement.
Regarding IT courses, even though a detailed syllabus is available, the programme for
implementation, evaluation and feedback does not exist. A middle manager (the IT
Coordinator) was designated this year as responsible for IT staff development and
therefore any clear plans and procedures would only be available by next year, which
may sound a bit too late at this stage.
6

See Appendix D for extract on Staff Development from the Schools Manual

This should include not only a detailed training programme but also an estimated budget,
need for additional resources, programme evaluation procedures, cross-curricular
implications and dissemination and follow-up procedures, bearing in mind the point listed
above.
Since we are talking about whole-school innovation, practically changing the teachers
role to that of facilitators of learning, we also need to analyse the way we can manage
change swiftly and painlessly.
So far, the school opted for mandatory IT courses but providing a flexible timetable so
that staff could follow them when it best suit them. We have seen from the analysis in
Appendix B that it did not work as expected as only 59% got the full Diploma
qualifications while 21% were midway through and 20% either didnt get the chance to
prove their skills or they never got around to it. Even though at the beginning the Senior
Administration insisted that everyone should have those qualifications by the end of 1999
we have seen that the scheme failed to obtain the desired results.
In the forthcoming year it is imperative that the gaps are bridged in a way which poses no
threat or stress to the staff, whom are already stressed enough with the new challenge that
lies ahead. The IT Coordinator has a key role in this respect and it is important that he/she
understands the implications of change when planning for staff development in this area.
Fullan in Preedy et al. (1997) pp. 75-76, identifies the following issues:

Change takes place over time

Change initially involves anxiety and uncertainty
Technical and psychological support is crucial
The learning of new skills is incremental and developmental
Organizational conditions within and in relation to the school make it more or less
likely that school improvement will occur
Successful change involves pressure and support within a collaborative setting

When planning for IT staff development it is important to understand that change will not
occur overnight but that realistic time-lines must be set. These may also be subject to
change itself after evaluation and feedback or further analysis of staff needs. Strategies in
managing technological change can also be varied as the main idea is to get through all
the staff in one way or another. As we have seen before, some staff are more reluctant to
change than others, some staff are more proactive and enthusiastic about adopting new
technologies than others, some staff may even find in technology a language or
generation barrier. To understand the different levels of anxiety and provide
psychological support is as important as delivering the technical skills. This is an area
which has been completely overlooked in the previous training schemes
It is also important to ensure that staff will have the technical support staff readily
available to cop out of unexpected technical glitches or have the confidence to be able to
sort out minor problems themselves. The most enthusiastic teacher will lose all interest
and gladly return to pencil and paper if there are constant technical problems with no
immediate solution.
Even though we are facing the end of year very quickly and anxiety to have everything
ready by the start of next year is starting to show, it is important to help staff understand

that we cannot expect to have everything ready in March 2001, that this is a gradual,
developmental implementation and that collaboration among themselves is of vital
importance to get the programme going. Team work, exchange of ideas, dissemination of
good practice, all these things will come in due course, gradually, and all these things will
be new to Markham as most departments are used to work in certain isolation.
To get them to understand how to manage change within departments, within the
curriculum, within the classroom and within themselves will also require well thought
INSET sessions throughout the year and is probably here where all training efforts need
to be geared to throughout the first year. There can be nothing more threatening than
facing a classroom of 30 computer-literate children ready to take off with their laptops
and find the teacher uncertain of what to do.

Conclusions
In order to establish a coherent, effective staff development programme regarding the
notebook programme at Markham a clear school policy must be defined and sufficient
ongoing funds granted.
The IT Coordinators role is of vital importance to ensure that this programme is clearly
and realistically defined, not only in terms of technical skills but also of good educational
practices and managing change issues.
This development plan should include
Definition of immediate training needs
Definition of a minimum training programme
Definition of an ongoing programme of staff development
Inclusion of a budget for IT training within the schools base budget,
and should take into account the factors which are most significant to staff, such as
Having access to the necessary resources at all times
Having a feeling of personal control over the learning experience
Ability to see the relevance to current practice
Understand the nature of the learning activity itself
Establish collaboration with colleagues
Have continuous training opportunities
Be confident of their computing knowledge and skills
Be confident of the attitudes and actions of school leaders someone out there knows
what he/she is doing!
Only when these issues are put into practice we can say that Markham is on its way to
developing a comprehensive IT staff development programme which can lead to effective
school improvement in order to raise the standards of achievement of the pupils through
the implementation of the notebook programme.

Word count: 3986

References
Bill Tagg (1995), Developing a whole school IT Policy, London, Pitman Publishing.
Brent Davies & John West-Burnham (1997), Reengineering & Total Quality in Schools
how to reform and restructure your school to meet the challenge of the future, London,
Pitman Publishing.
Lesley Kydd, Megan Crawford and Colin Riches (1997), Professional Development for
Educational Management, Buckingham, Open University.
Margaret Preedy, Ron Glatter and Rosalind Levacic (1997), Educational Management
strategy quality, and resources, Buckingham, Open University.
Mariela Castro, Percy Moya, Marco Bassino (2000), Markham College Technology Plan
2000-2001, Lima, Markham College
Markham College (2000), Markham College Upper School Manual 2000, Lima,
Markham College
Jon Carnegie and Colin Potts (1997), Getting Started Implementing Notebook
Computers in Schools, Victoria, Trinity Grammar School Press

APPENDIX A Complete syllabus structure of ICT Diploma

Staff ICT Diploma Courses

Full Course Programme

To obtain the ICT Diploma
(last update 1998)

______________________________________________
1. The School Systems
1.1 Login procedures
1.2 Troubleshooting
2. The Windows Environment
2.1 GUI
2.2 Basic Windows Elements
2.3 Components of a Window
2.4 Window Operations
2.5 File Management and Windows Explorer
2.5.1 Directory structures
2.5.2 Copying, renaming, deleting and moving files and folders
2.5.3 The Recycle Bin
2.6 Control Panel Settings
2.6.1 Printers
2.6.2 The Desktop
2.7 Multitasking features
3. Word for Windows
3.1 Creating a new document
3.1.1 Setting the page layout
3.2 Editing a document
3.2.1 Icons, shortcut keys and menu options
3.3 Spell checking and thesaurus facilities
3.4 Formatting a document
3.4.1 Fonts, styles, colour
3.4.2 Paragraph Alignment
3.5 Tables
3.6 Columns
3.7 Headers and Footers
3.8 Bullets and Numbering
3.9 Inserting images

10

3.9.1 Pictures
3.9.1.1 Scanning
3.9.1.2 Clipart
3.9.1.3 Internet
3.9.2 OLE
3.10 Printing techniques
3.10.1 Print preview
3.10.2 Print setup
3.11 Templates (optional / advanced)
3.12 Print Merge (optional / advanced)
4. Excel for Windows
4.1 Spreadsheet layout: cell, rows, columns, ranges, workbooks, sheets
4.2 References: relative and absolute
4.3 Data Input
4.3.1 Numbers
4.3.2 Text
4.3.3 Formulas
4.4 Editing techniques
4.4.1 Copy and Paste
4.4.2 Cut and Paste, Drag Move
4.4.3 F2 editing key
4.5 Formatting cells
4.5.1 Column width
4.5.2 Row height
4.5.3 Borders and shading
4.5.4 Number formatting
4.5.4.1 General
4.5.4.2 Currency, percentage, decimals
4.5.5 Fonts, styles
4.5.6 Hiding columns
4.5.7 Freezing panes
4.6 Functions
4.6.1 SUM, AVG
4.6.2 COUNT, MIN, MAX
4.6.3 IF, nested IF
4.7 Analysing data
4.7.1 Sorting and filtering data
4.8 Charts
4.8.1 Chart wizard
4.8.2 Editing a chart
4.9 Printing
4.9.1 Print Preview: page layout
4.9.2 Headers/Footers
4.9.3 Gridlines
4.9.4 Print area

11

4.10 OLE
4.10.1 Creating an Excel chart from a Word table and updating it in a
Word document
5. Powerpoint Presentations and Multimedia
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4

Understanding the Powerpoint window

Understanding the PP views
Working with PP commands
The Wizards
5.4.1 Quick steps for creating a presentation
5.4.2 Opening and saving presentations
5.5. The Slide Master
5.5.1 Creating and changing colour schemes
5.6 Objects
5.6.1 Object-oriented terms
5.6.2 Selecting and grouping objects
5.6.3 Moving and aligning objects
5.6.4 Stacking objects
5.6.5 Rotating and flipping objects
5.6.6 Cutting, copying and pasting objects
5.6.7 Re-sizing objects
5.6.8 Enhancing objects
5.7 Text
5.7.1 Typing text
5.7.2. Typing text in shapes
5.7.3 Using the text tool
5.7.4 Selecting and editing text
5.7.5 Formatting a text
5.7.6 Formatting paragraphs
5.7.7 Working with text in outline view
5.7.8 Using text from other applications
5.8 Drawing
5.8.1 Drawing objects in PP
5.8.2 Drawing rectangles, ellipses and other auto-shapes
5.8.3 Drawing lines, arcs and freeform
5.9 Clipart
5.9.1 Adding clipart to your slides
5.9.2 Inserting pictures on your slides
5.10 Inserting multimedia features
5.10.1 Sound
5.10.2 Video
5.10.3 Hyperlinks
5.10.3.1 Internal (between slides)
5.10.3.2 External: to other applications, to web sites
5.11 Running slide shows
5.12 Printing
5.12.1 Presentation
5.12.2 Presenters notes
5.12.3 Audience notes

12

APPENDIX B ICT Diploma Analysis

Admin US
Admin LS
EY Staff
LS Staff
US Staff
Special Needs
Total

Diploma
10
4
15
24
35
0
88

Only Unit 1
0
0
9
5
11
2
27

Only Unit 2
2
0
1
0
2
0
5

No Units
6
1
4
5
13
1
30

Total
18
5
29
34
61
3
150

Number of Staff

Staff with ICT Diploma Qualifications

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Diploma
Only Unit 1
Only Unit 2
No Units

Admin Admin
US
LS

EY
Staff

LS
Staff

US Special
Staff Needs

School Section

Admin US
Admin LS
EY Staff
LS Staff
US Staff
Special Needs
Total

% Obtaining % Obtaining at
Diploma
least one Unit
56
11
80
0
52
34
71
15
57
21
0
67
59
21

% with No
Diploma
33
20
14
15
21
33
20

Total
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

13

Staff ICT Formal Qualifications

20%

21%

% Obtaining Diploma

59%

% Obtaining at least one Unit

% with No Diploma

It is important to note that from the members of staff with no formal

ICT Diploma qualifications, there is a number of staff new to the
school who have not had the chance to prove their skills through
the school examination, and also staff who have the skills but either
didnt have the time to do the exams due to their position in school or
simply refused to do it.
We can still say that 80% of the whole staff has the basic IT skills that
make them feel somehow confident to face the ICT Revolution and
the Notebook Programme in school.

14

APPENDIX C - Intouch Learning Inc. Prerequisite IT skills

(www.intouchlearning.com)
Level 100 Prerequisite Skills
Area: Managing hardware
Indicators of competence:
Turn the computer on -(computer, monitor, printer and other devices)
Use the keyboard comfortably - (touch typing is not essential, but comfort and a reasonable
speed help)
Aware of special keys and what they do - Arrows, Enter, Esc, Del, Backspace, Ctrl, Shift, Alt,
Home, End
Area: Using the Mouse
Indicators of competence:
Use the mouse to select objects - (Point & Click)
Use the mouse the open and close objects - (Double Click)
Use the mouse to move objects (Click & Drag)
Area: Working within Windows
Indicators of competence:
Maximize a Window
Minimize a Window
Restore a minimized Window
Area: Switching between applications
Indicators of competence:
Use the Task Bar to switch between open applications
Use Alt-Tab to switch between open applications
Area: Using Windows Applications
Indicators of competence:
Start an Application from within Windows using the Start Menu
Start an Application from within Windows using an Icon
Use drop down menus
Use dialogue box features - (type in fields, select using radio button and check boxes, use drop
down lists and scrolling fields, OK and Cancel buttons)
Use toolbars - (find out what a button does, use buttons)
Use horizontal and vertical scroll bars
Highlighting text - selecting a group of letters, word or paragraph
Area: Using Windows Explorer
Indicators of competence:
Create a folder
Move a File - From one folder to another
Copy a File
Delete a File
Open a document
Area: Finding files and folders
Indicators of competence:
Browsing using Windows 95 windows
Searching using Find File from the Start menu.

Level 200 Prerequisite Skills

15

All skills indicated at the 100 level, plus the following:

Area: Formatting
Indicators of competence:
Changing font styles and size
Use of columns
Creation of tables
Modifying tables with the Draw Table toolbar
Borders and Shading
Bullets and Numbering
Use of tracking
Area: Graphics
Indicators of competence:
Locating and inserting pictures
Resizing pictures
Formatting pictures
Area: Interactivity
Indicators of competence:
Basic navigation using a browser
Able to download and save files
Create hyperlinks
Area: Use of Objects
Indicators of competence:
Inserting of objects
Using the Drawing toolbar
Adding AutoShapes
Adding WordArt
Adding Textboxes
Area: Multi-media
Indicators of competence:
Create a sound file
Insertion of sound file
Animate objects
Use of design Templates
Area: Sorting and Working with Data
Indicators of competence:
Use of spreadsheet sorting capability
Use of created database

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Level 300 Prerequisite Skills

All skills indicated at the 200 level, plus the following:
Area: Formatting
Indicators of competence:
Defining and applying styles
Advanced use of columns
Use of various page layouts
Advanced table formatting
Multilevel Bullets and Numbering
Area: Graphics
Indicators of competence:
Cropping of pictures
Adding effects - rotation, shadowing
Manipulation of charts
Area: Use of Objects
Indicators of competence:
Converting Objects
Changing Icons for Objects
Grouping and Ordering Objects
Inserting with more advanced media - Movie clips, MIDI files
Area: Multimedia
Indicators of competence:
Modifying a sound file
Advanced animation
Record a narration
Play effects with movies, sounds and midi files
Creating/manipulating a master slide
Import data from different programs
Area: Interactivity
Indicators of competence:
Create hyperlinks with bookmarks
Create hyperlinks using images and image maps
Basic macro writing
Basic scripting
Area: Sorting and Working with Data
Indicators of competence:
Advanced spreadsheet sorting
Creating a database
Create simple database queries
Utilize formulas and functions in spreadsheets
Generating Pivot Tables for data analysis

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APPENDIX D

THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

INTRODUCTION
Good schools do not necessarily enjoy modern buildings, the latest resources and low
pupil:staff ratios. What they do have is effective teachers.
A good school is defined by Her Majesty's Inspectorate as one:
That has high academic expectations of itself and its pupils
In which pupils perform well in all that the school has to offer
Is staffed by good teachers, knowledgeable about what they are teaching and who are
accessible to pupils and parents
Is a challenging and structured, as well as a supportive, social institution that is
capable of transmitting values to its pupils
Is orderly and well disciplined, without being restrictive and repressive.
All in all, it is a school perceived by parents and pupils to be a decent, social institution
doing its job well of preparing young people for life.
A good teacher is defined as one who is:
Enthusiastic about, and involved in, all aspects of school life with a commitment to the
education of the whole person rather than merely an imparter of knowledge.
Has high expectations of himself/herself and his/her pupils and colleagues
Has a thorough knowledge of his/her subject and is receptive towards new ideas and
approaches
Markhams special situation requires, in addition, that staff should possess a cultural level
and personal presence that enables them to relate comfortably with pupils and parents
drawn from the upper middle classes. To this end they should have experience abroad,
possess first-rate communication skills and be fully bilingual. Foreign staff are expected
to provide an injection of fresh ideas and approaches.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The most important objective of the professional development programme is to raise
teachers' expectations of what the teachers and their pupils are capable of. These
expectations have risen steadily over recent years but can be raised further. This applies
particularly where Markham's special weaknesses lies - poor work habits and poor study
skills.
A second important objective of the professional development programme is to spread
good practice through the school. Sparks of innovativeness/professional mastery
observed in one lesson/tutor group should be moved on to others and recent
developments in the teaching of the subject/pastoral care propagated.

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A third important objective is to ensure that all staff comply with the school's
academic/pastoral routines and systems. This is an aspect of the work of Middle
Managers that is clearly laid down in their job descriptions and should form part of the
day to day administration of their departments/year groups.

THE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAMME

It is important that the professional development programme especially where appraisal is concerned - should be seen by teachers as a
constructive and helpful process rather than as something judgmental
and/or inquisitorial. To this end it is important that all staff are aware:
That there is no single approach to being an effective teacher - in fact, that there is
virtue in both variety and even in a touch of eccentricity.
That all staff are contributing to the raising of professional standards - in the sense that
examples of good practice by individuals will be passed on to others.
That while there is a supervisory role for Middle Managers in the programme that
shortcomings will be dealt with with tact and consideration.
That the professional development programme is not directed only or chiefly towards
new/inexperienced staff. It applies to all staff.
The professional development programme is based on:
Staff Induction - Induction is intended to enable newcomers to Markham to become a
fully effective member of the school as quickly as possible. It aims to give new staff:
Knowledge: of people, routines, procedures, facts.
Skills: professional, personal and interpersonal skills
Attitudes: an understanding of, and sympathy with, the ethos or culture of the school,
and into the accepted relationships with staff, pupils and parents.
The Professional Development Review Group took the view that these objectives were
too comprehensive and that the current course is too overloaded with detail to be useful.
This has been accepted and the induction course now consists of:

Tours of the Schools - by Heads of Schools

The Ethos of Markham: The Formal Curriculum - by the Warden
The Ethos of Markham: The Hidden Curriculum - by the Warden
General Regulations for Teaching Staff - by the Director
The Pastoral System - by the Director
Essential Survival Skills - by the Heads of Schools separately for the Early Years,
Lower and Upper School teachers.

In order to ensure that new staff are able to keep up with the detailed administration that
the schools require Heads of Schools:
Issue all new staff with a complete, personal copy of the teachers manual
Appoint a mentor from amongst the new teachers colleagues who, with Middle
Managers, is responsible for guiding him/her through the complexities of the schools
detailed administration throughout the first year of service
Periodically check with the new member of staff to ensure that he/she feels
comfortable with the advice/assistance being given by the mentor.

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Staff Appraisal: The purpose of appraisal is to ensure that staff teaching at Markham are
aware of and apply professional approaches that accord with the best standards of
international educational practice.

Staff Appraisal is the responsibility of Heads of Department and Heads

of Year in the Upper School, the Director of Studies and Head in the
Lower School and the Head in the Early Years. Middle managers will
themselves be appraised by their Head of Section.
In-Service Training: The Inspectors felt that there was a significant lack of school based
in-service training intended to spread good teaching practice across the school. The rewritten job descriptions of Middle Managers emphasise the importance of their role in
training staff within their departments.
While this training remains the responsibility of Middle Managers it will now be more
closely supervised by the Warden. The Warden will also include space in the academic
year for formal whole school in-service training days and draw up a programme of
training courses on Saturday mornings and during holidays.
External Training: Staff are encouraged to attend refresher courses and to improve upon
their qualifications. Where relevant additional qualifications are obtained the school
authorities may authorise additional payments to staff. The school bears the cost of
approved courses successfully completed.
Teacher Exchanges - Selected staff are sent abroad to selected institutions in the United
Kingdom, North America and Europe so that they may gain a better understanding of
what constitutes the best current international educational practice. It is intended that, in
addition to learning something about the latest curriculum developments and
developments in classroom methodology, they should return to the school with a better
understanding of the meaning and importance of the hidden curriculum and a broader
perception of their professional role.
Assessment Criteria: What appraising staff expect of their colleagues is founded in their
own experience and school policy as laid down in the teachers manual. Of special
relevance is that section of the manual entitled Assessment Criteria.

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