Over the course of this year so far, this blog has documented my own GLOW journey and experiences. Regular posting on here, and comment and discussion on other blogs has been invaluable in helping me to refine my thoughts about and approach to working with GLOW in my school and with others. I’ve been involved in quite a few meetings and events this year, and the latest of these last week presented a particular challenge, involving a presentation on how GLOW has impacted upon the teaching and learning in my classroom so far… with a time limit of 5 minutes! I’ve put it on slide-share as I think it just about sums up where I’ve got to at this point in time.

Of course, the whole process of preparing to deliver this presentation and the discussions between the other two presenters (mine was the last of three segments) as well as the recent publication of my research study into attainment and GLOW/ICT represents the end, for me, of perhaps one chapter and the start of the next one. I also feel it could be the same for GLOW. As more authorities sign their agreements and commence their own roll-outs those of us who have been working away for the past year also have to move forward. I believe that nationally, we have reached a sort of ‘tipping’ point, at least in our secondary schools. The primaries look to me to have embraced GLOW, taken it to their hearts even in so many ways across the country, but this battle for hearts and minds has perhaps stalled somewhat in the secondaries. Bigger staff cohorts, the artificial divisions evident sometimes between subject specialties and competing demands on CPD time, as well as challenging financial constraints and sometimes even ambivalent school leadership compound the difficulties in establishing the free-flow out of ripples of good practice from the school mentors and enthusiasts. The last HMIE report on ICT in education highlighted the ongoing resistance of the ‘hardcore of staffroom cynics’ who remain to be convinced of the benefits of integrating ICT into their teaching.  I suppose I could be regarded as a competent practitioner, an ICT evangelist even. And so could more than a few like me, but GLOW wasn’t made just for me. If we want to widen access and drive up effective use by increasing numbers of teachers and pupils then we have to examine the financial commitment necessary to underwrite this expansion of opportunity.

John Connell posting last year on his own blog about the SNP government’s commitment to continued development and funding of GLOW asked for reassurances from the new power in the land…

http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=428

Of course the roll out of GLOW in each LA has been funded by the NPAF, or ‘GLOW grant’, a £20 million annual pot split between authorities which has been used to fund the activities of LA GLOW teams and mentor training and support. However recent changes to the way this money is distributed means that 75% of it is now retained for ICT capital expenditure and distributed via the school funding allocation, leaving only 25% left available to be spent on ‘revenue’ costs. The probationer scheme has released staff to undertake development roles with GLOW but this is easier to organise in the primary sector. In secondaries, matching up probationers with the same subjects as teachers willing and able to undertake mentor roles is logistically more complex to organise. So is it time once again to examine the roles (and costs) of the central support teams to see if the money would be better utilised by individual schools, or would this remove a vitally important administrative and support function ? difficult questions here, and even more difficult decisions. A quick web search reveals minutes of meetings all over the country called to examine the costs of implementing and rolling out GLOW in the light of the changes to external revenue funding and to address the shortfall with many LA’s now not having enough money to fund their central GLOW teams and mentor support. Falkirk council’s implementation strategy estimated that a 0.1 FTE commitment per establishment was necessary for staff development and training as well as ongoing support. I think that this is actually closer to 0.2 FTE in secondary schools as well as supply cover for whole department training sessions. Of course staff can attend twilight training organised by their LA teams, but all the research shows that this type of training must be sector-specific, run by experienced and current practitioners and be pedagogically not technology focused. This is rarely the case unfortunately at this present moment in time and anyway, not all staff are willing or able to attend such sessions, even if they met this criteria. So for me anyway, it has to be a mixture of central GLOW team support with on the job training in schools during the teaching day – but this does not come cheap, and competition for increasingly scarce resources is fierce in every school.

I believe we are now at a crossroads with GLOW, and the direction each LA goes down will determine the level of eventual success. We’ve had the big launch, the novelty value has worn off, and it’s down to the nitty-gritty of embedding GLOW into everyday regular use into the teaching and learning in all our schools. It’s going to need  leadership and vision to move this forward by finding creative solutions to the funding issues. Good management is all about making the case for adequate funding but also managing efficiently and effectively the resources you do have by searching for solutions to difficult challenges. GLOW can help here – schools getting together to teach advanced higher via GLOW meet could free up resources, and there will be many other ways I’m sure.

What is certain however is that we have to take the right direction away from this crossroads, and the map charting the best direction will not be found in the budget shops or bargain bins. Quite simply, I believe that success with GLOW will be exponential – we will get what we are prepared to pay for, so lets be creative and invest wisely. The benefits of doing so are clear to see with GLOW and the dividends from successful investment now will be significant for generations to come…