ICT Masterclass

For those of you that don't know, 'Masterclass' is an ICT professional development programme for Scottish education that Learning and Teaching Scotland has run over the last few years, funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department. Local authorities nominated a mix of staff to attend, including practicising teachers, school librarians, and central ICT support staff. Residential training and workshop sessions were supplemented by an online community for Masterclassers and local follow-up activity, plus a laptop for individual use.

SEED has now published "Evaluation of the Masterclass Initiative" in both summary version and full report. The programme aimed to support local authorities in their integration of ICT into school learning, and has been largely successful.

My own view: It has assisted in changing practice in schools by stimulating the creation of an 'ICT-aware' core of staff in every local authority in Scotland. Many of the individuals were already believers in the potential of ICT, but many came to it unconvinced and went away persuaded. It built capacity for more use where appropriate, and more effective use, of ICT in Scottish schools.

The model was then adopted and subtly refined for new audiences, such as the Early Years Masterclass programme.