Northern Ireland schools to benefit from technology self-review framework

Schools across Northern Ireland will benefit from a Self-Review Framework to support them to reach their full potential in implementing digital technology across the curriculum.

This is thanks to Northern Ireland's Education Authority partnering with the National Association for Education Technology, NAACE, to help schools maximise the adoption of digital technology for school improvement.  

To date over 16,000 schools have benefitted from the NAACE Self-Review Framework across the UK.

Gavin Hawkins, Chair of NAACE, said: “The Self-Review Framework is hugely popular with schools because of the flexibility it gives them to map their individual improvement. There isn’t a one size fits all when it comes to education technology strategy and development, and this has underpinned how the Self-Review Framework looks.

“We’re extremely pleased to be working with the Education Authority and schools across Northern Ireland, many of which are already familiar with the Self Review-Framework. The Education Authority has recognised the value in the wider support package around investment in digital systems which will really allow schools to maximise the potential of education technology and the impact on educational outcomes.”

Earlier this year, the EdIS Programme piloted the Self-Review Framework with 21 schools across a range of sectors to explore and test the relevance, manageability, and appropriateness of the tool for schools in Northern Ireland. The response from participating schools was extremely positive with schools reporting that the use of the Self-Review Framework helped them to understand where they are in their technology strategy and allowed them to plan and record the next stages of progress.  

Sara Long, Chief Executive of the Education Authority said: “With improvement at its core, EdIS is investing in tools that support education settings to make a meaningful difference to teaching and learning. The Self-Review Framework helps schools to challenge their thinking and enhance their use of education technology.”

Fiona Boyd, Principal of Holy Trinity Primary School, Belfast said: “When we first started using the Self-Review Framework over fifteen years ago, we found the support from EA invaluable.

"We are delighted that EdIS are now recognising the value and relevance of the framework in helping schools to push the boundaries in a cohesive and systematic way. The Self-Review Framework helps us to baseline where we are at and also enables us to plan where we want to go through our action plans and overall SDP. It continues to help us as a school to support decision-making, increase collaboration and inform whole school planning.  

“With EA, EdIS and C2k support, schools now have a model to assist in continuous improvement and self-evaluation. This is an exciting time for schools to use this tool to assist with their technological vision for the future. Our children live in a digital world, and it is vital we strive to prepare them to become confident, creative and competent digital citizens.”

Northern Ireland schools and EOTAS (Education Other Than At School) Centres can now benefit from NAACE membership and access EA support on offer.