About ICTS NOF Training

About ICTS NOF Training
The Value of the ICTS NOF Training Units
Who was the training designed for?
How the Training Worked
Who are the members of ICTS?
About the Distance Learning Units

About ICTS NOF Training

Inclusive Consultancy and Training led the ICTS Consortium, which provided New Opportunities Fund ICT training for 6,700 teachers working with learners who have severe and complex special educational needs.

This training was praised by the DfES, the TTA, the Welsh Office and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland.

NOF training had a considerable impact in the special needs sector. The programme delivered by the ICTS reached almost all of those working with pupils with severe and complex special needs in special schools in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

However, Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in mainstream schools, and in special schools dealing with moderate learning difficulties or behavioural problems, do not always have detailed information about using technology to support pupils with low-incidence disabilities.

Each year, and often unpredictably, they may need to know what approaches and resources are available for a particular learner. That is why we have now made our resources available, free of charge, online.

The resources developed by ICTS as part of this training are a widely admired, comprehensive SEN/ICT reference source. They are now freely available online.

The Value of the ICTS NOF Training Units

Ralph Tabberer, Chief Executive of the Teacher Training Agency, said: "We must remember that all teachers - not just those who have been specially trained - come into contact with pupils with special education needs and require easy access to resources to help them.

"These materials from ICTS have been used in training thousands of teachers already and are of proven quality and value. ICTS are the first of the major training providers to make their materials freely available on the internet. It is a generous step and I hope others will follow their lead."

"Because of the involvement of the centres of expertise in each field, and across all four countries, the ICTS training units online are probably the best resource yet created to show how new technology can help pupils with severe and complex special educational needs overcome the extra challenges they face," said Martin Littler, chairman of the ICTS Consortium.

"We are delighted to be able to donate these resources to help SENCOs, student teachers, NQTs, LSAs and anyone who would like to use them in support of their learners."

Stephen Dunmore, Chief Executive of the New Opportunities Fund, welcomed the move to open resources to other teachers, saying: "The scheme, funded by the National Lottery, to train the nation's teachers in the use of ICT has an added bonus when resources developed for specialist training are now freely available to all. We hope as many teachers as possible will benefit, and in the long term that will benefit children with special needs."

This is an exciting proposal from Martin Littler - these would be useful resources for schools which have a minority of pupils with special needs who did not take training from ICTS," said John Anderson, Education Technology Strategy Coordinator of the Department of Education in Northern Ireland.

Comments from teachers include:

"The units and resources have been of great use as they have been appropriate to the needs of the children I teach and have given me the opportunity to develop professionally."

"I found all of the presentation of the information easy to comprehend and succinct."

"The units and training has helped me to acquire the skill and confidence to find information for a post grad course on ASD."

"I have broadened my personal skills and have increased in confidence. My pupils now have access to a wider range of experiences due to my increased competence."

"I found the resources extremely useful, well-presented and easy to follow. They de-mystified many areas within ICT. I will definitely keep my copy and use it in the future."

"The resources made me look at in more detail how the students I work with can use IT."

"Sincere thanks for a very worthwhile programme of work - it helped us all, even the PC phobics - it made us make the effort to get to grips with ICT. The resources were appropriate for our pupils and our needs.  Thanks again!"

Who was the training designed for?

Teachers, advisory staff and LSAs working with pupils who have physical difficulties and communication difficulties, pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties or severe learning difficulties and additional sensory impairments or a severe degree of autism. Also for visual impairment and multi-disabled, including visual impairment (MDVI), hearing impairment where pupils have additional problems such as early learning difficulties or multi-sensory impairment (MSI).

We were also asked to give “NOF” training overseas. Inclusive Technology’s Melanie Jones (centre) works with special school teachers in Hong Kong.

How the Training Worked

Our training involved face-to-face learning as well as email and web-based conferencing. Two days were spent working with a visiting expert on using technology with learners with SEN. Teachers worked with their trainer to find the ICT solutions that would help deliver the curriculum in a way appropriate to the particular pupils involved. Support was also provided via networking days and an online forum, where all trainees and trainers could share ideas and form supportive networks of expertise.

Who are the members of ICTS?

The leading “severe and complex” SEN organisations came together to make their combined expertise available to teachers of pupils with special educational needs.

ICTS comprises: the ACE Centre, ACE North, the Advisory Unit, the CALL Centre, Edinburgh University, CENMAC, the Down’s Syndrome Association, Inclusive Technology, Janet Larcher Associates and the Royal National Institute for the Blind. These organisations wrote the training materials and forty of their staff and associates delivered the training. Manchester Metropolitan University provided accreditation and QA. Cynnal worked with us to publish our materials in Welsh.

About the Distance Learning Units

There are two introductory units A and B which everyone completed. Teachers then chose three or more of the specialist units 1 to 10.

A - Communicating with colleagues, accessing information, finding resources

Using email, forums and conferencing, finding and using curriculum resources, disability access, issues and standards for web resources, professional development, finding and sharing information on the net, using ICT to record and monitor progress.

B - Organizing your resources

Why and when and when not to use ICT, accessibility options and access resources in Windows, seating and positioning pupils and positioning equipment, the learning/working environment, health and safety issues, sources of information.

1 - Literacy and recording

Using symbols, pictures, sound and photos to communicate, record work and achievement, and to write creatively.

2 - Literacy and recording - the written word

Using ICT to support literacy across the curriculum, accessing writing, word processing, voice input. Support strategies for writing: spell checking, wordbanks and prediction. Accessing the written word: speech output, books.

3 - Language and communication

Creating a communication environment, technology to support communication, software to support the development of language skills across the curriculum, communication technology and access to the curriculum, using ICT to produce communication materials.

4 - Identifying individual needs

An introduction to choosing appropriate ICT and access for your pupils, developing a team approach.

5 - ICT resources for pupils with multiple disabilities

MDVI, MSI and PMLD - finding and adapting resources for pupils with more than one disability. Creating and using multi-sensory environments, identifying children who would benefit from these technologies, clarifying teaching objectives, creating a learning environment, planning, delivering and recording sensory sessions.

6 - Including all pupils in class and group activities

Using ICT to support inclusion in a class or group session, choosing resources for each pupil, managing the session. Particular focus on literacy and numeracy.

7 - Accessing technology

Access methods: hardware and software to support recording communication and access to a wider curriculum. Physical, sensory and cognitive access.

8 - The development of switching skills

Being in control, joining in, toys and real things, curriculum activities, access skills.

9 - Basic ICT for pupils with a visual impairment

Early learning activities, introducing technology, creating tactile, visual and auditory resources, basic system tools.

10 - ICT for visually impaired pupils

Adapting the learning environment for pupils with visual impairment, adaptive technology for pupils with visual impairment, the use of screen-reading and magnification software to access and record learning, the visual medium, the auditory medium, the tactile medium, additional access devices.

This ICTS website is maintained by Inclusive Technology.