GCSE ICT/ICT in Schools

Schools use ICT for:

Administration

Schools have to keep information about all the pupils and staff. The Schooltool project is developing an open source solution for this problem and has a detailed analysis of what is needed in all sorts of schools. Proprietary solutions include CCM's product CMIS and Capita's SIMS. Schools need to store information on:

• Individual Pupils:
  • Name
  • Name and Addresses of parent(s) and/or guardian(s)
  • Subjects that a pupil is doing
  • Past Examination Results
  • Photographs
  • Attendance records
• Groups of Pupils:
  • Teaching Groups
  • Pastoral Groups
  • Clubs, Societies, Teams, etc.
  • Previous pupils of the school
• Teachers
  • Names and addresses
  • Groups they teach
  • Salary information

A subject and a teaching tool

Schools also teach ICT and/or computing as a subject and often have networks for pupils to store their work on and to access eductional resources. The types of applications that the pupils will use will include:

• Standard Office Tools
  • Word Processors
  • Spreadsheets
  • Presentation Graphics
  • Database Management Systems
• Specific Teaching Tools
  • Circuit Simulators
  • Mathematical models of specific systems (e.g. prey/predator relationships)
  • Drill programs
• Information Resources

These would include both specific and general resources.