Implementation and sustainability of a global ICT company’s programme to help teachers integrate technology into learning and teaching in Germany, France and the UK

Abstract

This paper will discuss the implementation of the professional development programme ‘‘Intel† Teach’’ in Germany, the UK and France, as a publicprivate partnership. The programme is designed to help school teachers to effectively integrate technology into learning and teaching and to help students develop key ‘‘twenty-first century skills’’. The implementation of the programme, which has so far involved over 400,000 teachers spread across the three countries since 2004, followed different models in the three countries, as a result of differing national education policies, systems and needs. Data from the external evaluation of the programme in Germany are used to examine the factors on a systemic level, which affected the implementation, effectiveness and sustainability of the programme. These factors are grouped into three categories: (1) concept transfer, (2) experience transfer and (3) establishing standards. Exploring these factors provides a framework for analysing how the changing conditions in the three countries and the global trends in education will influence the further development of the programme. Recent developments in the programme will be discussed, including:

• open-source solutions
• integration of new features (including e-Portfolio);
• improved collaboration and sharing.

The paper will also address the introduction of new content and approaches that target specific current issues in teacher professional development, for example:

• project-based approaches;
• collaboration in the digital classroom;
• technology-based approaches to assessment;
• educational leadership.

The experience from the implementation of the programme through public-private partnerships in different countries shows how such collaborations can shape the educational landscape in a way that makes educational provision more effective and efficient, and of greater relevance and value to students.

Keywords: teacher professional development; technology integration; sustainability; publicprivate partnership