Schools Organised for ICT and the Homes They Serve

ICT encourages – and ultimately requires – formal education and the learning that takes place outside school. It brings impressive channels of communication between students, teachers, parents and the wider community, that must be purposefully developed and actively sustained. This underscores the seriousness of the situation for students who have inadequate home facilities, who are on the wrong side of the “digital divide”.

It is, moreover, in the nature of ICT to facilitate learning beyond the bounds of the school. Self-directed learning with ICT at home or in the community becomes an integral and important aspect of the total learning experience. More than hitherto, there is a dynamic complementarity between learning in school and learning at home. This article looks at school organisation and leadership, the support needed and how it may be attained. It considers how ICT-enabled learning at home extends the work in school, and how ICT enhances the relationship between home and school.