Just how much will information technology play a part in the acceleration of progress in education in Brazil? If you you-tube brazilian education you’ll see a whole range of postings talking about the ‘laptops for kids’ initiative. Large, multi-national electronics and computing companies are doing a lot to support this great government scheme. To help young people connect into the resources that the internet can offer can certainly help advance their studies – and why not!? But ICT is not the utopian solution that some are suggesting.
Quality teaching by quality teachers must be in that equation. As we find in schools in the UK, having internet access and using the internet intelligently for study are two very different things. Teacher’s will acknowledge the effort needed to help students move past the first page of a google search. Understanding the difference between the most popular sites and the best sites is a major conceptual leap that needs to be leaped! Adapted laptops being used by kids from low income families is a fantastic step in the right direction, but let us not lose sight of the remaining, abiding need for the professional educators and their honed, hard earned skills.