Mark Steed, Principal at Berkhamsted School wrote a very interesting post about schools needing to take responsibility for Digital Literacy, as it is key to pupils’ future success.

You can find the post here: Digital Literacy is a vital preparation for life.

Here is my response:

This is another very interesting post, thank you Mark. It led me to ask: how can school leaders ensure that digital wisdom becomes embedded in an academic curriculum? The use of digital tools in practical or vocational subjects is relatively straightforward. However, I think that the natives need both digital wisdom and digital dexterity to be able to go beyond understanding and manipulating the wealth of information and communication possibilities to generate original content in a more academic context. 

Unfortunately there is a mismatch here in educational goals. On the one hand there is an accepted understanding amongst digital natives that interdependent sharing in data-rich media environments is the best way to learn. However, the primary outcome of school education (organised and maintained by a generation for whom learning with technology may have involved, at best, an Acorn Archimedes) upon which students’ futures rest remains the centuries-old tradition of students sitting alone in an exam hall with a piece of paper and a pen. 

It matters little that coursework may represent a high proportion of the final grade in some practical subjects here. Let’s imagine that the academic subjects’ national assessments reflect a digital learning experience. Then, and only then, will reaching the top of the league tables and providing a modern digital education share the same methodology. Until then, we must expect that some teachers will resist completely embedding ICT into their subject teaching; the pupils have got exams to pass!

BBC NEWS | Education | More state pupils head to Oxford.

Numbers of comprehensive students entering Oxford are up according to this article. It left me wondering:

• do comprehensive students cope better or worse with the demands of an Oxford degree?
•  do comprehensive students stay the distance on their degree courses, and how do drop-out rates compare to students from selective or fee-paying schools? 
• do Oxford and Cambridge graduates originating from a comprehensive background achieve broadly similar success  as those from slective or fee-paying schools in their future careers?
• what can community comprehensives do to make sure those with the potential to get to Oxford or Cambridge do get their place?