Naace Annual Report 2011

Naace is further developing the core parts of its business; the Association has in the past year:

Membership

• Evolved its membership types (students, NQTs, affiliate members, full members, seniors or fellows)  to create a more inclusive organisation;
• Launched a new Technology in Education Advice Network;
• Launched the Naace Advocates Programme – which supports all schools in their use of ICT to advance learning through the preservation and dissemination of key materials;
• Launched the Naace ICT Impact Awards – to recognise the impact that ICT can have on learning and teaching when used well by skilled and creative professionals;
• Launched a new and improved website to meet the requirements of its members and the public; introduced new sections of the website e.g. School Corner to better cater for various membership types
• Introduced new ways of engaging with members and a wider audience through organising, supporting and participating in a number of TeachMeet and KidsMeet events;
• Continued to engage with members by:
• inviting them to join the Development Group for ICTCPD4free;
• continuing to encourage members to actively take part in building the success of the Association by inviting them to volunteer their time and expertise to help in a number of tasks;
• Inviting members to share their views in the Education Practitioner Survey, created alongside Intellect, Teachfirst and RM
• Worked closely with Naace Fellows to seek their views on a number of new ideas and projects e.g.:
• Creation and deployment of the Technology in Education Advice Network and the associated IT Issues Publication
• Consultation meetings for the 3^rd Millennium Learning Mark
•  In response to new market conditions:
• •  organised exclusive Setting up in Business training course providing guidance to members who are setting up as independent advisors;
  • provided free of charge recruitment service on its website
  • established the Technology in Education Advice Network service helping connect independent advisors with industry representatives seeking potential employees

Accreditation & CPD

• Enhanced its role as a quality assurance agency by:
• Continuing to administer the ICT Mark, endorsed by the DfE
• Support to schools undertaking the accreditation, and support for assessors of that scheme;
• Inherited a number of valuable resources from Becta including:
• Learning Platforms
  
  • Becta research and case studies
  • Video evidence and information
  • Steps to Adoption
• Curriculum support materials
• Entitlement to ICT
• National Strategies; Using ICT to support Numeracy
• Learner capability and digital literacy
  
  • Digital Literacy
• Bundle 1:21^st century teacher resources
• Became, alongside ALT, a joint host for Becta ICT Research Network 
• Continued to deliver its NaaceMark for Service Providers scheme providing a flexible, accessible and generic system to accredit ICT services in all areas following a self assessment model;
• Accepted enrolments for the second round  of Certified Naace Professionals; accreditation designed for people who have a leadership role in advancing education through ICT
• Launched its Naace ICT Online Award Scheme to encourage educators to further develop their knowledge and practice regarding ICT;
• Started to develop the 3^rd Millennium Mark to enable schools to demonstrate how they are providing an education fit for the 21st century;
• Continued to deliver free of charge online CPD courses through its www.ictcpd4free.co.uk supported by the TDA and Vital;
• Continued to:
  
  • deliver high quality face-to-face professional development opportunities;
  • make available to members post-event resources that extend the learning opportunities; used Ipercast;
  • further enabled remote participation in face-to-face events through the use of online technology and Twitter in particular at our Annual Strategic Conference, Wokefield Park, March 2011 ;
  • Encouraged and engaged members in research based projects and CPD using methods including personal research, face-to-face, blended and online courses including e.g.  the new Ofsted inspection framework and ICT;
  • Introduced the Naace ICT Impact awards to celebrate successful work in ICT in schools and other organisations – see www.naace.co.uk/conference2011/naaceimpactawards2011.

Partnership with the industry

• Enhanced our relationship with industry to provide a unique partnership by:
  
  • hosting two education briefing events for sponsoring partners of Naace;
  • new ways of engagement through new initiatives and marketing opportunities to maximise promotional opportunities for partners;
  • inviting its sponsoring partners to become members of the Technology in Education Advice Network;
  • encouraging sponsors to actively participate in Naace events including the Annual Conference and training events;
  • co-hosting events with partners e.g. Free, Fun Day with Microsoft;

Partnership with other stakeholder groups

• Collaborated with a greater number of schools across the UK by offering them special offers e.g. equipment trials; 
• Encouraged schools to share their good practice and celebrate their success by establishing Naace Feature School;
• Developed relationships with new groups including academies and free schools offering them help and guidance;
• Actively engaged as a full member of the CfSA;
• Explored new relationships with organisations such as Regional Broadband Consortia to discuss the provision of CPD and QA nationally;
• To consider how good practice can be shared more readily Naace met with:
• Aspect
• NAHT
• SSAT
• CAS
• BESA
• MIRANDANET
• ITTE
• ALT
• ASCL
• TSL

          in the UK and

• Continued its engagement with ISTE; strengthened its alliance with European Schoolnet and  ECIS as well as met with CIS for further engagement overseas;
• Invited representatives from outside the UK to the Annual Conference in Wokefield Park as well as BETT (Hong Kong delegation);
• Promoted ITEM at the ECIS Nice and Istanbul Conferences in November 2010 and April 2011 respectively.

In addition, Naace has been actively engaged and continues to commit to the following:

• Use of online tools to extend interaction between members;
• Extended use by members of the Naace online community enabling the greater sharing of knowledge and practice, collaboration on and contribution to Naace responses to key educational policies and papers e.g. Royal Society of Arts; Cambridge Primary Review Network;
• Acting as the voice of the community and contributing to influencing policy development including attendance at meetings including Westminster Forums, the National Education Network managers group, Vital National Board, Stakeholder Groups for the Primary Curriculum review, review of the Self-Review Framework for ICT, and the Scottish ICT Development Group;
• Partnerships and projects with industry, research organisations, and other bodies to expand member services and assist with transformation process; e.g. collaboration with Reform and Policy Exchange and support for the newly formed Computing at School group;
• Research and publication work including the continuation of:
  
  •  our online journal Advancing Education;
  • Naace Connect, online video magazine and covered by a Creative Commons Licence;
  • Further engagement with international schools through ITEM (International Technology in Education Mark) to explore the benefits of the scheme;
  • Attendance at Trade Shows including NEEC, BETT, ECIS, bMobLe 2011, E2BN Conference, Cambridgeshire Head Teachers Conference, SWGfL.
  • Close collaboration with Vital to support its programme for the development of CPD opportunities.

Public Benefit Statement

In particular, in assessing the contribution that Naace makes for public benefit, members of the public and other agencies were able to:

• Continue to apply for membership for students, NQTs and retired persons at significantly reduced rates;
• Access free of charge online training materials for all ICT practitioners;
• Freely download Naace’s self-review documentation for organisations wishing to review their quality procedures;
• Freely download the self-review documentation for international schools looking to develop and review their systems;
• Access resources for the delivery of extensive primary classroom teaching materials;
• Host a Naace Advocates session and receive free training and a free DVD with valuable resources;
• Attend a free of charge event – Free, Fun Day for teachers, IT coordinators, technicians or school advisers;
• Benefit from the delivery of consultation and review of policy for the advancement of ICT;
• Receive support in developing strategies and policies for the advancement of ICT in education;
• Attend a forum for Strategic Leaders at Strategic Conference in Wokefield Park 2011;
• Receive opportunities for professional development through a broad range of engagements;
• Benefit from exchanges between agencies and suppliers to ensure value for money services for educational users such as the Microsoft Select Agreement for schools and the latter stages of Home Access;
• Engage in a debate to ensure check and balance in the development of ICT policy in education; Attend three free of charge Regional Think Tanks to share their views with regard to the future of technology use in the aftermath of the Becta closure announcement and a further three free of charge Regional think tanks around the National Curriculum Review

Additionally Naace has:

• Worked with students from local schools in Nottingham to encourage the use of their technical skills in the production of a marketing video
• Continued to raise funds for our nominated Charity, the Mamelodi Trust;
• Supported involvment in the Computers for Africa programme;
• Provided sponsorship for TeachMeet and KidsMeet events to support widening access for practitioners.

Bernadette Brooks, Naace General Manager