Building the role of ICT coordinators in primary schools: A typology based on task prioritisation

Abstract

Although the school ICT coordinator's role has been institutionally defined by the Andalusian Education Administration (Spain), individual factors may be key in the emerging role-building process. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) of the priority given by coordinators to their different functions and a subsequent cluster analysis of the MDS solution were used to identify role orientations among ICT coordinators in primary schools of Andalucía (Spain). Three orientation clusters were identified: "support of ICT use in the classroom" (67.1%), "promote ICT use in the classroom" (17.8%) and "planning and maintenance of ICT equipment in the school" (15.1%). The interest in separating technical and pedagogical duties into two profiles and the perceived organisational support from the Teachers Centres (TCs) differed in the three role orientation types. Finally, strategies are suggested to reduce role ambiguity and role conflict in ICT coordinators. A clearer definition of the role would improve their leadership in ICT implementation in schools.use different strategies to promote their use by teachers and lead the educational change that results from the use of these technologies in schools (Hadjithoma-Garstka, 2011;Tearle, 2003). However, they perform various tasks and have to deal with many unpredictable questions from teachers, diminishing the clarity of their role.

The leadership of ICT coordinators: A distributed perspective

“…The improvement of teaching and learning practices through the implementation of information and communications technologies (ICTs) is a goal of increasing importance, evidenced by national programs to provide schools with ICT infrastructure (Skues and Cunningham, 2013), and to adapt education systems to the 21st century (Avidov-Ungar and Shamir-Inbal, 2017). It is also clear that ICT implementation is a complex process (León-Jariego et al, 2020) as studies have shown many regions neither systematically nor in a systemic way have achieved ICT implementation (McDonagh and McGarr, 2015; Skues and Cunningham, 2013; Tondeur et al, 2010). Many people must participate to realize full ICT implementation in schools (Murphy et al, 2017).…”

“…Within the past decade, regions in Australia (Skues and Cunningham, 2013), Ireland (McDonagh and McGarr, 2015) and the United States (Murphy et al, 2017) have not had an ICT coordinator role in schools. While there are claims the role is widespread in Spain (Moreira et al, 2018), there is also evidence that some Spanish schools lack the role, and the availability of the role varies by region (León-Jariego et al, 2020). The role can also be non-permanent, as Tondeur et al (2010) found that some schools have lost the ICT coordinator role without sufficient, external support.…”

“…The ICT coordinator’s individual tasks can cover a wide range of possibilities. For example, an ICT coordinator can perform technical and pedagogical functions (León-Jariego et al, 2020), administrative functions (Avidov-Ungar and Hanin-Itzak, 2017) and planning and management tasks (Moreira et al, 2018). However, the literature contrasts these possibilities with much evidence that in everyday practice an ICT coordinator provides technical support, such as answering technical questions (Rodríguez-Miranda et al, 2014) and maintaining hardware and software (Moreira et al, 2018).…”

“…The ICT coordinator role has not focused on curriculum and pedagogy (McDonagh and McGarr, 2015). The ICT coordinator’s possible tasks and their actual tasks appear to be influenced by national and regional policies (Avidov-Ungar and Shamir-Inbal, 2017; McDonagh and McGarr, 2015; Moreira et al, 2018) and, especially in the absence of such policies, to perceptions of principals (Murphy et al, 2017), teachers (Moreira et al, 2018) and individual ICT coordinators (León-Jariego et al, 2020).…”

“…While much literature has conceptualized the ICT coordinator as a leader (Avidov-Ungar and Shamir-Inbal, 2017; Lai and Pratt, 2004; León-Jariego et al, 2020; McDonagh and McGarr, 2015; Moreira et al, 2018; Rodríguez-Miranda et al, 2014; Tondeur et al, 2010), and the ICT coordinator has been perceived as performing more leadership than principals and teachers (Chen et al, 2013), when assessing ICT coordinator leadership by the role’s actual tasks, the everyday leadership of ICT coordinators appears limited. At the same time, these studies on ICT coordinator leadership (Avidov-Ungar and Hanin-Itzak, 2017; Avidov-Ungar and Shamir-Inbal, 2017; Lai and Pratt, 2004; León-Jariego et al, 2020; McDonagh and McGarr, 2015; McGarr and McDonagh, 2013; Moreira et al, 2018; Tondeur et al, 2010) appear to have researched from a similar theoretical perspective: leadership has been framed as an individual property, and the ICT coordinator as an individual change agent. In this way, ICT coordinator leadership studies have focused on the ICT coordinator’s individual tasks.…”