I was the support for learning teacher at Portree Primary School on the Isle of Skye for nine years. Portree Primary is a bilingual school with almost half of its 300 pupils being educated through the medium of Gaelic. I worked with the 13 class teachers, an additional support needs teacher, a Gaelic medium support for learning teacher and a team of learning support auxiliaries, classroom assistants and Gaelic language assistants.

Headteacher John Finlayson and depute headteacher Flora MacDougall were keen to promote the use of ICT for teaching and learning and took a flexible and forward-thinking approach to the provision of learning support in both the English medium and Gaelic medium classes.

The school is well resourced. Each classroom has a minimum of two PCs. The school also has two projectors and SMART Boards and an array of digital cameras, digital video cameras, webcams, headphones and microphones. There is also an ICT suite containing eight PCs and a class-in-a-box with 10 additional laptops. A classroom which was also used as drop-in room for parents housed a further five PCs.

I worked in collaboration with the individual class teachers at the planning stage and, as recommended by Alan November at SETT in 2004, we looked at the curriculum and chose the areas where ICT would give effective support and enhance the teaching that was already taking place.

What we did

As I approached the use of ICT from the perspective of providing support for pupils, most of the areas chosen were literacy-based, meeting targets for writing and reading through either social or science and health-based topics.

We created resources using Softease Studio Plus that were differentiated not by the content but by the methods of accessing the information and recording the children’s responses.

We built support into each activity in different ways, including click-to-read support to enable children to access text beyond their reading ability.

Click-to-read means that when using a talking word processor the text is set to speak when a word is clicked on. Children can read the words they already know without support and click with the mouse to hear unknown words spoken. As they are wearing headphones they are free to click as often or as rarely as they like. It also works for typing. When the children click the space bar, the word is spoken. This helps with spelling as they will hear if the word sounds incorrect. It will also speak sentences when a full stop is added, reinforcing the concept of sentence structure.

We used microphones to record oral responses as an alternative to writing and to record spoken Gaelic on screen alongside the written word. We used webcams to record group or individual activities, which was very useful with children in the early stages of Gaelic medium education. We used embedded web links to enable children to have access to extension or reinforcement activities and embedded access to Penfriend (a predictive word processor). Lexicons specific to the task provided writing support for children with specific learning difficulties of a dyslexic nature or Developmental Coordination Delay.

We showed the children who required the click-toread support how to use it prior to using it in the class or group lesson. All children were free to use the click-to-read support and as headphones were used, no one was aware of how much or how little support the child working alongside them used. This helped children maintain high self-esteem and enabled children experiencing literacy difficulties to be full participants in the activities.

The issues around the pace of the lesson suiting all of the children were eliminated by the access to the specifically chosen web links, which gave the children the opportunity to take more control of their own learning and gave them an incentive to complete tasks quickly and well.

Using the webcams promoted the sharing of ideas, afforded children an exciting alternative to writing and enabled children to demonstrate their knowledge and ability outwith the constraints that limited spelling ability often imposes upon them. This was particularly evident in the early-stage Gaelic medium classes, where children’s oral ability can often exceed their written ability. The school is exploring the possibilities of using webcams for assessment activities in Gaelic medium.

The SMART Boards or ordinary screens used with the portable projector allowed children to see the interactive nature of the tasks, captured their attention and enabled more children to be active participants in the lesson. Teaching a large group of children using a projector and screen eliminates many if not all of the behaviour problems attributable to lack of engagement with the task.

The flexibility afforded by having an ICT suite, PCs in the classroom and a Class in a Box meant that children could access the activities individually, in small groups or as a whole class.

It is difficult to give anything other than a flavour of what happens at Portree Primary School. Suffice to say that through using ICT to support teaching and learning I had the privilege of teaching every child in the school, which without the team-teaching opportunities created by using ICT in this way would have been unthinkable, as I am not a Gaelic speaker.

The cooperation and enthusiasm of all staff, from the auxiliaries, classroom assistants and Gaelic language assistants who patiently tolerated my constant requests for someone to record something for me in Gaelic and who attended training sessions in their own time, to the class teachers who shared in the presentation, development and follow-up to the lessons, and the dynamic headteacher John Finlayson, whose drive, enthusiasm and energy are an inspiration to us all, made it look easy.

At times it was anything but easy, but despite teething troubles and the rapid learning curve some of the staff had to endure, it was most definitely worth it and my only regret is that I had to leave Skye; otherwise, who knows what we would be up to now!

The Becta judges said, Sarah shows a clear understanding of the power of ICT to support the language needs of every pupil. Working in classes which are both English and Gaelic speaking, she uses software and hardware to offer extra support to those pupils who need it. Creating materials specific sometimes to individual learners, she encourages them to aim higher. Working with the classroom teachers, Sarah carefully plans how ICT can enhance or facilitate the proposed activities. Together, they also evaluate the success of the materials used in previous sessions. There have been obvious improvements in many pupils’ work as a result of the ICT Sarah has made available. Her imaginative use of digital video and webcams is used to reinforce good behaviour with non-compliant children, as well as encouraging the development of communication skills. Sarah shares her success across Scotland and has created a virtual library of resources, so she and others can learn from each other’s practice.

Sarah has recently moved to Muirtown Primary School and Crown Primary School in Inverness.

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