James Gillespie's - Information literacy development

Introduction

James Gillespie's is one of the larger high schools located in Edinburgh city centre. The school population is almost 1100 pupils.

The school has a good record of academic achievement and is constantly reviewing the breadth and structure of its curriculum according to national guidelines.

Four years ago the number of subjects in the S1 curriculum was reduced and ICT as a subject area is not now taught until S2.

The school has a wide range of feeder primary schools whose development of ICT skills varies widely. Thus a base level of ICT skills can be hard for subject staff to identify.

Cross-curricular endeavours are always difficult in a secondary school but for several years the School Library Resource Centre (SLRC) had delivered an ‘ICT Challenge’ which was a skills-based research and role-playing activity for all S1 pupils.

The SLRC is well used and for many years offered a 'Skills Trail' programme to all S1 pupils. Some of the elements of this course (which largely focused on locational skills such as using library catalogues, books, CD-ROMs or the web to find information resources) has since been integrated into a skills-based element of the S1 curriculum and aims to develop a wider range of information literacy skills.