ImpaCT2 - measuring the impact of ICT on pupils' learning

ImpaCT2 is one of a number of projects commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills and managed by Becta with the aim of evaluating the progress of the ICT in Schools Programme. It is a major study carried out between 1999 and 2002 involving 60 schools in England and is one of the most comprehensive investigations into the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on educational attainment so far conducted in the United Kingdom.

ImpaCT2 was designed to:

Identify the impact of networked technologies on the school and out of school environment

Find out the degree to which these networked technologies affect the educational attainments of pupils at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4.

The study involved three related strands:

Strand 1: to develop and apply appropriate methods for evaluating the use of ICT in school and out of school, and to analyse the statistical relationship between the effective implementation of ICT and standards of performance in National Tests and GCSEs

Strand 2: to develop and apply a variety of methods to establish how pupils use ICT, in particular out of school, and what is gained from such use.

Strand 3: to explore the nature of teaching and learning involving ICT in various settings, with a focus on the views of pupils, teachers, and parents.

It has always been difficult, if not impossible, to find evidence to prove the positive impact of ICT on pupils' learning and attainment.

Becta's ImpaCT2 Report - details the findings of a project based on work in 60 primary and secondary schools.

It finds that the use of ICT makes a significant impact on progress in English (and to a lesser extent mathematics) at KS2, on progress in science and mathematics at KS3 and on science, D&T, MFL and Geography at KS4.

The full reports and summaries are available from www.becta.org.uk/research/impact2 and are well worth downloading and reading, particularly the 'executive summary' at the beginning of the strand 2 report ImpaCT2_strand_2_report.pdf