Have you read about the seven roles of the educator as set out in the Norms and Standards for Educators in South Africa? Have you ever considered them in the light of your competence with ICT? In this activity you will remind yourself of the seven roles and explore possible ways in which ICT can support those roles.

Click here to read Emilia Potenza's article on the seven roles of the educator in The Teacher

In the Norms and Standards for Educators policy document clear competencies are identified for each role of the educator. When these were written they did not consider ICT specifically except for one reference to the Internet. Subsequently the White Paper for e-Education has been released and this has prompted a re-visit of the Norms and Standards policy. Be sure to update yourself on new developments while doing this activity.

The cornerstone of this Norms and Standards policy is the notion of applied competence and it’s associated assessment criteria.

"Applied competence is the overarching term for three interconnected kinds of competence:

• Practical competence is the demonstrated ability, in an authentic context, to consider a range of possibilities for action, make considered decisions about which possibility to follow, and to perform the chosen action.
• It is grounded in foundational competence where the learner demonstrates an understanding of the knowledge and thinking that underpins the action taken and
• integrated through reflexive competence in which the learner demonstrates ability to integrate or connect performances and decision-making with understanding and with an ability to adapt to change and unforeseen circumstances and to explain the reasons behind these adaptations."

  Norms and Standards for Educators (2000)

Click here to read the seven roles of the educator as it appeared in the Gazette, and the related competencies

In a separate initiative, but bearing in mind these seven roles, SchoolNet SA developed an ICT integration framework for educators which now forms the basis for this ACE qualification. In that framework eleven teacher ICT integration competencies were identified, and these were also expressed as applied competencies. Although this document is not part of national policy, its influence is visible in the e-Education White Paper. Reading the applied ICT integration competencies for educators will assist you in understanding the range of skills that could be required from a teacher qualified in ICT integration and will assist you with this activity.

Click here to read SchoolNet SA's applied ICT integration competencies for educators

NEXT

Click here to go to Activity 2 - Word processor as an administrative tool