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University of Maryland University College

Country Case Study: Spain Group

Christina Parker, Lindsay Barrash, Jodi Fochler

Dr. Tamara Blesh

March 27, 2012


 * __Introduction__**

Information Communications Technology (ICT) is an important aspect of the educational process in the U.S. school system. As educators, we are aware of the importance of infrastructure, professional development, and the curriculum in the classroom. In order to better improve educational technology in our schools and provide students with the ability to become more globally aware, we need to analyze and evaluate the technology integration policies in another countries school system, such as Spain. To better understand the ICT process and the Spanish school system; research was conducted in order to determine the information that would need to be gathered based on the strengths and weaknesses of Spain's educational system. Based on that research, six questions were formulated and sent to educators in Spain with different backgrounds. The questions helped give insight as to how teachers integrate technology into their curriculum, receive professional development, as well as the infrastructure of the technology provided. The interviewers provided an array of responses that provided a window into the Spanish school system, which aided us into a successful understanding of Spain and its use of technology in that school system.


 * __Biographies__**
 * 1) **Isabella Barron** teaches third of Infantil, which are four and five year old children, in a Concertado school. The Concertado school is run by nuns and the church, but is not technically catholic nor public (Similar to religious charter schools in the United States of America). She has been teaching Infantil for twenty-five years and just received a SMART board in her classroom this year.
 * Explanation:** Isabella has been teaching for an extended period of time. Therefore, she has a lot of information about the history of the technology in Spain.
 * 1) **Begonia Rodriguez** teaches Bacchelerato (high school) English and technology in a public high school. She has been using technology in the classroom for most of her career.
 * Explanation:** Begonia is a high school teacher that has a lot of expertise with the technology in Spain, as she has used it her entire career.
 * 1) Harriette Hindie is a twenty-year aspiring Elementary School teacher. She used to live in the United States for five years, but moved to Spain when she was eleven. She is now studying to be an Elementary School Teacher at a University in Spain.
 * Explanation:** Harriette Hinie is studying at a University in Spain. Therefore, we are able to get information from a student’s perspective on technology. She is also studying to become an Elementary school teacher, so she will be able to tell us what she is learning about integrating technology into the curriculum as well.
 * 1) **Olga Sorribas Navarro** is a 7th grade English Teacher in Barcelona Spain. She has a degree in English from the University of Barcelona and has been teaching for seven years.
 * Explanation:** Olga teaches English so she will be able to give us a better understanding of how technology can be incorporated to make her student’s progress in the English language.

Attached you will find a copy of the interview questions that were compiled for the case study completed on how Spain incorporates technology into their curriculum, provides professional development to their staff, and what their infrastructure looks like. The scholarly articles and journals read for this project left questions unansweredfrom an educator’s point of view, which is why these questions were formulated. Our goal was to contact educators from various areas of the field, from early child hood through high school, as well as novice to senior educators. All educators were sent the same questions in order to receivethe most accurate feedback.Here is the interview sheet as it was sent to the interviewees with the exception of the rationale, which was included for analysis purposes.
 * __Interview Questions__**

Hola! Hello! On behalf of the Spain study group I would like to thank you for being gracious enough to donate some of your time to answer some questions for us on education and technology in Spain. We are doing a Country Case Study to gain a better understanding of the way various countries integrate technology into their school systems. If you could please take a few minutes to give us a brief introduction of yourself including your background and the position you are currently in that would be fantastic!

The following are 6 questions our study group came up with about technology use in the education system of Spain based on research we have done. If you could answer them as best you can that would be wonderful. We really appreciate you taking time out of your day to help us. Also, if there are any questions you have for us don’t hesitate to include those as well. Feel free to type your answers in this document, or create your own. Thanks again, Jodi, Lindsay, and Christina (The Spain Study Group)

1. Where does the educational system receive funding for the integration of technology in schools for its infrastructure hardware, software, networking, and safety (infrastructure)? 2. During research, it was found that Spain recently put into place Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) centers for both primary and secondary schools. The difficulty with the centers was found to be that teachers were being trained on the tools and then leaving. What supports do you think could be put into place in order to assist teachers in feeling more comfortable with using centers like these for planning as well as with their students? Any specific professional developments? 3. According to the Media Literacy Journal, The Council of Ministers of Spain approved a budget allocation in July of 2009 to provide teachers as well as each student a PC netbook by the year 2010/11. Is this a change that you have seen, or are seeing now? How has it affected your lessons in the classroom as well as at home? 4. Research has shown that schools in Spain use Web 2.0 and its immense resources to increase rigor in the classroom, such as video chats, podcasts, etc. Do you use any of these at the elementary or secondary level? What are the struggles and achievements that you have come across when using them as an instructional tool? Are there any professional development opportunities offered to educators to assist in integrating these tools into the curriculum? 5. Globalization is something that is becoming important in education now. Have you used any technology to assist your students in becoming more globally aware? Do your students communicate with students from around the world in order to gain a better understanding? 6. In the next 5 years, where do you hope to see Spain's technology in the school system in regards to professional development, infrastructure (hardware, software, networking, safety), and curriculum integration?
 * Rationale:** The budget is always one of the biggest factors in purchasing new technology for a school system. This question will give us insight about the country’s funding for hardware, software, networking, and safety. Due to the fact that Maryland, and most of the United States, seems to be struggling with monetary restraints right now this may lead to ideas of how to help our school systems in our country during the recession.
 * Rationale:** When conducting our research, we found that there were several Information and Communication Technology centers that were recently opened in Spain. Nonetheless, it was noted that many teachers were not utilizing the centers. However, the teachers that were trained decided to leave the centers. This question will help to give us some insight on what types of supports or teacher trainings can be put in place to secure long term staffing.
 * Rationale:** The budget was approved to provide teachers and students with netbooks by the year 2010/2011. Since it is now 2012, it will be interesting to see if they were able to effectively incorporate this into the curriculum. If so, it will be interesting to see how it has affected the teachers and students. And if not, was another program put into its place to help Spain with its infrastructure and ICT in the past three years?
 * Rationale:** Since research has shown that Spain is staring to use Web 2.0, we wanted to find out if the teachers are indeed using this resource that research is saying that they are using and is it beneficial? If there are any struggles with Web 2.0, what kinds of struggles are there and what types of professional development opportunities are in place to make sure that these technologies are being used effectively in the classroom. This may give us some incite on how Spain provides assistance to their teachers through professional development.
 * Rationale:** Countries are able to learn from each other. “For whatever reason, there appears to be a natural learning curve that accompanies large scale adoption of ICTs in the education sector in many countries, and that there is an important element of 'learning by doing' that appears to be important, even if this means 'repeating the mistakes' of others (Turcano, 2010)”. Therefore, it is important for us to understand how Spain is working towards helping their students to become global citizens. Since we were able to ask educators that teach various age groups, it will be interesting to see who global awareness is being introduced in the lower age classrooms verse the older students classrooms.
 * Rationale:** We wanted to know how they envisioned the future of technology in Spain. Many times decisions about what is going to happening in the future come from the offices, but rarely are the educators in the classrooms asked what they envision for themselves and their students down the road. Seeing as they are the ones working in the classroom everyday with this technology, hearing what they think will change in the system in the next 5 years may give us an idea as to the progress the educators have seen recently and what they are expecting to see in the future.

In the early stages of the research, the findings explained that the computers and technology devices were scarce. As a result of the lack of available funding, classrooms are allocated one hour per week to work with computers, but they must take turns during the class period, for the computer availability is scarce among the school (Bosco, 2004). However, in secondary schools are provided with more time with technology and money to educate the students on such hardware to further their educational experiences (Conde, et al., 2011). From the interviews, it seems that the infrastructures have improved drastically in the school systems. The schools that the interviewers mentioned that devices, such as computers and interactive boards are present in the classroom, which is enhancing the classroom experience making students excited about doing assignments (Hindie, 2012). In the next five years, the hopes for technology is for more infrastructure found in the classroom, such as laptops and other devices that aid in the learning experience. However, Rodriguez (2012) explains that “workshops are not as common here as they are in the states, again with funding, priorities and the religious infrastructure backing and funding the schools, these are not first priorities but I do hope this happens.” Barron (2012) explains the there is hope for more technological infrastructure in the classroom. She further explains that “many schools here are religious, which means the classroom activities, materials and just the room in general is very minimal. The teachers that I have seen integrate technology in their classrooms; their students are just glowing from learning and feel more involved in the learning process.” Students seem to yearn for the involvement of the technology, but the teachers’ lack the experience in using such infrastructure, which is further explained in the following in curriculum and professional development. According to the preliminary research Spain was integrating technology in their classrooms creating an up to date technological environment, however according to the interviews conducted this does not seem to be the case. Everything seems to begin with lack of professional development, which will be addressed in the next section, but without that piece teachers are not able to efficiently incorporate technology into the curriculum. After interviewing educators in the country of Spain, it was determined that there are some technology told available to them, however they are not familiar with their workings. “I have a SMART board in my room but I have no idea how to use it” (Barron, 2012). How can we expect the students to become technologically advanced when the teachers aren’t trained to use the tools in the classroom in order to provide curriculum instruction using the tools? Another teacher said “Teachers weren't trained properly; everything was done on a rush. Moreover, I think it should have been introduced gradually” (Navarro, 2012). Analyzing these interviews gave a very small view into the integration of technology into the curriculum in Spain; there isn’t much. After complining research it was expected to hear great things being done in this country, but it doesn’t seem like that is the case. Most of the suggestions based on the interviews had to do with gaining more information by being offered more professional development. When conducting our preliminary research, it was found that the teacher trainings in Spain were limited at every level. “The continuing training of early childhood educators in terms of information and communications technology (ICT) remains limited and is in need of development (Saude et al., 2005)”. Also it was found that “it is usual to detect problems as far as the adequate implementation and use of the facilities are concerned, as well as for the training in information and communication technologies of the own educational agents (Perez et al., 2010)”. After interviewing our four educators, it appears that the professional development in Spain seems continues to be an ongoing problem. Many educators have complaints of the teacher trainings being “rushed (Navarro, 2012)”, teachers not being “interested in renewing their teaching methodology **(Hindie, 2012)**”, and not all teachers are being selected for professional development opportunities (Barron & Rodriguez, 2012). Even though the educators are not currently offered many professional developments, they did however, have suggestions on how to properly train teachers on the integration of technology and retaining effective teachers. The suggestions included: “offering more teacher trainings, purchasing state of the art equipment (Rodriguez, 2012)”, introducing technology gradually, and using technology as a tool; “but not the only tool (Navarro, 2012)”. Through conducting these interviews, we learned that the professional development struggles in Spain were worse than we initially thought. One teacher even stated that “most of the teachers that don´t use them (computers) or want to learn them are because they´re older and are not interested in renewing their teaching methodology. So I think when younger teachers start replacing the older ones, there will be more technology being used in the classroom **(Hindie, 2012)”.** The main technologies that the teachers talked about having in their classrooms are SMART boards. However, they also expressed that but they “have no idea how to use it (Barron, 2012)”.
 * __Findings__**
 * Infrastructure:**
 * Curriculum**:
 * Professional Development:**

The technology integration in the country of Spain has steadily improved based on the research and the interviews conducted; however the resources as well as the professional development as still insufficient. The lack of professional development has put a delay in the improvement of technology in the classroom. As noted, the future of integrating technology in schools may have to rely on the newer educators to enforce the improvements of the infrastructures in the classroom. The education in Spain seems promising, but needs to find the support to install such resources to better the classroom and allow students to have the experiences with technology for their future.
 * __Conclusion__**

References

Barron, I. (2012). Personal Interview Navarro, O. (2012). Personal Interview Rodriguez, B. (2012). Personal Interview Hindie, H. (2012). Personal Interview

Conde, J.R., et al., (2011). Informational literacy and information and communication technologies use by secondary education students in spain: a descriptive study. Contemporary Issues In Education Research, 4(4) 1-12.

Perez, M., Fandos, M. M., & Aguaded, J. (2010). A Proper Policy in the Permanent Teacher's Training: Key Impulse of the ICT Centre in Andalusia (Spain). Asia- Pacific Forum On Science Learning And Teaching, 11(1), Saude, S. S., Carioca, V. V., Siraj-Blatchford, J. J., Sheridan, S. S., Genov, K. K., & Nuez, R. R. (2005). Kinderet: Developing Training for Early Childhood Educators in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) In Bulgaria, England, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. International Journal Of Early Years Education, 13(3), 265-287. Trucano, M. (2010). ICT & Education: Eleven Countries to Watch -- and Learn From. Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/node/547

Group: Jodi Fochler, Lindsay Barrash, Christina Parker Name of your interviewee: I. Barron, O. Navarro, B. Rodriguez, and H. Hindie Country of interview: Spain K-12 education position (grade & subject area or administration): Barron-Early Childhood Navarro-High School Rodriguez-High School Hindie-Aspiring Elementary Teacher Two salient points that each of you learned about technology integration including what works and what are the obstacles as a result of the interviews: -Budget restraints are an issue in other countries, not just here in the United States. This affects the use of technology in the classroom because teachers are not getting the professional development or the tools they need. (J. Fochler) -SMART boards seem to be a very useful tool when integrating technology into the already existing curriculum. Many of our interviewees shared they used them in their classrooms, however they would like to learn more about how to best use them during lessons. (J. Fochler) -Spain has reach significant improvements in their infrastructure, but lacks the improvements in professional development. (L. Barrash) -Educators in Spain have a significant disconnect with the educational technology as a result to professional development and the actual desire to integrate the technology in their curriculum. (L. Barrash) - Despite, the opening of a couple of ICT centers in Spain, the technology and resources still seem to be limited. (C. Parker) -The universities in Spain are beginning to show the new generation of teachers how to effectively incorporate technology into the curriculum. (C. Parker)