Beneath the Surface: Baseline Study to support the rollout of Microsoft Surface Pro 7 devices for teachers in Northern Ireland

In January 2022 the Education Authority (EA), through funding provided by the Department of Education (DE) and in partnership with Capita Education and Microsoft Ireland, announced the planned provision of 20,400 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 devices to every teacher in more than 1,100 Nursery, Primary, EOTAS, Special and Post-primary schools across Northern Ireland. This marks the single most significant simultaneous investment in teacher device provision in Northern Ireland’s schools.
With the commencement of device use in August 2022, Ulster University was commissioned to carry out a rapid baseline assessment of the provision and activities relating to educational technology in NI schools. This will form a datum from which future impact may be measured.
To that end, this report charts the milestones in the long journey towards NI’s current educational technology provision in schools alongside teachers’ self-reported uses of, and attitudes towards, educational technology in their classrooms.