Primary school blazes the trail in technology

School should not be a place where students are spoon-fed but a fun environment where children use technology to open their minds, teacher Mark Azzopardi believes.

Students at his school, the St Paul’s Bay Primary, have used Skype to link up with their peers in Italy for joint lessons, learned how to set up blogs and also helped put together their class website.

“Technology has to be part and parcel of your work. It cannot be optional or something you choose to do when you feel like doing it…

“Technology is a tool, not an obstacle. It is fun for us and also for children and helps you to become more efficient,” the 31-year-old teacher said in an interview published on http://dailyedventures.com .

The site is the personal blog of Anthony Salcito, the vice president of education for Microsoft Corporation’s Worldwide Public Sector organisation.

On his blog he highlights “heroes in education worldwide” by featuring daily interviews with professionals from around the world who work hard to enhance education.

Mr Azzopardi, who has been teaching for almost 10 years, is also a television presenter and producer.

At school he organises activities for students and introduced the concept of a choir, called The Mezmerizers, starting off the day during the morning assembly.

He was selected for the interview after his school, which was also recognised for its multiculturalism, won Micro­soft’s Innovative Schools Project.

The project aimed to integrate technology into the classroom and included the concept of class websites, where teachers could place notes for students to access.

Hundreds of schools from around the world applied but only 30 were selected and nominated to be Path Finders.

This summer St Paul’s Bay Primary was selected to be a Mentor School for schools in Malta and abroad, helping them improve their educational methods.

In the interview, Mr Azzopardi spoke about the importance of weaving technology into education.

He dwelt on the challenges faced when a handful of people tried to hold back change and he believes teachers ought to be paid more.

He pointed out that their job did not stop at teaching as they helped children overcome social, emotional and behavioural problems.

Seeing these children succeed was the best reward.

“We do not look at our school as a place where children come to be spoon-fed, or to learn academic subjects.

“We look at school as a big house with many children where we teach and learn from each other. We seek to make things fun, but at the same time we seek good results academically.

“We integrate IT in everything we do, and this helps to enhance the skills of our staff and the children who are capable of doing incredible things,” he said.