Support indicators for educational leadership in ICT management: The role of information system

Nowadays, most classrooms are equipped with technological resources and Internet connection, which enables access to an endless amount of tools that may contribute for a paradigm shift in teaching and learning. In spite of the availability of these technological resources, we seldom find pedagogical practices grounded upon institutional guidelines which make the best of these tools. This is partly due to the fact that leaderships don't always have a clear and objective perception, as well as a quantitative perspective supported by indicators, of the subject. This entails leaderships are not able to portray accurately and promptly the performance of these technological policies in schools. School leaderships should point directions that lead to the proficient use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) so as to pave way for a educational paradigm shift that reflects a new conception of teaching and learning. In this context, it is the aim of this investigation to identify the necessary information that should be collected as well as the proper models and instruments for data collection that support the decision-makers in adopting adequate measures to the educational contexts of each school community. Hopefully, this contribution will aid in the setting of new paths for the development of information systems applied in educational settings, indicating functional organics for the automatic, systematic and systemic collection of indicators that support the decision-making process as far as technological policies in educational contexts are concerned. Among these stages are the review and estimate of investments, training necessities, supervision practices, partnership needs and the change in suppliers. The present paper was elaborated as part of a Doctoral Degree program in Educational Leadership by the Portuguese institution Universidade Aberta Portuguesa, in the context of the project “Teaching Procedures, Technology and Innovation in Alternative Educational Measures”, integrated in the third dimension which comprises the problematic regarding the integration and use of technology in the educational intervention and learning outcomes.