London Briefing Materials

	US Delegation to Europe, 2002: Internet Technology and Schools Agenda Working Groups Delegation Members London Briefing Materials Paris Briefing Materials Brussels Briefing Materials Bonn Briefing Materials Sponsor Background Information US Education System Review Trip Report #1: Government Demand/Resource for Education Technology/ICT Trip Report #2: Assessing ICT's Educational Impact Trip Report #3: Standards & Accessibility - SIF, SCORM, IMS, GEM, etc. Trip Report #4: As a Member of the European Delegation of CoSN Trip Photos

ICT in Schools

(See Also: ICT in Schools Division Department for Education and Skills Biographies)

ICT has the potential to completely transform teaching and learning over the next few years and is integral to the Government's wider strategies for transforming teaching and learning and raising standards. The aim of the ICT in Schools Programme is to see the development of an ICT capacity in schools that will transform teaching and learning for all pupils in a way that will help them achieve their full potential. The programme has 4 key strategies or sub-programmes which contribute in an integrated way towards the overall objective. These are:

• Infrastructure and broadband development to put in place an ICT infrastructure and support for all schools that provides effective access to digital resources and services.
  
  
• ICT in practice to ensure all teachers realise the potential of ICT and have access to appropriate training opportunities to enable them to embed ICT in teaching and learning.
  
  
• Content creation and delivery to stimulate development of high quality digital educational resources that meet the needs of teachers and all school age learners for up-to-date and effective educational resources, services and information.
  
  
• Research to develop an evidence base and strategic framework for ICT in Schools.
  
  

Funding

£1.8 billion is available for ICT in schools in England over 1998-2004. This includes:

• £657m Standards Fund 1998-2002
• £710m Standards Fund 2002-2004

"Time for some wine and conversation. Marcia Kuszmaul (l), Larry Snowhite, Doug Simon and Ann Flynn at the London County Hall."

Standards Funding is delegated to schools via LEAs with LEA matched funding (the figures above include LEA matched funding). Funding is used to introduce and develop schools' ICT provision, such as hardware, software and connections to the Internet.

Additional NGfL funding includes:

• £180m New Opportunities Funding for teacher training in ICT to 2002 (£230m NOF funding across the UK)
  
  
• £155m available for centrally funded ICT initiatives in 2002-2004
  
  
• Average spending on ICT in primary schools has risen from £3,600 in 1998 to £15,400 in 2002; and in secondary schools, from £40,100 in 1998 to £76,300 in 2002.
  
  

Curriculum Online

The Curriculum Online programme was officially launched in December 2001 when the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced £50 million worth of investment in the form of electronic learning credits (eLCs) for schools in England to spend on products showcased through the Curriculum Online portal.

Schools will receive the first tranche of their eLC allocation in September 2002 via a ring-fenced fund within the Standards Fund. This funding will be available for all maintained primary and secondary schools, maintained and non-maintained special schools and pupil referral units in England. Detailed information on how to use Curriculum Online and eLCs will be sent to schools via their LEAs in September 2002.

In order for Curriculum Online to be accessible and effective across all schools in England it has been necessary to understand the complex range of technologies and infrastructures in English schools and achieve, through negotiation, an agreed set of standards and specifications to support widespread interoperability - for both content delivery and management. The Curriculum Online metadata scheme has been agreed with the industry and is now available at www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculumonline/

Curriculum Online underpins commitments set out in the DfES White Paper - Schools: achieving success and will help to transform the learning environment for school-aged learners

Curriculum Online is a key driver in the step-change in the quality and quantity of digital materials for schools.

Background on ICT Targets and Achievements

In 1998 the Prime Minister launched 'Open for Learning, Open for Business' outlining the Government's strategy for information and communications technology (ICT) in education and lifelong learning and signalling the beginning of the NGfL programme. This document also announced the five ICT targets to be achieved by 2002. These targets are:

• Connecting all schools, colleges, universities, public libraries and as many community centres as possible to the Grid.
  
  
• Ensuring that serving teachers feel confident and are competent to teach ICT within the curriculum; and that librarians are similarly trained.
  
  
• Enabling school leavers to have a good understanding of ICT, with measures in place for assessing their competence in it.
  
  
• Ensuring that general administrative communications between education bodies and the Government and its agencies cease to be largely paper based.
  
  
• Making Britain a centre for excellence in the development of networked software content, and a world leader in the export of learning services.
  
  

In addition, Ministers announced in 2000 that each school should achieve a minimum level of ICT to ensure equality of provision so that all pupils can take advantage of ICT in the classroom. This baseline should be achieved using Standards Fund finance by August 2002. The baseline is:

• a computer:pupil ratio of at least 1:11 in primary schools and 1:7 in each secondary school;
  
  
• a connection to the Internet in each school, with at least 20% of schools connected at broadband level; and
  
  
• at least one networked computer with Internet access in each school for management and administrative purposes to be achieved in time for the January 2002 pupil census.
  
  

In addition the programme has other key targets to achieve. These are:

• Develop Curriculum Online to make high quality digital learning resources available to support the curriculum
  
  
• Laptops for Teachers Project
  
  
• Online Continuing Professional Development pilot programmes
  
  

The NGfL programme comes to an end this year and we are currently developing the next phase of the strategy, focusing on ICT in schools up to and beyond 2004. In January 2002 we published a major consultation document, "Transforming the way we learn", which sets out a vision for the future of ICT in schools now that the current NGfL programme is coming to an end. This invites comments from all those involved, with a view to announcing the next phase in the overall strategy in early 2003.

Achievement against the targets is as follows:

• 99% of all schools connected to the Internet at March 2002 (99% of primary, over 99% of secondary and 99% of special schools).
  
  
• 100% of UK universities and 100% of colleges in England connected to the Internet with a high-speed connection via JANET and 69% of libraries in England with public Internet access (UK - 62%) at August 2001.
  
  
• More than 1,900 UK online centres (of which 300 are within the public library network).
  
  
• By 31 March 2002, over 390,000 (96%) of eligible teachers in England (over 470,000 in the UK) had signed up for NOF ICT teacher training and over 240,000 teachers in England (over 290,000 in the UK) had completed it.
  
  
• Over 99% of schools have now signed up for the training
  
  
• Teacher confidence in the use of ICT within the curriculum was 76% in primary, 80% in secondary and 78% in special schools as at March 2002.
  
  
• At September 2001 more than 2,900 front line library staff had competed training, with a further 2,700 in the middle of their training.
  
  
• From 1998 to 2001, the percentage of pupils achieving Level 5 and above in KS 3 tests for ICT capability rose from 56% to 65%.
  
  
• From 1998 to 2001 the number of pupils undertaking GCSE IT rose from 68,302 to 99,644 and the percentage attaining an A*-C grade increased from 55% to 57%.
  
  
• Computer to pupil ratios had improved to 1:9.7 in primary and 1:6 in secondary schools.
  
  
• At the end of August 2002, 22.3% of schools across England had broadband internet access at 2 mbps or faster. 72% of Secondaries and 12% of Primaries.
  
  
• In all schools there are on average 2.7 computers with Internet access in each school for management and administration (1.0 in primary, 11.9 in secondary and 1.8 in special schools).
  
  
• All DfES communications and data for schools and education authorities are now made available electronically. From April 2002, all data collection from LEAs will be electronic.
  
  
• Curriculum Online was announced in December 2001; the service is on schedule to be launched in Autumn 2002.
  
  
• Average expenditure on ICT per school has risen from £3,600in primary schools and 40,100 in secondary schools in 1998 to £15,400 in primary and 76,300 in secondary schools in 2002.
  
  
• Investment in innovative initiatives such as Gridclub, (the innovative website for 7-11 year olds), which has now won a number of prestigious awards and Futurelab hosted by NESTA continues.
  
  
• Research from BESA (November 2001) suggests that 83% of UK schools regularly use the Internet for lesson planning resources compared with 63% in 2000 and 89% for content for teaching use compared with 74% in 2000 and UK schools paying for Internet delivered content has increased to 14% from 11% the previous year.