Education: Hi-Tech boost for pupils » Education » 24dash.com

New research has found that schools which use high levels of technology as an integral part of learning are likely to dramatically improve performance.

The four-year Government-funded study into how making technology a key part of education could boost learning, found it improved attainment and room practices.

The ICT Test Bed project, managed by the education technology agency Becta, studied 23 primary schools, five secondary schools and three further education colleges in Sandwell, Durham, and Barking and Dagenham.

These areas were all chosen because of their relative social and economic disadvantage.

Each school or college was given money over four years to spend on installing high amounts of hardware and software and carry out training.

The results of the study showed as the new technology was introduced, a school's national test outcomes improved beyond expectations.

It provided greater interaction between teachers and students, enabling them to work closely together to set targets for achievement, and pupils were able to learn in ways tailored to their own needs.

The study also found behaviour and attendance improved, in some cases the use of electronic registration improved attendance by three to four per cent.

The new levels of technology fundamentally changed the way teachers and staff worked, cutting down on the amount of administration teachers had been doing, allowing them to spend more time on teaching.

The investment led to rapid improvements in teachers' skills when it came to using technology in teaching and made it easier for them to find, share, create and re-use resources.

Becta chief executive, Stephen Crowne said: "We have said for some time now that if technology is used properly in the room it can help to produce a major improvement in results. Not just in academic achievement, but also in involvement, attendance and in the overall efficiency of the institution.

"This study bears out that thinking and demonstrates clearly the impact technology can have in the room. We must harness that power and take technology for learning from marginal to mainstream when thinking about how we raise standards.

"We know that the right kind of investment, backed by leadership and training to use it in the most effective way, can contribute to higher standards, greater access and motivation, and greater efficiency right across the system."

Schools Minister Jim Knight said more than £5 billion has already been invested on ICT in schools since 1998, trebling the ratio of computers to pupils in primary schools, putting interactive whiteboards into rooms and connecting almost every school to high-speed broadband.

He said: "The Test Bed project demonstrates just how ICT has the power to transform young people's learning - both at school and beyond the school gate.

"It clearly shows how technology integrated throughout a school can support teachers in dramatically raising attainment and engage parents more fully in their children's education.

"We will be looking to capitalise on this project and replicate it across the country."

Copyright Press Association 2007

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