Annex 4
COMPANY SUPPORT
FOR ICT IN
SCHOOLS
1. The information and communication technology
(ICT) sector provides a good example of how state services can
be delivered and enhanced with support from major private sector
companies.
2. In establishing the National Grid for
Learning, Government is ensuring that by 2002 all schools, colleges,
universities and other public institutions involved in education
and training will be connected to the Internet. Government is
investing significant sums—more than £1 billion pounds
up to 2002—in ensuring that schools and others have the
appropriate equipment, connections, content and training.
3. It is in the interests of private companies
to take part not only because of potential educational sales,
but because of the benefits that accrue from investing in a future
workforce which is highly ICT literate. In practice, Government
is providing the lead in ensuring that the UK is the foremost
G7 country in terms of educational ICT.
4. For the National Grid for Learning to
be effective, private sector companies have to make a complementary
investment in new resources. Government creates the space but
requires private companies to help fill the space with compelling
content and services. Companies offer support nationally, at LEA
level and to individual schools. Not all the investors are from
the ICT industry, where the benefits of collaboration are probably
felt most quickly. Some of the support is offered on a charitable
basis, and some to aid the development of commercial products
and services.
5. Examples of private sector involvement
include:
— the provision of free schools sites
on the National Grid for Learning by leading telecommunications,
broadcasting and computer companies including RM, BT, and Anglia
Multimedia;
— the involvement of Tesco in their
schools on-line Millennium project, which is enabling more than
80,000 pupils to study their local area and publish their own
web-sites;
— investment by leading computer companies
such as ICL, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and others in LEA and school
developments which are experimenting with using ICT to improve
home-school educational links;
— the involvement of three leading
broadcast companies with the DfEE in digital television pilots,
which will demonstrate the potential for interactive media support
for learners studying on GCSE courses;
— the provision by Manpower of free
ICT training software to secondary schools, in support of information
technology in the National Curriculum;
— charitable support for disadvantaged
groups and for those with special educational needs.
6. Participation by private companies in
the National Grid for Learning is governed by published guidelines
which include, for example, rules on advertising and protecting
pupils from inappropriate material.
7. Additionally, the Department calls upon
the British Education and Communications Technology Agency (BECTa)
to approve ICT suppliers to schools, based on strict standards
for education and technical quality, and price. This fulfils a
regulatory function, protecting inexpert purchasers in the schools
sector and ensuring value for money for the Government's investment.
BECTa also gives private companies—large and small—independent
advice on ICT-related developments for the educational market.
8. A quarterly meeting of Ministers and
senior officials at the DfEE with the ICT industry now ensures
that private companies are briefed about educational priorities,
enabled to play a part, and invited to comment on policy and impact.
The first meeting took place in July this year, and was warmly
welcomed by the industry.
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