New Plan To Hook Schools,teachers And Students Into Information Technology

A comprehensive strategy designed to bring the full benefits of modern information and communication technologies to students in schools - urban, rural, large and small, up and down New Zealand - has been released today by the Prime Minister and Minister of Education.

"Information and communication technologies hold enormous potential for schools and for students. We want every teacher and every student tuned into that potential.

""Interactive Education" - an information and communication technologies strategy for schools builds on the best in our schools now, and gives all children the opportunity to benefit from the new world of information available through IT," Mr Creech said. "It is designed to help teachers do their jobs well and to get local communities and businesses to work in partnership with their schools."

The $16 million over three years for the strategy is focused on two key areas:

Infrastructure: Building up each school's access to information and communication technologies to deliver a better education.

Improving schools ability to make the most of information and communication technologies: by providing more opportunities for school principals and teachers to improve their skills in using information technology in teaching and administration.

The strategy consists of four new initiatives:

Introduction of Information and Communication Technologies professional development schools - 23 schools or groups of schools that are successful in using information and communication technologies to enhance teaching and learning in schools will be contracted to provide professional development to other schools. The focus will be on planning for and using information and communication technologies in schools.

On-line Resource Centre - a centrally managed web site will be set up to give schools access to information about quality multi-media resources that use information and communication technologies to improve teaching and learning. The website will also link users to other quality education websites. "There is a lot of information available on the internet. The On-line Resource Centre will sift the material for teachers' and students' access to improve the quality of education."

Production of a planning and implementation guide for schools and provision of professional development for principals - a one day course for principals to enable them to better plan for the integration of ICTs into their schools. The course will provide practical advice about planning and implementation of ICTs in schools.

Promotion of a computer recycling scheme - to promote the donation of computers by industry to recycling and upgrading schemes for schools and to inform schools about the availability of recycled computers.

"Information and communication technologies can be very expensive. We could have a blank cheque and still not satisfy demand. What we have done is developed a very practical approach to getting information and communication technologies into schools and into teaching and learning.

"The strategy is a partnership between Government, schools, business and the community to provide every school and student with the ability to really exploit the information and learning experiences available through information and communication technologies. It is another step forward in giving young New Zealanders the skills they need for the 21st Century," Mr Creech concluded.

The new initiatives build on and support existing initiatives such as the current programme of information technology professional development for teachers and the financial assistance scheme where the Government and schools split the bill for capital works such as cabling for local area networking.