Educational Technology Allowance - to help disadvantaged children get access to the Internet

The Times (and the BBC) report that on 23/9/2008 Gordon Brown is expected to announce a new Educational Technology Allowance:

"The Prime Minister is to announce proposals to ensure that all schoolchildren in Britain[*] have access to the internet. There are 1.4 million school-age children who live in households with no internet connections.

Under a scheme that will cost £300 million over three years Mr Brown will unveil an educational technology allowance, by which those households will be given vouchers of up to £700 to pay for broadband connections, technical support and computer equipment. The money will come from the schools and families department’s existing budget and mainly from efficiency savings.

Ministers say that lack of internet access at home disadvantages children when doing their homework and in acquiring computer skills, now needed for 90 per cent of new jobs. It would also help parents to keep in touch with schools and learn more about their children’s performance from the e-mails sent out by teachers."

* the scheme will apply in England only.

For some background to the Educational Technology Allowance, see this May 2008 Update on the Home Access Taskforce [44 kB PDF - 5 pages] report on the Becta web site, along with some January 2007 commentary here in Fortnightly Mailing.

Comments

[James Burke]

What role, if any, will the e-learning foundation have in this scheme? - http://www.e-learningfoundation.com

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James

I do not know! If you find out, get back to me.

Seb