§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will extend the Computers for Teachers Programme to teachers in sixth form colleges. [112822]
§ Mr. Wills[holding answer 3 March 2000]Schools have a legal obligation to teach IT, both as a curriculum subject in its own "right", and across all other subjects. The burden of this teaching role falls largely upon the classroom teacher. In order to provide teachers with the skills to discharge this responsibility, the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) ICT Training programme was developed specifically for teachers in schools, and it aims to give serving teachers the opportunity to raise their pedagogical capability to that now required of newly qualified teachers.
575WThe purpose of the Computers for Teachers initiative is to complement that training by raising teacher competence and confidence in their personal use of ICT. For this reason, the scheme has given priority to school teachers and there are no current plans to extend it to teachers in sixth form colleges.