A classroom in Sydenham Infants School, Belfast looks very much any other infant classroom in the UK. Look closer, and the children are using the computers to work with the Oxford Reading Tree. Some are already starting to write. LOGO is in operation with children using basic programming to control the movements of an on-screen turtle. Pictures are painted with the Colours graphics software. So is this a normal classroom scene?

Hardly. Just go back a few years to see the difference. Teacher Jean Cogger explains: “When I came here seven years ago we had a mish-mash of equipment in classrooms. You had to have a different set of software for each machine. It wasn’t cohesive.”

Now Jean is much happier because of the Classroom 2000 (C2K) project that, over the next year, will reach every school in Northern Ireland, giving every child and teacher an equal entitlement to ICT materials. C2K is a centrally directed service. All schools receive similar hardware and software depending on the number and age of pupils. This entails heads and teachers losing some autonomy. “The advantages of this far outweigh the disadvantages,” says Cogger. “With software there is a good range. There are over 80 titles. Most hardware and software will be renewed in five years.”

When the Northern Ireland Educational Technology (ET) strategy originated, some teachers were asked to do some blue-sky thinking. Cogger was one of those who contributed. “We have good equipment now,” she says, “12 networked Viglen computers plus scanners, a suite of software, digital camera, a managed service and we are getting some training. The same machines are in all establishments so when children move schools they have less to learn as do staff.”

An important feature of a managed service is the technical backup and the help-line, especially for a primary school. “It’s great,” praises Cogger. “There has only been one occasion when it wasn’t available.”

“The strategy grew out of the NGFL challenge papers,” says John Anderson, education technology strategy co-ordinator. “The ET strategy issued in 1998 identified the problems in terms of schools handling the costs of ICT in their LMS budgets and the strategy set up a challenge to find a solution. We saw clearly that the solution should be a collective one. We had the experience since 1991 of delivering a solution for school administration. That seemed to us a good way of dealing with it: centrally but locally supported. That was when the name Classroom 2000 came into being.”

Northern Ireland is unusual in realising the implications of ICT. It knows that there are many aspects to bring forward in harmony: hardware, support, training, better connectivity and above all a curriculum review. Carmel Gallagher of CCEA (the Northern Ireland equivalent of QCA) has been involved with its curriculum review. The CCEA realises that the introduction of ICT means a fresh look at what is being taught: “At primary level we have been focusing on skills and processes rather than content. We have tried to isolate the common core of generic skills all teachers use. We defined those skills as information management. We wanted to make that process explicit at the heart of each subject. It would then be very easy to see how ICT plays its part.”

Adeline Dinsmore, principal at Ashfield Girls’ High School in Belfast, knows that the implementation of C2K in secondary schools will not be as easy as it was with primaries. Existing networks will have to be integrated with the new network. “The whole thing has been on hold,” she says. “Negotiations with one computer supplier broke down and some people have become cynical after waiting. I’m sure attitudes will improve when things start to move later this year.”

Jimmy Stewart, director of C2K, is responsible for making sure it all happens. He believes the advantages of C2K are the ability to deliver significant changes to teaching and learning. “The important thing now is a co-ordinated approach across Northern Ireland that ensures that the experiences within the classrooms match the curriculum requirements. It also enables teachers to move forward together as a community to make changes. In the future, teachers won’t be able to say that school has this and that. But what we can deliver in the way of educational change on top of this technology is the key issue.”

Finance

Finance for C2K is not taken from schools’ budgets. It is additional funding.

* pound;20 million has been spent on laptops and digital projectors to support training

* pound;15.8 million has been spent to enhance school cabling

* Spend over the next 10 years is in the region of pound;300 million Timescale

* Roll out is in phases - primary schools by summer 2002, secondary and special schools by summer 2003

* Full integration, improved connectivity and data centre are due to be completed during late 2003 Key actions

* Build up confidence in central services

* Work out principles and aims

* Devise a strategy that all sectors will sign up to

* Engage teachers in the thinking

* Stimulate a debate on the curriculum review

* Work in harmony with training

* Develop a costed strategy with clear targets

* Present strategy to politicians and secure finance

* Explain strategy at a province wide convention

* Invite bids to supply hardware, software and connectivity

* Negotiate with suppliers

* Involve inspectorate in evaluation

* Employ consultants to spread good practice

* Run a pilot at each stage of implementation

* Focus on customer satisfaction

* Constant review of software

* Constant review of thecurriculum

Ownership cost

Any managed service is built around “total cost of ownership”. It means that the purchase price of any equipment is not the total price that you will eventually pay. There is maintenance, support, depreciation, refresh, software, licences and staff training to ensure maximum effective use. For instance the cost of a laptop may well be pound;1,200 the total cost might well pound;1,800. Refresh is when equipment is renewed or enhanced, usually half-way through a contract.

www.deni.gov.uk

Viglen: 020 8758 7170

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