The Government was crowing again last month about the fact that almost every British school is now connected to the Internet. Yet many of these connections are hopelessly inadequate for pupils to make effective use of the Net. Once more than a handful go on the Web at the same time, everything grinds to a halt, with pages downloading at painfully slow speeds.

The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) has recognised the need for schools to have bigger “pipes” that will give them much speedier Internet access, although a target of just 20 per cent of schools by March next year has so far been set.

The trouble with broadband is that it does not come cheap. For example, the Technology Colleges Trust’s deal with cable company NTL that gives schools 2 megabits per second access (up to 30 times faster than a standard ISDN connection) still costs more than pound;10,000 a year, not a sum many schools can or want to pay.

In an attempt to find more affordable models of providing fast access to schools, former education secretary David Blunkett announced pound;50 million in November 1999 to “kick-start” the clumsily titled Regional Broadband Consortia.

Ten groupings, involving almost 100 local education authorities, shared the money. They include projects in the north west, east and west Midlands, Cumbria and Lancashire, the south east and south west, while London was added to the list last year.

Almost two years after Blunkett’s announcement, the initiative has not exactly set the educational world on fire. Part of the problem has been getting a dozen or more LEAs to agree on the direction the project should take. In the capital, it took until April this year for the 31 authorities involved to settle on plans for the London Grid for Learning.

One consortium that has got its act together is the South West Grid for Learning (SWGFL). Made up of Bournemouth, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Plymouth, Poole, Somerset, Torbay and Wiltshire LEAs, the project has been so well managed that another four authorities - some part of another broadband consortia - are in the process of joining.

Their interest was sparked in part by the SWGFL’s achievement in getting very fast links to all 165 secondary schools in the 10 authorities in the space of four months, despite some atrocious weather conditions and the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The task fell to RM after it won the pound;7 million contract to supply each school at a standard price regardless of size or location. The cost per school is between pound;10,000 and pound;12,000, which is met by LEAs from central government funding. The deal was signed on 22 November last year and required the company to connect all schools by the end of March or face financial penalties, says Tim Clark, who negotiated the deal for RM. He believes that meeting this deadline was vital, because teachers’ faith is lost when something is promised and then not delivered.

The Grid’s rate of progress has been helped considerably by the historical co-operation and links between many of the authorities involved, according to its chairman, Richard Randall of Somerset LEA. He says it is the only regional broadband consortium to act as one entity with a single budget.

Plymouth’s St Boniface’s College, a Catholic boys’ high school with 750 pupils, is one of the schools to benefit from the project. It has had its high-speed Internet link since March, and Dave Uden, head of IT, says it has made a “big difference”. For example, a class of students can now use the Web simultaneously, something that was not possible previously. Staff can now rely on sites working, increasing their confidence with the technology, Uden adds.

The connectivity is just one aspect of the SWGFL, as it has some 24 projects under way to develop digital learning resources. Allen Coe, the Grid’s project director, says some regional consortia have chosen not to develop content, but that authorities in the South West felt there was a need to fill gaps, as well as create resources that took advantage of broadband’s capabilities.

One of the most exciting offerings so far is the Plymouth Geographical Information System (GIS), which grew out of an idea to make Ordnance Survey maps available to schools on the Net. Users can access a range of resources about their local area from the maps. Clever features abound - maps and aerial photographs can be blended into each other, showing pupils how maps are made. A locality can also be shown as part map and part photo by “stitching” the two together. Virtual field trips and three-dimensional “fly-overs” can be accessed, along with historic video clips.

Importantly, teachers and pupils can use the Web-based system to input their own pictures and create their own resources. Charles Worth, Plymouth’s ICT consultant, says it has been universally popular in schools. “It’s going to change the way any digitally held information is delivered from now on, as it’s so easy to use and so flexible. It lets people do things they were not able to before.”

Allen Coe says the resource can be used to teach subjects other than geography. “There are just endless possibilities,” he says. St Boniface’s Dave Uden gives GIS his vote of confidence and says he is impressed by its potential and versatility, and the way it excites students.

Some of the grid’s other projects are being developed with content providers such as Granada, Espresso and the BBC. Meanwhile, three Wiltshire teachers have created an interactive three-dimensional package for GNVQ business studies and hospitality and catering students to give them “virtual work experience” at a hotel.

The next focus for the South West Grid is getting primary schools on to its network. Its reliability and cost has seen some technology colleges and independent schools sign up. Coe adds that even further education institutions, frustrated with the speed of the JANET network, are talking to them about coming on board.

Like other regional consortia, the grid relies on National Grid for Learning funding. Although this reliance will diminish, Coe says it is unlikely to be self-sustaining in the next two years. He wants the Government to make a financial commitment to all the broadband consortia for at least that period to support the schools already linked and to help connect more.

Work is progressing in the other areas of England where consortia have been formed. Greg Hill, director of the South East Grid for Learning, says about 300 secondary schools in 17 authorities, from Buckinghamshire to the Isle of Wight, have been given 2 megabits per second links.

There is no doubt that schools need broadband Internet connections, though it is already clear that 2 megabits is not sufficient. The regional consortia are a start, though critics say most are not moving fast enough and that the thousands of schools not covered by one are missing out.

In February the then e-minister Patricia Hewitt (now trade and industry secretary) said that more effective procurement of the public sector’s broadband requirements for schools, police stations, town halls and so on was needed.

However, it is not clear when the Government is going to meet that objective. Certainly, the regional broadband consortia do not go far enough as they are restricted to schools. A report commissioned last year from consultants NM Rothschild by the then Department for Education and Employment was not enraptured by the initiative either.

If the Government is serious about making our education system a world leader in ICT and the Internet, a coherent - and properly funded - plan for broadband access in education and the public sector as a whole cannot come too soon.

* NAACE will hold a conference on November 27 in Leeds focusing on broadband and the difference it is making to teaching and learning. Regional broadband consortia will present examples of their best work at the event.

Email: carolyn@naace.org

South West Grid for Learning: www.swgfl.gov.ukGIS: www.pgfl.plymouth.gov.ukgisSouth East Grid for Learning: www.segfl.gov.ukYorkshire and Humberside: www.yhrbp.netLondon Grid for Learning: www.lgfl.net