Let the fun commenceI Now that the Department for Education and Skills has issued guidance on the pound;100 million Laptops for Teachers initiative, it is up to local education authorities to determine the most “appropriate and fair” way of sharing out the cash to their schools (it notes that they will not know how many computers they can afford until a catalogue of suppliers and prices is published on May 27). The DFES proposes a pro-rata basis, or for those LEAs that like a challenge, dishing out cash based on the “need for laptops”. Head teachers, though, face the unenviable task of issuing laptops “in a fair manner”, but have recently published guidance from NAACE to help them. At least they cannot be accused of self-interest, as the DFES says they must give one to themselves.
David “Hollywood” Puttnam has his sights set on yet another hat now he has hung up his General Teaching Council chairmanship chapeau. Not content with chairing NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, serving on a host of other public bodies and acting as a government adviser, Lord Puttnam hopes to take over as chair of Becta. John Taylor, chief executive of Sheffield College, was appointed as interim chair on April 1 last year when Heather du Quesney departed for the National College for School Leadership, but it’s time for a more permanent incumbent.
Becta’s outgoing chair John Taylor is to become a member of the snappily titled post-16 e-Learning Strategy Task Force. Its eight illustrious members include the near-omniscient Steve Molyneux, director of Wolverhampton University’s Learning Lab, and is chaired by Steve Morrison, chief executive of Granada. Unfortunately, since the task force was announced earlier this year, Morrison has been rather occupied by the day job, in particular the albatross (or should that be Monkey) cunningly disguised as ITV Digital, which Granada jointly owns with Carlton. The task force is to produce a report into e-learning’s potential to improve opportunities for young people in colleges and lifelong learning later this year. We doubt the document will mention digital terrestrial television
