The Queen’s speech was great news for those of us who have spent a lot of our careers teaching with technology as well as researching and advocating the power of technology for learning.

Not only does the Queen want her government to make high-speed broadband a “right for all” but also a right for prisoners who deserve a “second chance”, and that second chance will involve access to technology for learning including Skype and computer tablets.

I know my friends and colleagues who spent six months working on the Education Technology Action Group (ETAG) requested by former education secretary Michael Gove, the former skills minister Matthew Hancock and the ex-universities minister David Willetts will be both delighted to see their ideas gaining traction but bewildered that it is the justice secretary implementing these ideas and not the education secretary.

They will be perplexed that prisons will have a strategy for the use of technology for learning but schools minister Nick Gibb and the current education secretary Nicky Morgan still ignore the need for some leadership, vision and strategy for schools?

Nicky Morgan received the ETAG report recommendations over 18 months ago but many heads and teachers wonder why sensible recommendations about connectivity, workforce development, independent support services for schools and teachers, and the assessment and accountability systems have received such short shrift from the Department for Education?

‘Prisoners are prioritised’

Surely if technology can enhance learning for those in prisons it can also do the same for our children in schools and colleges?

At least skills minister Nick Boles recognised the importance of the work of the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) instigated by Matt Hancock. Further education providers are busy implementing the recommendations, and digital technology is a central theme in the area-based review process and the reshaping of the FE landscape for a more sustainable and digital future.

But those in adult education will also be perplexed that adult education for prisoners is to be prioritised when budgets for adult education for those not imprisoned has suffered 40 per cent cuts.

There may be a sliver of light on the horizon, however, as the Cabinet Office digital strategy gains momentum across all government departments. The policy wonks in Number 10 must be wondering why there is such a blockage at the DfE.

At a recent Westminster Education Forum event, former schools minister and now TES Global executive Lord Jim Knight informed the delegates that the prime minister’s education adviser Rachel Wolf has experience in the field of ed tech.

Number 10’s policy adviser recently returned from two years working for Rupert Murdoch and Joel Klein’s US ed tech enterprise Amplify, and she has been heard to promise: “We will have an ed tech strategy this year.”

But it seems if you are in prison you will have a headstart.

Bob Harrison is chair of governors at Northern College and education adviser for Toshiba Information Systems Northern Europe. He was a leading member of the Feltag ministerial action group. He tweets at @bobharrisonset

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