Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 October 2012
72. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the total amount from his Department's budget that is projected to be spent on ICT in primary schools in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43628/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe ICT in Schools Programme has an allocation of €13.7 million for 2012. A breakdown by primary and post primary spend is not readily available. This allocation covers all aspects of the programme for primary and post primary schools including teacher professional development in ICT, deployment of curriculum-relevant digital content, software and ICT infrastructure deployment in schools and internet access for schools. These components are essential for an integrated approach to ICT in teaching and learning. Continuous professional development in the pedagogical/curricular use of ICT by teachers is essential to ensure that ICT is embedded in teaching and the PDST – which now incorporates the functions of the National Centre for Technology in Education provides a comprehensive training programme for teachers. The percentage breakdown of training places in 2010 and 2011 shows that approximately 73% of the training places were taken up by primary teachers.
The ICT in Schools Programme, through the PDST delivers a wide range of digital content through the Scoilnet.ie portal. The number of resources available has increased year on year. The PDST pursues collaborative strategies to develop appropriate digital content to match the Irish curriculum. Between November 2009 and November 2010, my Department distributed €46m directly to primary schools under the national ICT Infrastructure Grant Scheme. The main priority under this scheme is the equipping of each classroom with a teaching computer and digital projector. Once the baseline is in place schools can allocate any remaining funding under the scheme to other ICT equipment and software for educational use. A number of key support measures were taken to help schools get best value in the use of these devolved grants - in particular, the inclusion of schools in national purchasing frameworks for desktops, laptops, digital projectors and printers, the delivery of a national series of elearning seminars for school leaders, and the provision of extensive guidance and training on the use of ICT in the classroom.
I am keen to assess the impact of the funding in primary schools, and in that context it is planned to carry out a comprehensive census of ICT integration in schools before the end of the year. In order to maximise the technology and digital content available to schools broadband access is key and under the Schools Broadband Access Programme my Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all primary schools that wish to avail of this service. All contracts under the Schools Broadband Access Programme were recently re-tendered. As a result of this the number of service providers has been expanded from 6 to 13 and this should lead to improvements in the quality of services available to schools. These contracts were signed in July and August 2012 and the migration of schools onto the new services is currently under way.
Following completion of the census referred to above work will commence on a new ICT Strategy which will address the new policy challenges and opportunities arising from major developments in curricular reform, digital publishing, digital content dissemination tools generally, cloud services, portable computing and student devices.
