The Government's Grand Ambition

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Posted on Friday, 29 April 2005 00:00

Priorities for education reform, described by the Government in their latest e-learning strategy -‘Harnessing Technology’, include home-school links for all; personalised support with more flexible learning packages; and integrated networks for learning, teaching and administration.

If the Government achieves its vision, over the next five years every pupil should become able to use ICT to learn in or outside the classroom with a single point of access for all their learning resources; parents will receive secure access to their child’s information; and teachers will be provided with access to rich, interactive content and the ability to collaborate with others, sharing ideas and resources to ensure wider curriculum choice for learners.

Two years ago Pearson Fronter committed to developing a new education management system, not only for school managers but for the benefit of teachers, pupils and parents as well. Pearson Fronter e1 underpins every aspect of teaching, learning and school management and, as such, is all ready set to deliver against the Government’s education agenda.

e1 is what the Government refers to as an ‘open and accessible system’. It is browser based and can be accessed from anywhere that has an internet connection, provided the user is authorised. This bridges the gap between school and home, allowing pupils and parents to access the resources and information they need to support learning at anytime. It also encourages the sharing of best practice. e1 actively facilitates cross collaboration between schools, allowing teachers to collaborate, review, adapt and share resources.

e1 provides flexibility of curriculum choice. Teaching plans within e1 are adaptable to the needs of individuals and individual logins create a personal space with information tailored to individual needs.

The Government recognises the devolved approach to ICT provision in schools; ‘installations cannot communicate with each other and often operate to different technical standards’. This adds to the complexity of ICT provision where a number of separate packages are required to deliver required functionality, for example, a learning environment, administration system and online registration. Integrated networks and a common digital infrastructure are what the Government promise and they are already at the heart of the e1 development. e1’s integrated curriculum and administration saves time and money and provides school managers and teachers with all the information they need at their fingertips.

The Government’s five year plan pulls together a more coordinated approach to ongoing ICT development in education, but with many of the initiatives already in place and with e1 a prime example, it is perhaps not as radical as first thought