Headteachers whose minds are closed to information technology should be sacked, a senior education civil servant said this week.
Diana Laurillard, head of the Department for Education and Skills’
e-Learning strategy, said computers were more important in raising standards than uniforms.
She told the National e-Learning Foundation conference in Feltham, Middlesex: “If I were a parent-governor faced with a question asking if we should switch to school uniforms or encourage parents to invest in PCs, I would vote for the latter. Access to a PC and to the internet gives a child more than a uniform would provide.”
Professor Laurillard told representatives from schools and leading computer companies: “If heads were to refuse to consider ICT, I would think it would be a sackable offence.”
Doug McAvoy, former general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said teachers feared the use of technology in ministers’ personalised learning plans. He said: “Teachers have a fear that personalised learning is a threat but they have to see how they can use ICT to the best advantage.”
