Department for Children, Schools and Families : Publications : e-Strategy

e-Strategy - 'Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and children's services'

download the pdf - e-Strategy - 'Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and children's services'

Foreword by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills

Our plans for boosting performance and standards across education are far reaching and radical. We aim to put learners, young people - and their parents - in the driving seat, shaping the opportunities open to all learners to fit around their particular needs and preferences.

In achieving these goals the effective use of interactive technologies is absolutely crucial and I am determined that we grasp them. They offer huge opportunities that we must exploit. That means working with all the stakeholders, schools, colleges, adult and community learning organisations, universities, independent training providers, and the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry, to ensure that we deliver quality and cost effective services to all. We want to extend the variety of places where people can learn.

I am particularly excited by the idea of giving every student and learner a personal online learning space where they can store their own course materials and assignments in digital form, and record their achievements. Over time we should see the technology join up better so that this is available to learners to build on wherever they go - to further learning, or to work-based learning. And in the future it will be more than simply a storage place - a digital space that is personalised, that remembers what the learner is interested in and suggests relevant web sites, or alerts them to courses and learning opportunities that fit their needs.

Online information services open up real possibilities of keeping parents much more engaged with what their children are doing, and able to have a dialogue with the school on how they are progressing. For teachers, lecturers and tutors it means easy and efficient ways of keeping in touch, giving feedback on students' progress, and managing marking and assessment. Unifying our approach to technology means they will be able to collaborate more easily with colleagues in other institutions and offer wider curriculum choice. With more flexible e-learning resources available online, teachers can adapt the curriculum to their learners' needs and interests. Technology is the key to personalised learning.

And imaginative use of ICT should help engage more learners in the excitement of learning. Borrowing ideas from the world of interactive games, we can motivate even reluctant learners to practice complex skills and achieve much more than they would through traditional means. New technologies can attract new kinds of learners into lifelong learning. Wider access to these more compelling learning experiences will contribute to the ambitions of our Skills Strategy to offer employers better support for skills and training.

Of course as we go forward in these areas we must make sure that everyone has access to this technology. We are working together with industry to ensure an equitable solution to the potential digital divide. As we continue to embed e-learning across the whole learning process, it will blend more easily with life and work, bridging the boundaries between formal and informal learning. We have proposed an education system for 14-19 which is tailored to the needs of young people, and offers more flexible learning opportunities. Technology can be mobile. That means e-learning can come to the learner. And as demand increases, it becomes more attractive for the digital technology industry to invest in providing access. It is our goal to work towards ICT as a universal utility, creating more flexible learning opportunities for everyone.

I am also excited by the possibilities of new digital technologies to help us develop more tailored and personalised children's services. We know that agencies supporting children and families will offer better support when social workers, teachers and professional practitioners can share information about vulnerable children. We are working to help local agencies and public services join together as digital communities, creating a more supportive and personalised environment for their citizens.

I want to work with all our partners, with education institutions, with the children's and education workforce, and with the ICT industry, with everyone playing their part. Government has to set the direction and encourage the approach, but we cannot do it alone. This strategy should help put us decisively on this road to achieve our ambition for a world in which parents and carers engage more effectively with their child's learning, professionals supporting young people and families more easily coordinate their work, and adult learners of all ages find learning more fun, more challenging and more productive.

RT HON Ruth Kelly MP - signature