Survey backs tech education

The survival of Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) and the critical role training plays in the use of ICT have emerged as teachers' priorities in an online Guardian poll on the future of schools technology, reveals the Guardian.

In the poll released a week before the government announced its intention to scrap Becta, 48% of respondents to date viewed the education technology agency as the most valuable government education body. Its home access programme to provide computers to poor families was the most popular initiative for retention.

Jeff Smith, head of Anson primary school in London, says losing the agency would deprive schools of a valuable source of specialist advice to support teaching, learning and e-safety. "We are preparing children not just to use the keyboard but to develop skills that will be transferable in the future as technologies develop."

The non-profit organisation Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) is implementing 'It's learning the individual learning platform', an online platform designed to support individual and collaborative online programmes for academic achievement, says PRNewswire.

The learning platform, with its built-in audio recording, video conferencing and multimedia tools, will allow for increased communication and collaboration among teacher trainers at CAL and ease of access for language educators in the US and in other countries.

CAL is partnered with EdTek Services, a value-added reseller of the 'It's learning' system and a provider of accreditation and education consulting, instructional design and course development services.

Schools teaching Chinese language in New Zealand can now turn to a new online learning resource, according to Guide2.co.nz.

Education minister Anne Tolley, in Shanghai at the World Expo, said learning a language gave students a new skill and allowed them to connect with another culture. "New Zealanders need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to operate effectively in international environments such as China," she said.

The online resource, Chinese language in New Zealand schools, shows how some schools introduced and developed their Chinese language programmes.