PRIME MINISTER AND ESTELLE MORRIS LAUNCH ONLINE MISSION TO TRANSFORM LEARNING IN SCHOOLS

The Prime Minister and Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris today announced £50 million to fund ‘Curriculum Online’. It is the world’s first partnership between the Government, leading public/private broadcasters and innovative software producers to provide materials for every curriculum subject to transform learning in schools.

This ground-breaking service will bring exciting new learning materials to teachers and pupils’ fingertips, enabling learning to become more flexible than ever.

It is the biggest single step to date towards meeting the Government’s vision of individualised learning, as set out in Estelle Morris’ recent Social Market Foundation speech and pamphlet.

Estelle Morris said that the new service, to be made available to schools from September 2002, was part of a plan to help teachers.

It will:

· help teachers to spend more time teaching and motivating pupils – by providing quick, safe access to lesson materials through the internet; and
· raise standards by offering one-to-one support through the internet and individualised learning that lets the more able progress at a quicker pace and motivates and supports less able pupils.

Estelle Morris said:

“An international report last week showed that we already have some of the highest performing secondary school pupils in the world. There is creativity and innovation in our schools, but we must build on that success even further.

“Curriculum Online unlocks the potential for all pupils to learn in exciting ways. It will also enable us to move towards greater individualised learning, with each pupil learning more flexibly and according to their own needs. It brings to life part of the vision I set out in my recent speech to the Social Market Foundation.“

Curriculum Online will be accessible to parents as well as teachers. A consultation on Curriculum Online over the summer showed widespread support for this vision.

Curriculum Online has five key components:

· a web ‘shop window’ with online curriculum resources including a library of e-learning materials;
· access to commercial products for school purchase, including a guide to the best by teachers for teachers;
· e-Learning credits – money for schools to buy digital curriculum resources. This will be funding in addition to the Standards Fund;
· information and learning management systems for schools to agreed minimum Government standards. The content will be tagged to help teachers find the resources they want; and
· a content advisory panel – a stakeholder board which will ensure resources are available for all curriculum subjects and will help public sector bodies to prioritise commissioning publicly funded resources.

Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to England
1.The Prime Minister and Estelle Morris are due to visit Greensward College in Essex on Monday 10th December.
2.The money will be available in the form of e-Learning Credits which schools will be able to spend on quality products showcased through a new Curriculum Online portal. A further £2million is being provided for development of the service.
3.The £50 million is available for the academic year 2002/03. This is from a mix of Capital Modernisation Fund and other funding on top of the normal funding provided to schools through Local Education Authorities.
4. The Curriculum Online consultation was carried out between April and July this year. Copies of the consultation and a report on responses are available on Monday on http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/
5. Research published by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency in 2000 based on an analysis of test results and Ofsted inspection data indicated that schools that had good ICT resources and made good use of these for learning generally outperformed those that did not. The research identified a number of factors that maximised this effect and found that schools that displayed all of these factors had achieved:
· Government targets for Key Stage 2 in English and mathematics for 2002 in 1999.
· Better attainment in Key Stage 3 science and in GCSEs than other schools.
· Government targets for Key Stage 3 in English and mathematics for 2004 in 1999.
6. Spend on ICT equipment in schools in England is being supported by grant funding through the NGfL (National Grid for Learning) Standards Fund. Between 1998 and 2002 £657 million of expenditure is being supported in this way. A further £710 million will be made available between 2002 and 2004. In addition, the New Opportunities Fund is funding a £180 million programme of training to equip teachers with the skills and confidence to make effective use of ICT in their teaching. This will conclude in 2002.

Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk