Govt gives IT education $40m boost

February 18, 2010

AAP
A new $40 million education initiative will improve the computer literacy of teachers and ensure they can keep up with their students, the federal government says.
Education Minister Julia Gillard announced on Thursday half the money would be used to develop a self-assessment tool for schools to look at where they needed training in information and communication technology (ICT).
And the remaining $20 million would be used to set up an ICT Innovation Fund to provide grants for ICT projects.

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Ms Gillard said universities, state and territory education departments, businesses and the private education sector could apply for funding from April 2010 for projects to improve the capabilities of pre-service and in-service teachers.
She said the program complemented the government's current commitment to give every student their own school computer.
"We can make the best of those learning opportunities if the teachers understand the power of the computer technology to transform learning," she said.
"And the reality is in most classrooms around the country the children would know more about computers than their teachers do."
Ms Gillard said the government had already rolled out 220,000 computers in schools ahead of the program's 2012 deadline.
"It's one thing to give the kids computers and that's very important," she said.
"... But to make that work as well as possible we also need to invest in the skills of the teachers."