Net-connected schools reach 99 per cent

By Alun Williams

Posted on 30 Oct 2002 at 12:37

The National Statistics office releases the latest figures for computer usage in schools.

Did you know the average IT spend on secondary schools is £76,900? That 99 per cent of primary schools are connected to the Net? And that an average of six pupils have to share access to a computer in secondary schools?

The National Statistics office has released the latest figures for computer usage in schools. The 'Survey of Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2002' is a statistical bulletin describing the technological state of play in schools as of March 2002.

The figures will be used by the UK Government to measure progress towards the targets it has set in this field. These targets underpin the Government's 'National Grid for Learning' programme. In particular, the Prime Minister has set a computer-to-pupil ratio target of 1:8 in primary schools and 1:5 in secondary schools.

How do things measure up? According to the figures, average spending per school on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has risen to £15,400, from £10,300 in 2001. This is for primary schools. For secondary schools, the average ICT spend per school is now £76,900, compared to £60,300 in 2001.

In terms of the number of pupils having to share access to a computer, the numbers have fallen over the year, from 11.8 to 9.7 for primary schools. Obviously, the less the better for learning. In secondary schools, the average number has also fallen from 7.1 to 6. Looking at those figures from a slightly different perspective, the average number of computers per school has risen from 20.7 to 30.1 for primary schools and from 127.7 to 155.6 for secondary schools.

As for the percentage of schools connected to the Net, pretty much everyone is connected. At both primary and secondary levels, the total stands at 99 per cent. Secondary schools had already attained this level in 2001 (98 per cent were connected in 2000), but primary schools have climbed to it from 96 per cent last year.

Breaking down the means of Internet access, 72 per cent are connected using ISDN, 20 per cent by broadband, and seven per cent have dial-up access.

On the teacher side of side things, a more confused picture emerges. According to the survey 93 per cent of staff at primary schools have been trained in the use of ICT equipment. An impressively large figure, and an increase on the 80 per cent recorded for 2001. However, back in 1999 the figures stood at 92 per cent before the number of trained teachers fell away. Similarly, in secondary schools, the number of ICT trained teachers (73 per cent) has fallen from the total achieved in the late nineties (88 per cent were trained in 1999).

A final figure - from the how-times-have-changed category - relates to email. Seventeen per cent of all schools now have personal email accounts for pupils (31 per cent have some shared accounts for pupils)...

You can read the full survey on the Web.