Progress towards achieving access to ICT facilities through Learning Centres (Saesneg yn unig)

This statement is by way of an update on the current position with the development of ICT facilities in Wales.

In March the UK Government announced additional UK-online learning centres bringing the total number to 2,841.  We already have 281 ICT Learning Centres on our Wales national database.  We expect to have over 600 ICT Learning Centres in Wales by the end of 2002.  Comparing the population proportions in England and Wales, Wales has almost twice as many learning centres per head of population.

ICT Learning Centres will provide an important bridge between school and community-based learning, giving pupils access to better ICT facilities during and outside school hours whilst also providing a resource to support family and adult learning activities.  We are currently mapping Learning Centre information against population density and distance travelled, in order to make strategic decisions about where to place additional centres, should this be necessary. In addition we are also implementing programmes which will ensure that they are fully accessible and used effectively.  

Above and beyond establishing the Learning Centres we are ensuring:

• technical infrastructure
• support structures
• capacity to open up the facilities.

ICT has an important role to play in raising standards in schools and in expanding access to, and participation in, lifelong learning.  For this to work we need to have a robust technical infrastructure which can cope with rising demand and deliver high quality learning resources and support.

Hence the ambitious broadband strategy which was announced by the Welsh Assembly Government last October and I am delighted with the rapid progress which has been made with that initiative.  In addition to securing the provision of whiteboards and other ICT equipment for every school in Wales, my cabinet colleague, Andrew Davies and I signed a deal with Logical (UK) Ltd in March, commissioning them to create the core element to the broadband ‘Lifelong Learning Network’ for Wales.  This will provide high-speed broadband internet access into each local authority, building on existing further and higher education provision.

In partnership with local authorities we are developing this network to link all schools, libraries and community learning centres.  This will include the ICT Learning Centres that I established last year.

The new broadband infrastructure offers tremendous scope for exploiting ICT to help raise standards in schools and support delivery of the Curriculum Cymreig.

Regarding setting up relevant support structures to move the agenda forward, I have established the ICT Advisory Panel to provide advice on policy development and delivery in schools. This panel will review the optimum levels of equipment and connectivity needed to raise standards and ensure equality of access in schools.   The Panel will also work closely with the ELWA Expert Group on E-Learning.

I will shortly be appointing an ICT Task Force to map out a strategy for improving ICT provision in Welsh schools, and a new team - NGfL Cymru - to identify and develop electronically based curriculum resources to make the fullest possible use of the opportunities created by the Welsh broadband network.

Information and Communications Technology offers a powerful opportunity to transform the way we live, learn and do business.  However, with such an opportunity comes the challenge of ensuring that our people of Wales are sufficiently skilled in ICT to take advantage of it in their daily lives. In partnership with ELWA, we will take strategic action to raise ICT skill levels in Wales.

We want to make lifelong learning an everyday reality for the people of Wales.  E-learning is central to achieving these goals.

In “The Learning Country” I expressed my intention to establish expert Groups to investigate e-learning and ICT skills. These commitments were included in Cymru Ar-lein, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Information Age Strategic Framework for Wales.

Andrew Davies and I have established a single e-Learning and ICT skills expert group, to advise us on:

• key actions to be taken to increase the number of people with higher level ICT skills and keep them in Wales;
  and
• identifying potential mechanisms for improving e-learning in Wales.

The ICT Advisory Panel chaired on my behalf by Alun Pugh and the e-Learning and ICT skills expert group are working in close collaboration.   Together they have developed plans to provide integrated ICT support and training services for teachers and trainers across Wales in support of the Broadband for Lifelong Learning programme.

Alongside the finance provided for the Broadband Lifelong Learning Network, £2m of ELWa funds and £2m of Assembly money per annum has been set aside for the next 3 years for the provision of ICT support. This money will provide an integrated ICT support structure for all teachers and trainers in Wales, and additional support for volunteers and private sector trainers, working in the Learning Centres and elsewhere in the Community.  ELWa are currently taking forward these plans.

This support programme will complement the ICT Learning Centres by increasing availability of trained staff to pass on their knowledge to others involved in the centres.  It will lead to a core base of knowledge and experience upon which to build.
 
The e-learning and ICT skills expert group is currently assisting ELWa in developing its joint e-learning strategy and related ICT skills strategy in May.

Finally, we need to increase capacity and resources to open up centres outside of school hours and engage communities in ICT activities.  We will do this through the e-Communities programme, currently being led by the WDA on our behalf.  In addition, ELWa are piloting e-Placements, which will put Welsh Higher Education and Further Education students into communities in Wales, to increase ICT skills across the community.

I am pleased to report that our joined-up approach is well on the way to supporting community-based education and Lifelong Learning across Wales.