Primary schools invest heavily in IT

12:53 6th October 2008

Primary schools have continued to invest heavily in IT this year, with an increase in spending of £40 million, the latest report by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has revealed.

The BESA research forecasted that primary school IT budgets will increase by 8.4 per cent to £644 million in the next year, while secondary school budgets indicate growth of 5.1 per cent.

This investment in IT is expected to increase because of the government's £45 billion Building Schools for the Future programme which focuses heavily on technology.

However, Ray Barker, director at BESA, explained that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

He said: "One of the key findings of the BESA research is that many schools still do not have a learning platform, or are not using them properly, despite the fact that the government 2010 deadline for learning platforms in all schools is nearing."

In September, the chief executive of Sirius Corporation suggested that the £300 million quoted for government plans on providing laptops to disadvantaged children, appears to be relatively high for what is being provided.

Benefit from Computeach's recruitment service to help you launch your IT career.