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..but not all schools are so lucky, says survey.

Things may be wonderful and wireless at Henry Beaufort School, but research carried out on behalf of the National Computing Day campaign shows that the Government's provision of Information Technology equipment, resources and training is not enough to provide the young with the computing education they need to succeed.

The encouraging story about Henry Beaufort contrasts strongly with this research, which was carried out by Computeractive, and found that 80% of teachers surveyed strongly felt that the Government should make investing in IT equipment a priority, whilst nearly eight out of 10 teachers felt that if more IT equipment were available, it would enable them to teach their pupils better.

The survey also found that the Local Education Authorities are held to blame by 70% of teachers for not providing them with enough IT training to teach classes sufficiently, resulting in an astonishing 91% of teachers having been in the situation where pupils know more about IT than the staff do.

Two years ago, Tony Blair piloted a new scheme in several schools where laptops were given to all teachers and pupils to help them work and learn more effectively. Although this scheme is being extended across the UK, of the 500 schools involved in the National Computing Day survey, nearly 80% of the teachers felt that it would be beneficial to be supplied with more IT equipment now.

National Computing Day, Friday 4th October 2002 aims to highlight issues such as this as well as the benefits of computing to make it more accessible to all. By educating people about computer recycling and making it easier to do, many unwanted machines can be reused to benefit others, such as teachers and pupils.

Zoe Rouch, organiser of National Computing Day says "As we become a digital democracy, the role of computing in schools and colleges is increasingly important. Resources within education, both in terms of equipment and training, is a serious issue, and National Computing Day aims to tackle at least one of these problems, by improving accessibility through computer recycling."

National Computing Day is supported by Computeractive, the UK's best selling computer magazine, and the Computeractive Show which is taking place over three days at the National Hall, Olympia, London from 4-6 October. The Computeractive Show aims to promote the idea that computing is a skill, not a talent, and can benefit everyone.

Disclaimer: the Editor of this page works for the publisher of Computeractive, but on a rival magazine, Personal Computer World (PC Magazine having closed down).