Perhaps Becta should be advising the government on the failure of all departments within the civil service to understand new technology better, to be better informed about what really does work in terms of software and hardware. How many government IT projects come in on time, on budget and actually work for more than six months without catastrophic failure?

Bill Q, Derby,

as a supply teacher ( worked with computers all my life can use them ) i went to the new maths block in a classic comprehensive school.... no computer no black board no flip chart , no ordinary whiteboard.... what is there is ONLY an interactive whiteboard but no computer and no chance for me to show the class a parrallelogram, we had to use the sides of books and pretend they were sheared.
hello progress .... far from it....we dont need all this restrictive technology. If i have to do another lesson ' USE the computer design a ... logo, a mouse mat, a game a quiz etc... i will go mad

fiona baird, plymouth , devon

Working in education, we have had little say in what we get here. We have walked into to a class room to find that our big white boards have been replaced with a tiny electronic one which is next tu useless as the network it's attached to can not cope with the extra demand.

I believe that Heads are out to make a school look good for inspectors and not really looking out for the students best interest. The use of technology is imortant at the right time with the right equipment.

Barry, Tonbridge, Kent

I would have thought that it was more important to make sure that pupils are taught how to read and write properly by the time they leave school, rather than squandering all this money on techno-gadgetry that will not be used effectively.

Dwood, Blackburn, England

Schools in the UK need to make more use of Free and Open Source software. Just throwing out Microsoft Office and replacing it with OpenOffice.org would deliver vast savings. Throwing out Windows altogether and switching to Edubuntu would allow even more savings and the teaching community can work together to improve it.

Alan Bell, Farnham, Surrey

As a recently retired school IT technician I can fully endorse the view that much of the money spent on IT is wasted. Lack of teacher training is a major issue which leads to poor choices of hardware and software. An over reliance on word processing rather than written work, poorly researched topics using search engines but no evaluation of the results, means that IT is becoming a substitute rather than an enhancer for the learning process. Access to the Internet provides tempting distractions and ever more time wasting in ICT lessons. Much of the available equipment is poorly designed for the classroom environment with dubious availability as a result. All these problems are compounded by a constant stream of directives from the LEAs which involve changes to the curriculum and priorities. IT is an ever increasing burden for the teachers, not an enabler. Politicians think that throwing money into IT budgets will somehow transform a failing education system. It won't.

Clifford Forsyth, London, UK

I teach college in the US, and once did a several month stint student teaching at a high school. Technology in my classrooms is largely limited to PowerPoint. Based on my experiences with PowerPoint, adding "sound, visual, touch, and different programmes" to lectures would eat up absolutely all of my time. Incorporating images alone adds hours to my preparation time. For classes that I am new to teaching, preparation time is already ungodly. After I've taught a class for a few times, I'd be more open to adding bells and whistles, but initially, I feel lucky to keep my head above water, and I teach only 4 class periods per week. In the US, the average high school teacher teaches 5 class periods per day, and these may be all different preparations. Perhaps the teachers who aren't using all of the technology available to them aren't technophobes as much as they have made the reasonable decision to do what they can reasonably hope to accomplish without going insane from overwork.

Diane, Norman, OK, USA

Seriously - how hard is it to use a PC? I never even so much as switched on a PC the whole time I was at university. After university I did a crammer in touch typing and an NVQ and I have never had a problem using them. They are very easy and straightforward most of the time. Learning to read and write properly is more important. Get the basics right and the rest will follow.

M, Beds,

And when are we teachers supposed to find the time to mess around with all these things to get them working? The technology is great when you know how to use it, but getting to that point is time consuming, and rarely a priority at the end of another hectic day. Maybe the governement could divert some of the technology money towards hiring more teachers so we'd all have lots of time to sit around playing with computers.

Tired teacher, Scotland,

I have been doing my dissertation on the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom and from observing the use of them across several classrooms would add that when they are used correctly (for instance incorporating sound, visual, touch, and different programmes) they really capture children's imaginations and are a brilliant medium for pupils to learn with.

However what concerned me was in certain schools they had been implemented too quickly on a mass scale and some teachers found them hard to grasp. A few teachers had only had training lasting for half a day. I feel that these teachers need to have support which is ongoing and backed by a whole school approach where ideas are shared and individuals who feel less confident about using the technogloy should not just be left to their own devices. This would go some ways towards addressing the fear some teachers may understandably have.

Pippa Willison, London, England

They money is certainly wasted - on poppycock pipedreams about technology revolutionising the classroom. The facts are that even the most modern technology is still vastly inferior in many aspects to traditional techniques. From whiteboards that are not responsive to anything other than the slowest of strokes from an unweildy, low resolution pen to learning envirnoments which are so complex they increase the amount of work required to distribute notes five-fold, but add no more value to the experience than a properly setup network share. I've seen a lot and I'm also quite sure the problem is not with teachers, who are already getting it from all sides - OFSTED who will (and have) graded lower because technology is not in place and now BECTA, the agency which was put in place to make sure that it was.

Ian Griffiths, Liverpool, UK

You've never driven before or walked more than 100 yards from your house, but are aware that a little way away is a motorway that could give you access to wonderful new places.
I give you a brand car and deliver it to your drive. I return in 3 months and am disappointed to find that all you can do with it is switch the interior lights on and off, listen to the radio and open and close the sun roof. Would driving lessons have been useful??

Jon' Allen, Bristol, UK

Call me old fashioned but I still find that some of the most useful tools for working, learning and collaborating are pen, paper, books and whiteboards. As simple as that and I'm a professional Software Engineer.

Stuart, Glasgow,

More out of the box thinking by Labour. Good idea, poor execution and follow-up leads to waste

steve, chester, cheshire

Most teachers are female whereas most I.T specialists are male. Is it really surprising that you have schools awash with individuals unable to wire a 3 pin plug?

John MacKinnon, Lincoln, England

My 14 year old runs rings around his IT teacher. Teacher puts a netblock up, my son uses a proxy. Teacher blocks installation of MSN, my son makes a reg file and enables it again.
I think the Teacher should sit down and my son should stand up and do the job.

Phill , The Wirral, England

As a trainee teacher, I have to speak up on behalf of Welsh schools. Schools in England may well have interactive whiteboards and smartphones in every classroom, but I've seen none of it in my school. The school can't even afford regular digital projectors, so there's nothing in most classrooms except blackboards and old-style OHPs.

The government should even up the funding to make sure the technology is available for those that would appreciate it, before spending thousands of pounds on equipment for teachers who are happy with a piece of chalk.

Student Teacher, North-West England / Wales,

The 'world-class' tag is now directed towards the vast numbers of engineers and scientists graduating in India and China. How many school pupils in those countries will be taught with 'White Boards'? Totally unneccessary for the acquisition on knowledge.

As for MrCrowne's "the technology could be used to teach hard-to-reach children such as travellers..." - I think he needs to get his feet back on the ground, even if it does tick the equality box in New Labour circles.

MarkS, Leeds,

The benefits of IT use in schools especially internet is vastly over-rated and often wastes time better spent on conventional methods. Big companies and gullible ministers and parents are for their own reasons obsessed with this issue.
We should not be distracted from more important issues. We should look at teacher training, the falling numbers of male teachers,the disordely behaviour of children, the poor upbringing, the influence and overuse of tv and the dysfunctional lives of many families as far more important and should have greater priority for funds.

william shepherd, zoeterwoude , netherlands.

It seems strange to me that the government is prepared to pour millions into purchase of technology, but doesn't ring-fence any of this money for training teachers how to use it effectively in the classroom.

Peter, Clitheroe, Lancs

The £8 300 per term private school my son attends has solved this problem to perfection. They still use blackboard and chalk in every classroom!

Upset parent, Hinckley, Leics,