Government pours millions into laptops for teachers

Nearly 8000 more teachers will be eligible for laptop computers following increased spending on information and communications technologies (ICT) in yesterday's Budget.

An additional $30.2 million will be invested in a range of school ICT initiatives over the next four years.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said new technology had influenced every aspect of modern life.

"These initiatives will see more schools and teachers using ICT to support effective teaching and enhance learning," he said.

The new funding includes $14.2 million to extend the leasing of laptops to permanent fulltime teachers of years 1-3 students at state and state-integrated schools.

At present, 25,365 teachers have received or applied for a laptop, and the new funding will make another 7950 eligible.

Teachers in more than 85 per cent of schools will have access to ICT development programmes by 2009, and $8.2 million will be used to increase the number of professional development clusters from 80 to 100.

A $7.4 million online tool for testing students will give teachers a break from marking school books.

The online system will use "adaptive assessment" to make questions harder or easier depending on the student's answers.

The Ministry of Education bilingual online learning centre, Te Kete Ipurangi, will be upgraded with $345,000 to expand the services available and improve information sharing between teachers.

The Post Primary Teachers' Association supported the moves.

"There was a decade in the 90s of money going out and now it is coming back into these initiatives," said a spokesman.

"That's always positive."