Last month the government published details of how it would implement new technology to enable education services to be tailored for each individual student. The report, Harnessing Technology: Transforming Learning and Children’s Services, was the first of its kind to detail a strategy for schools, colleges, university and community learning organisations.

Under the e-learning strategy, every school will have broadband internet access by 2006. Schools will be encouraged to use online networks to provide parents with greater information about their child’s progress and to promote greater parental involvement. Online advice, information and resources will be made available for parents, teachers and students, while institutions will be encouraged to offer students an online ‘space’ to store coursework, course resources and results.

In addition, particular attention will be paid to ‘hard-to-reach’ students, with special needs support online as a more motivating way of learning, and as a means of offering more choice about how and where to learn. These moves come in addition to the government’s existing policy of ‘personalised learning’, offering access to computers to pupils as young as eight years of age.

The government hopes to see technology become more joined up, to the benefit of teachers, parents and pupils. Says schools minister Derek Twigg, “Technology is the key to personalised learning and putting learners’ needs at the heart of education.”

But these moves have not been without their critics. On the same day the government announced its e-learning strategy, a major international study by academics at Munich University found that students with access to computers at home performed worse in school exams than those without.

“Holding other family characteristics constant, students perform significantly worse if they have computers at home,” said the report. “This may reflect the fact that computers at home may actually distract students from learning, both because learning with computers may not be the most efficient way of learning and because computers can be used for aims other than learning.”

Despite the findings of the study, chancellor Gordon Brown announced in his Budget that spending on IT in schools would increase to £1.67bn over three years. In addition, students in senior school years will be able to lease computers to take home for coursework and revision purposes, he said.

In recent years, information technology has become a central part of the national curriculum in a bid to better prepare students for the world of work. But whether this will be to the detriment of other subjects remains to be seen.