Schools and information technology

The National Centre for Technology in Education

The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) is an agency of the Department of Education and Skills. The centre has a wide remit in the area of ICT and education. Its main tasks are managing the implementation of the Government's ICT in Schools Programme, the development of ICT policy proposals and providing policy advice to the Department of Education and Skills.

The ICT in Schools Programme builds on Schools IT2000. Under this major national initiative the Irish government invested over €50 million between 1998 and 2001, building an ICT infrastructure and facilitating the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in Irish schools. View the report ‘The Impact of Schools IT2000’ (pdf) here.

The NCTE managed the implementation of Schools IT2000. This role has now evolved and the core work areas of the NCTE today include:

• Providing information and advice to other educational agencies on ICT in education.
• Managing funding for schools to develop their technological infrastructure and purchase ICT equipment and software. The DES provides the funding in most cases.
• Designing and implementing a series of in-career ICT training programmes for teachers.
• Developing and maintaining ScoilNet - an online educational portal.
• Piloting models of technology integration and support through the Schools Integration Project (SIP).
• Providing support in educational ICT to teachers of students with special needs.
• Researching ICT in education and developing and evaluating educational software.

The Technology Integration Initiative (TII)

The Technology Integration Initiative (TII) promotes and supports the integration of best practice in schools’ ICT infrastructure to facilitate the effective use of ICT throughout the school.

The Schools Broadband Programme

The Schools Broadband Programme aims to provide all primary and post-primary schools with broadband access and other services . That is, controlled internet access, secure email, IT security services etc. The NCTE administers this programme including providing advice and support on all aspects of the programme to schools.

Under Supplementary Budget 2009 €7 million was allocated to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for a pilot project to equip post-primary schools with 100mbs broadband.

School networking

School networking is an ICT infrastructure strategy supporting the networking of computers in schools. Networking will facilitate broadband being distributed throughout the school.

ICT in schools census

The NCTE carries out nationwide ICT censuses of schools, under the Technology Integration Initiative. These are comprehensive censuses of the levels and usage of ICT in schools. The census report from 2005 is available on the NCTE website.

Scoilnet

The Scoilnet programme is responsible for the promotion and use of the Internet in education under the Government's ICT in Schools Programme. At the core of this initiative is the development of the Scoilnet website. Scoilnet is the official portal of the Department of Education and Skills for education. It contains links and resources that support teachers, students, parents and school managers. Content on the site is developed and updated by a team of curriculum experts. The Scoilnet programme also supports the development of other specific education websites, individual school websites and the use of the Internet for education.

Special education and ICT

NCTE carries a range of specialised information on special educational needs and ICT as well as advice and resources for teachers and others working in the area of ICT and special needs.