Just 3 years ago Pembrokeshire County Council had a plan to make the very best use of digital technology in schools. It had the great idea that online learning could reduce support and transport costs and give students a wider choice of subjects right there in their schools. Now the plan is to bus them daily on a 30 mile round trip to a centralised 6th form unit.
In its Strategic Plan for School Organisation 2012-2016, the Council said it would use digital technology to:
- Support teaching and learning across all areas of the curriculum
- Offer a ‘mixed economy’: whole class; group; mini suite; laptop; specialist suites, etc.
- Enable schools and learners to access provision remotely, and enable learners to work independently and to follow personalised learning programmes.
- Seek, where appropriate, to remodel surplus spaces to develop resource areas that will support personalised and independent learning.
It wanted to use
- Video conferencing and a transformational virtual world to provide a continuum of resources that will bind the educational community together and support learners in highly innovative ways.
- this approach will, over time, reduce support and transport costs by enabling learners to access wider curriculum options at the point of need.
What great ideas!
March 21, 2015 at 4:43 pm
Not only could the pupils have more choice with digital learning, but they could keep the 6th form on site, perhaps get help learning from retired teachers in the area. Most of all keeping the 6th form maintains the A level teaching staff and keeps the leadership of the 6th form in the school to the benefit of all