On-Line Teaching Would Benefit Staff and Pupils, Says Chancellor

By DOUGLAS FRASER

PUPILS in state schools should benefit from the same one-to-one teaching and small group seminars that feature in private education, according to Gordon Brown.

The Chancellor said yesterday at Holyrood that the use of on- screen and on-line learning should free up teacher time to change the way they deal with pupils.

“I believe that is going to be a necessary next stage in the teaching revolution in our country, using technology to concentrate on one-to-one tuition to enable people who are falling behind to catch up, to enable people in their teens to get excitement out of learning.”

He was making clear the high priority education will play when, and if, he succeeds Tony Blair as Prime Minister. Having been a long- time campaigner for devolution, it was his first public appearance in the Scottish Parliament building, speaking alongside Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

Mr Brown set out details of his plan to raise the school leaving age to 18 across Britain. This is to use both compulsion and incentives for young people to stay in education, including extension of allowances and a doubling in the number of apprenticeships.

He also said there should be reform of further education to learn from American community colleges, meaning more employer involvement, and “where necessary, merging or taking over failing colleges”.

Instead of relying on government provision of education and training, he said new technology and the needs of the economy require parents, pupils and teachers to lead the way.

Speaking to an international audience at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum, he spelled out his view of globalisation needing to be inclusive, with a shift “from the wealth of nations to the wealth of networks”, with interdependence between economies and a “dramatic shift in power taking place”.

(c) 2007 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.