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Government and partners

Becta works closely with partners across the education system. Together, we create the conditions that result in technology being used to benefit learners.

Harnessing Technology schools survey 2008


The Harnessing Technology schools survey is an annual, nationally representative survey intended to assess the uptake and use of ICT in schools across England. It aims both to give a broad overview of the 'state of the nation' of use of ICT in the school sector, and explore, and further clarify, what it means for educational institutions, notably schools, to be 'e-mature'. The focus of the survey is particularly wide, with topics including ICT leadership, infrastructure and impact on learning and teaching.

The 2008 survey, which followed on from the Harnessing Technology schools survey 2007, was conducted on behalf of Becta by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). It employed questionnaires for three target groups (school leaders, ICT co-ordinators and subject teachers) and data collection ran from December 2007 to January 2008. An innovation to the 2007 survey was that special schools were included in the sample, in addition to primary and secondary schools.

The overall picture emerging from the survey is that while ICT equipment for learning and teaching is to an increasing extent in place in schools, efforts to fully exploit these affordances would now be a valuable next step.

Specific findings include the following:

  • Average numbers of interactive whiteboards in schools have considerably risen since last year. The average numbers of interactive whiteboards rose in both primary schools (18 compared with just over six in 2005, and eight in the 2007 survey) and secondary schools (38, compared with 18 in 2005 and 22 in 2007). The fitness for purpose of interactive whiteboards is also rated very positively in all sectors.
  • There was also some improvement in computer to pupil ratios. In primary schools in 2008, there was an average of 13.9 pupils to every desktop computer and an average of 31.8 pupils for every laptop. In secondary schools, there were on average of 4.3 pupils for every desktop computer, but an average of 61.4 pupils for every laptop.
  • Schools’ use of learning platforms is increasing. In all sectors, the percentages of schools with learning platforms had increased from 2007, with secondary schools experiencing the biggest increase. The most common uses for a learning platform were, firstly, as a repository for documents for learning and teaching and, secondly, as a store for digital learning resources.
  • Nonetheless, the integration of technology into educational delivery in many schools may still be improved. There is, for example, scope for the development of the use of social software for learning; at present, social software is reportedly used for learning in only one in 20 schools.
  • In terms of strategy, improving communication with parents remained a high priority for around one-third of primary schools and just under half of secondary schools. Using technology for personalising learning was a priority area for 40 per cent of secondary schools in 2008 compared with one-quarter of primary schools.
  • For the purposes of support and advice, local authorities still seem of paramount importance for schools. This was true across each of the three school sectors. However, there was a reduction in the proportion of schools using their local authorities for information and advice compared with a year ago. The 2007 survey found that 94 per cent of primary schools and 83 per cent of secondary schools used their local authorities for accessing information and advice, compared with 69 per cent of primary schools and 60 per cent of secondary schools in 2008.
  • Teachers were largely positive about the potential contribution of new technologies to learning. For example, around three-fifths of teacher respondents agreed with the statement that pupils enjoy lessons more if they use ICT than if they do not.
  • Findings indicate that home access is by no means universal. According to school leaders’ estimates, the average proportion of pupils across the three school sectors who did not have home access to a computer was 30 per cent. ICT co-ordinators were also asked whether their schools had a home access scheme, and 4 per cent of them in primary schools reported having this, compared with 17 per cent of respondents in secondary schools and 5 per cent in special schools.
  • School leaders across all sectors were asked what they thought would happen over the next 12 months regarding home access to computers. The majority of school leader respondents (ie 58 per cent) took the view that the proportion of pupils with home access will increase slightly in the next 12 months, with around a quarter indicating that it will stay about the same.

Download Report 1: Analysis in Word (472KB), PDF (373KB) or ODT (270KB).

Download Report 2: Data in Word (3,577KB), PDF 2,069KB) or ODT (195KB).

Download Report 3: Executive summary in Word (245KB), PDF (157KB) or ODT (183KB).

Printer friendly printer friendly version of this page Published: 14 October 2008
Last modified: 24 March 2009