IT for teachers

That is accepted, but the difficulty comes at school when those same adults are now required to teach IT, or information communication technology (ICT) as it is known in the education sector, and deal with all the associated problems.

The dilemma was recognised by Tom Welch, a teacher at Eynsham Primary School who, disillusioned with his profession, decided to rise to the challenge and start a new business.

He thought about his own experience and realised schools were being given a lot of money for ICT equipment in keeping with government guidelines but the support did not exist.

As a result, when anything went wrong, expensive kit just sat there gathering dust because no-one was capable of fixing or even operating it properly in the first place. From this the idea of Turn IT On was born.

"I started the company with the idea that schools turn on the computers and get value for money from their investment," said Mr Welch.

"We not only offer technical support but we can work with staff in developing skills and confidence with the children in the classroom."

With this in mind, Mr Welch only recruited people with teaching experience. His first port of call was his old school, Eynsham Primary, and soon Turn IT On was supporting a network of Oxfordshire schools.

This has now spread to 150 spread across Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Hampshire and Swindon, with 18 people employed directly.

London and Brighton are the next targets for expansion.

And because Mr Welch identified a need for a service in the education field which is by its nature non-competitive, the company's reputation has spread by word of mouth rather than through direct marketing.

"We do a good job and the schools recommend us - we have been successful because we know the primary school market," he said.

Most of the Turn IT On staff work from home and visit schools in their area, although the company has been based at the Begbroke Innovation Centre at Yarnton for the past 18 months.

In effect, the operation of the business is quite simple, as Mr Welch explained: "We go into the school and they shove a load of problems in front of us, which can include fixing the printer as they don't have any technical knowledge at all, and they breathe a sigh of relief. But the idea is that we get them up and running and then move their ICT forward. They may have 25 pieces of software but don't know how to use half of them."

The Turn IT On experts not only troubleshoot and train, they also instruct teachers to make the most out of the Internet.

Mr Welch said: "They might not be covering all areas of the curriculum - for example, they may be doing word processing but not spread sheets. If necessary, we can go into the classroom and do the teaching ourselves.

"The children only need telling once because they use ICT all the time at home. The problem is the teachers - we need to build up their confidence so they can keep up."

Unlike many school ICT providers, Turn IT On is totally independent and does not recommend any particular product.

Mr Welch said: "Teachers don't necessarily have ICT expertise and a salesman can come in and sell stuff, half of which they don't need.

"When a school upgrades its network we reckon the amount of money we can save it can pay for our services for a year."

The other major element of the Turn IT On business is iTeachers, a programme of modules designed to help teachers deliver lessons using ICT in the classroom.

"A Government objective is that ICT is embedded into the curriculum - every subject should have an ICT element to it," said Tom.

"The other element to it is continuous professional development - 80 per cent of staff have had no training in the last three years."

The iTeachers site is split into key stages one and two and covers topics ranging from coastal erosion to the artist Matisse, offering teachers and pupils a visual experience which carries simple audio explanations.

They can be used in combination with regular teaching and are simple to use.

"We can deliver the national curriculum in the classroom without the need to have a dedicated ICT lesson. Any school that signs up for it is offered a free tutorial."

Iteachers has proved popular with schools throughout the UK, and even has customers as far afield as Dubai. Its interactive nature means that teachers can ask for specific elements which can then be delivered to them electronically.

Not surprisingly, iTeachers took more than two years to develop but its combination of teaching and teacher training has meant local education authorities have been queuing up.

Mr Welch said: "This is a service that is very much an addition to Turn IT On and allows us to reach other parts of the country that we have not accessed before. We are also accessing secondary education with iTeachers and are developing key stage three modules."

This is a major breakthrough for Turn IT On, as most secondary schools usually have a dedicated ICT manager and technician that primaries usually can't afford and don't need these services..

Iteachers costs from £249 to £549 a year and Turn IT On can be as much as £9,500 a year, but even at that price, it is still cheaper than employing a full-time ICT professional.

And Mr Welch insists that all his staff have the qualifications and experience to deliver to both teachers and pupils equally effectively. A good example is the recent appointment of former Radley Primary School headteacher Radka Benton as an account manager.

Mr Welch said: "Our staff deliver and support - our secret is in the quality of our people."