Kent has moved away from the concept of schools behaving competitively as single institution providers, to a collaborative cluster model that will deliver school improvement whilst better serving their communities.

The Connecting Kent broadband programme initiated the Putting Learners First project, exploring new and emerging technologies that have the potential to transform teaching and learning, allowing schools to do more for less. Kent LEA aims to develop a school system that enables pupils to become autonomous learners by designing a curriculum that is relevant, both in content and teaching method, for individual pupils in a modern day society.

The PFI and Building Schools for the Future programmes are stimulating an important debate around the design of an ICT rich curriculum and environment, aimed at engaging every young person according to their needs aspirations and interests.

Effective use of ICT by learners and teachers is a key driver for school improvement. Opportunities to engage productively with ICT have a positive impact on attainment through empowering, motivating and engaging learners. The highly visual, interactive ICT learning environment suits a variety of learning styles. ICT offers personalised learning pathways to accommodate learners with different needs.

Kent has high expectations of its schools, and ICT has a vital role to play in realising the full potential for learners. ICT is a powerful tool for enhancing teaching and personalising learning to the needs of the learner.

Schools should aim to push back the boundaries of learning through exploiting Internet links with home, libraries and community institutions. Online access to learning resources beyond the school gates encourages independent discovery and exploration.