Microsoft pours $235.5m into school tech

Microsoft will invest $235.5m over the next five years in a programme providing technology resources and training for educational use.

Speaking in Berlin, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates outlined plans for the company's Partners in Learning project to reach three times as many students, teachers and schools globally as it has done so far.

Since 2005 the Partners in Learning initiative has invested around £3m in the UK, helping 2.4 million students and providing training materials to 134,000 teachers.

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The programme works through organisations such as the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and government education tech agency Becta.

The main UK focus has been building teachers' confidence to use technology in the learning environment through various training programmes.

Steve Beswick, director of education at Microsoft UK, said technology will underpin the direction of education in the UK over the next five years.

He added IT will play a larger role as it can help deliver the level of education required by the government's Children's Plan and give pupils the skills they increasingly need for the world of work.

One of the initiatives in the Partners in Learning programme is the Gateway Project, which is a virtual school environment for pupils across England, France and Spain to work collaboratively to learn foreign languages.

Tim Tarrant, head of ICT at the TDA, said the programme's support for its projects and the IT expertise it has provided have both been great assets.