There was an intriguing procurement notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 17th Feb 2009. (All major public sector buying must start with a notice published in the EU Journal under European Law).
The DCSF notice states:
"The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is tendering for a single provider or consortium to establish nine regional ICT Support Centres to deliver high quality, innovative
continuing professional development to primary and secondary ICT
teachers across the country. The aim of the Regional Centres is to
improve the quality of ICT teaching to bring the subject into the 21st
Century, building on the knowledge and skills many students gain from
using computers in a wide range of settings and encourage more pupils
to continue studying
ICT/computing post-16.
We are looking for innovative and creative solutions. The Department is wishing to contract with a lead organisation
for a period of 2 years with an option to extend for a further 3 years."
According to the information pack for bidders £2.65m is allocated in 2009/10, and £3m the year after.
" Teaching ICT is not considered a high
status job in the teaching profession, where many teachers without ICT
qualifications are teaching the subject"
The contract should be awarded in June this year. It will be interesting to see who will take the job on!