Leading teacher calls for rethink on schools intranet

THE government-backed schools intranet has been criticised as "not working" after a leading teacher called for a moratorium on Glow until the basics are right.

Jaye Richards of Cathkin High, one of the pioneers of site users in schools, said the system is clunky, not user-friendly and often does not work.

She also said vast swathes of the country have no plans to implement Glow, which is run by Learning and Teaching Scotland, the government body responsible for the school curriculum. Glasgow, only has three secondary schools piloting it.

Her remarks come after delegates at the EIS teaching union conference last year demanded an investigation into how well teachers are trained to use it, and whether councils even have the technology to use it all.

John Black, from the EIS's Aberdeenshire local association, warned wide variations in technological ability across Scotland could see a postcode lottery of availability.

Star Wars director George Lucas, who now heads up a computer educational foundation in the United States, has previously praised Glow as leading the world.

The 37.5 million project aims to link pupils and teachers across Scotland with shared resources and to improve communications between schools and parents.