What action is the Minister taking to ensure every school pupil in Wales has access to an appropriate digital device to support their learning?
Ensuring we realise and maximise the transformational benefits and opportunities that Education Technology (EdTech) can have on teaching and learning practices is one of my key ministerial priorities. This is why I am fully committed to maintaining support for the Hwb EdTech programme, which provides all learners in maintained schools with equitable access to a range of online tools and resources.
The Welsh Government has invested over £150 million, including £15 million this year, to equip our schools and learners with the equipment and support needed to future-proof education technology infrastructure in Wales, helping schools to further embrace and enhance their digital learning. Local authorities, working closely with their schools, have developed individual device strategies to support their requirements, and have also used this funding to provide over 216,000 digital devices for schools and their learners.
This significant investment in the Hwb EdTech programme has been further maximised by adopting a national, collaborative procurement approach. Through aggregating demand on a national level, every local authority in Wales – on behalf of their schools - has access to dynamic procurement mechanisms and partnerships with key suppliers, allowing them to purchase competitively priced devices aligned to our nationally agreed Education Digital Standards, whilst also achieving significant cost savings.
My officials continue to work closely with local authorities on how the recent investment programme supports them to achieve a more sustainable EdTech model, and to ensure there are sufficient devices available to meet the needs of learners and supporting schools in embedding and embracing digital learning.