The Hugh Christie Technology College is a state run school for students aged 7 – 18, located in Kent, UK. This school of approximately 1100 represents and underserved population where the students failed to meet the standards necessary for them to attend a more prestigious “Academy”. (In the UK, the top 10% of students are availed this opportunity, with the rest sent to local LEA state schools.) Four years ago the Hughe Christie School scored in the bottom 40% of achievement scores for similar institutions. The school was facing financial crisis with almost 86% of their operating budget going to personnel costs.

In 2001 the school was placed under new leadership. Chris Gerry, the new “principal” (referred to as head teacher in the UK) immediately began to institute cultural change. Under his leadership he began to reinvent the classroom. Larger learning spaces were created so that classes of 60 – 100 students could be conducted. Curriculum modules were created so that students had increased flexibility and improved relevance while still meeting their educational requirements. Quality teachers willing to move to this new learning environment were provided the opportunity, while others remained teaching in the status quo. During this transitional period, teachers and students in large class sizes were all placed in environments that had 1:1 access. Such access was initially provided through desk top computers and now, every year 7 and year 8 student has their own Tablet PC. Incoming grades will continue to receive this type of access.

Over the next two years, Hugh Christie became revitalized. Student achievement scores in the new learning environments rose. More and more, traditional classrooms were no longer found. Lead teachers were now supporting with teaching aides and the quality of instruction and instructor rose considerably. And most important, as recently reported in their state wide achievement report, Hugh Christie has more that 54% of students at proficiency levels. This all being accomplished while decreasing their personnel operating expenses to 68% of total budget.

Could this be applied in our South African context – seems a good use of technology?