National EdTech programme

The Welsh Government is committed to delivering a national approach which enables schools to maximise the transformational benefits of digital and technology in education.

Working in collaboration with all local authorities, we are fundamentally challenging and changing the digital landscape in schools. The national programme is driven by strategic guiding principles which put our learners and practitioners at the heart of everything we do.

The Welsh Government provides a national digital ecosystem (Hwb) for all maintained schools in Wales to underpin school operations and support the delivery of the Curriculum for Wales.

Hwb provides access to a wide range of safe, secure, and bilingual tools, resources and services. These national foundations can help enable and inspire learners and practitioners to confidently embed digital practices and help develop digital culture, competencies and skills.

The following overview outlines the Welsh Governments commitment to support a ‘Once for Wales’ approach and support local authorities and schools to realise the strategic aims of:

•  enabling schools to successfully deliver our pioneering Curriculum for Wales

•  maximise the opportunities digital presents to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and administrative burden on school leaders and our workforce

• support local authorities to transform learning environments and enhance school facilities for local communities, contributing towards developing net-zero carbon schools

• position Wales as a global leader in digital education

Deliver a national approach for digital in schools which enables local authorities and schools to harness and maximise the opportunities of digital and emerging technology to equip and prepare their learners to thrive in a global digital society by:

• recognising and understanding how education priorities can benefit from cross-government work programmes through a sector leadership group

• driving collaboration across the Welsh Government, local authorities and school improvement partners

• raising awareness of the importance of digital and technology in supporting school operations and the transformation of classroom practices which underpin the Curriculum for Wales

• developing a robust programme of digital change to meet existing and future challenges

• embracing a proactive national approach to new opportunities arising from emerging technology across the education technology sector

Support local authorities to harness the potential of Hwb services to ensure schools can benefit from digital at the heart of pedagogy and school operations by:

• collaborating with local authorities, school improvement partners and global technology leaders to support schools to identify and share effective digital pedagogy

• ensuring the education digital standards and guidance evolve in line with school needs and current industry standards

• providing schools with a simple, compliant route to market to purchase appropriate equipment and services at the most cost-effective price

• identifying shared services for schools which offer more efficient ways of working or removes complexity and costs from school budgets

• providing continuous professional development opportunities to help improve the adoption of Hwb services and the digital competence of the workforce

Deliver a national school environment which provides equity of access to safe, secure and resilient digital services which are intuitive, easy to use and can seamlessly adapt to meet the evolving needs of schools and local authorities by:

• working in partnership with the Public Sector Broadband Aggregation team to ensure digital connectivity meets the needs and ambitions of schools

• providing seamless integration and access to appropriate education services using our national identity service

• supporting local authorities to ensure the digital infrastructure meets the needs of schools with a ‘turn it on and it works’ approach

Deliver a digital gateway for the whole schools’ sector in Wales to enable easy access to Welsh Government guidance, support, national resources and digital tools and services by:

• ensuring all schools have consistent and equal access to a range of bilingual content

• collaborate across the sector to deliver and modernise services ensuring they are simple, secure and designed around user needs

• working in partnership with Adnodd and Dysgu to develop and maintain an intuitive and high-quality repository of bilingual digital resources to support delivery of the Curriculum for Wales and professional learning