Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen wrote to the Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, to warn of the "major issue'' developing in schools.
He said the rollout of laptops as part of the computers in schools program saw many schools struggle to attract and retain technicians.
"In regions with massive workforce shortages, (such as) Mackay, the problem is even more acute,'' Mr Christensen wrote.
"As you would understand, a mining company can pay considerably more for an information and communications technology technician than a state school or even a private school can.
"This all poses a massive problem for schools.''
Mr Christensen said many schools were losing their technicians because of increased workloads and no associated increase in funding for administration of ICT.
"As a result, I am informed, the provision of ICT in schools is grinding to a halt,'' he wrote. "I am advised that this matter is so serious that some schools will, very soon, consider industrial action of some nature to highlight the problems that the computers-in-schools scheme has caused.''
Queensland Secondary Principals' Association president Norm Fuller said his organisation had been calling for more ICT support "for some time''.
He agreed that finding ICT professionals in mining areas had been difficult and that student learning outcomes at some schools would have been affected because of a lack of support, but denied the provision of ICT in some schools was "grinding to a halt''.
Department of Education and Training director-general Julie Grantham said her department was aware that ICT technicians at several schools had left recently.
"Retaining ICT technical staff in some regional areas is challenging given the competing demands for skilled workers,'' Ms Grantham said.
She said that schools experiencing issues with recruiting and retaining ICT staff should seek advice from their regional technology manager.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Jasmin Lill and Tanya Chilcott
Quelle/Source: Courier Mail, 09.04.2012
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
