Schools' ICT Programme

Set up in 2006, the Virtual Advisory Service aims to provide direct online support for educational practitioners. Throughout its development, it has been building a community of practising professionals to create a mutually supportive environment, providing a national service for all stages to 18. The cornerstone of the service is that online advice/support is provided by a team of high quality, experienced, credible advisers targeting customised support to reflect local and national needs and delivering the service within firm deadlines.

Phase 1 of the project (February – June 2007) involved the participation of over 100 teaching staff from four of Scotland’s local authorities: Dundee, East Lothian, Highland and Midlothian.

This phase of the project was then evaluated externally by George Street Research and the results were extremely positive with users identifying the following key strengths:

• The ability to access it anytime, anywhere (24 hour access)

• The ability to network with peers from all over Scotland

• Access to expert advice at the click of a button

• The simplicity of the site, navigation and process.

Overall, the evaluation of Phase 1 established that users view the Virtual Advisory Service as having the potential to appeal to and be used by all educational practitioners in Scotland. Read the evaluation in its entirety by downloading it from the link on the right of this page.

Phase 2, which is now running from November 2007 to April 2008, has expanded to serve 500 staff from 13 authorities.Find out more about these Phase 2 authorities.