Where are the resources now?

Becta is no more, the removal of the National Strategies website has left many members of the education community feeling more than a little bereft, and Teachers TV is soon to follow suit. In these changing times we can be reassured that electronic resources are rarely lost - simply relocated. This is a quick post to say where things are now.

Becta:

The main Becta website was 'captured' by the National Archive service on 30th January 2011, a day before the website closed.

It will possible to access indefinitely by clicking on the image to right or using this link.





Becta also ran a second website - Next Generation Learning - which was known by some staff as their 'Wow' website. It was intended to provide information quickly about technology in schools to a wide audience. It was also promoted to parents in national newspapers.

This website was archived on the same day and is available here.



National Strategies:

This website was archived on the 5th April 2011 and is the latest archive available. All these resources are available here.




Teachers TV:

The current site is still live but "The Department [for Education] is making all 3,500 15min Teachers TV programmes and related content freely available on a non-exclusive basis" (DfE website). Whilst the twittersphere is talking about downloading the content to non-Governmental servers the DfE is clearly planning a method by which we can all maintain access to the majority of the content. When a URL for the new site becomes available this blog will be updated.



These archives will become a very interesting snapshot for historians in years to come of what education looked like by the end of the Labour Government 1997-2010. The technology schools used, the pedagogical advice teachers were provided with and the videos of how this then looked in practice will all be archived. What will be of tremendous interest to all is how much of this will all seem dated in this new world of academies, free schools and the eBacc, and what will stand the test of time.

Alex Rees
alex.rees@redbridge.gov.uk