In life, there are two things you can be sure of: death and taxes. But if you work in a school you can be just as certain of new government initiatives. Having to get to grips with the latest well-intentioned policy can be difficult for the time-strapped headteacher, and now help could be at hand to bring much needed clarity and understanding to a raft of government ideas.

‘The Key,’ a free online resource funded by the government, aims to deal with any question ranging from the latest guidance on personalised learning to how to deal with an outbreak of head lice answered by its team of education experts.

It is currently in a pilot phase which is due to end in July this year and decisions will be made whether The Key will be rolled out nationally, following evaluation.

“The Key came about as a result of the Training and Development Agency’s wider responsibilities for areas such as professional development back in 2005,” says a spokesman for the Training and Development Agency. “We wanted to explore a way of communicating with the teaching workforce and find ways to support them through being able to answer their questions such as, “What are the issues involved in becoming an extended school?”

“The aim of The Key is to meet the information needs of the teaching workforce in a way that doesn’t second guess but ultimately responds to the questions asked in an efficient and cost-effective way,” he added.

Once questions have been answered correctly, they are filed in an intelligent database so that if someone else asks the same question, the answer is there, ready and waiting for them.

“You get very relevant information very quickly. It’s an absolute goldmine,” says John Howard-Drake, of The Misbourne School, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, quoted on The Key website.

The pilot phase involves 1,000 schools of all types from all over the UK. The scheme is a partnership between the National College of School Leadership and the Training and Development Agency.

So far, user response has been positive; with a customer rating of over 90% says the Training and Development Agency.

Registrations, for now, are closed pending evaluation later this year.


www.usethekey.org.uk