Microsoft will recruit technology teachers to help develop digital material for the school curriculum in Ireland. The graduates, who will be based in Microsoft Ireland headquarters in Dublin, will work with the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) seek to find ways of integrating information communications technology into teaching and learning.
These graduates will be employed to help find new ways of intergrating ICT into learning, under the Government's graduate back-to-work programme which allows them to retain their social welfare entitlements. The graduate training places are among a number of key elements in the 'education alliance' agreed between Microsoft Ireland and the Department of Education and Science.
The education alliance agreement will also bring extra benefits to schools using Microsoft products under a yearly licensing agreement. The yearly licensing agreement allows schools to acquire a perpetual licence by paying a once-off amount for Microsoft products on their existing computers and for any new Microsoft products bought for new computers. As a result of Microsoft's investment in the programme, the once-off perpetual licence fee will be offered at a discounted rate to the schools.
Microsoft will also provide access to a range of online and digital resources including, The Learning Suite (including Office 2007) which has several titles of educational value to primary and post-primary schools. Paul Rellis, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland, said: “The Government has demonstrated its commitment to integrating ICT into teaching and learning with the announcement of the
