By Mark Blacklock

Computers in the classroom can help children to learn more than five times faster than normal, new research has revealed.

But new technology can only put pupils on the fast track in literacy and numeracy if they have highly－motivated teachers who know how to make the best use of school equipment.

The findings of a study by researchers at Newcastle University may reduce fears among some parents that computers might damage children's reading and writing skills.

Project manager Steve Higgins said:" With professional support and a focus on clearly identified subject objectives,teachers can use computers very effectively to help raise standards." He and his colleague David Mosley spent almost two years examining the effect of Information and Communications Technology in lessons.

They worked with hundreds of primary school pupils aged four to nine at 20 carefully selected schools in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Lancashire, Gloucestershire and the West Midlands.

The classes were picked because of their teachers' track record in achieving good results from pupils.

The children's standards were measured and recorded throughout the study and the methods of using high－tech aids analysed by the research team.

In subjects like mathematics, the children were able to pack an average of 2.8 months' work into just one month. In reading and writing the improvement was even more astonishing――5.1 months' progress in only four weeks.

At one school, pupils of below average reading ability used software to create their own book, which was then presented to the rest of the class.

In another school, a teacher who provided palmtop computers found children enthusiastically redrafting their work with the use of the spellchecker and thesaurus.

The teacher said he thought the devices increased the youngsters' motivation to write and revise their work.

The project team observed the work of classes using ICT, analysed teaching methods and then interviewed teachers about their techniques. Researchers then undertook development work with groups of the teachers to help build on the most successful methods.

By only the second term of the project the children were found to have made significant gains on standardised tests.

The group's report says:" Pupils made significant gains on standardised tests in 14 out of 16 development classes."

But the researchers warned that not every area of teaching might benefit from the use of ICT, so it is just as important for staff to decide when not to use it as when and how to use it.

The research team, which was sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency, concluded that no single approach proved most effective because a combination of different factors was at work.

The report, which is available free to schools from the university's Department of Education, concludes: " ICT offers the potential to improve standards of attainment in literacy and mathematics."