In this age of rapid change and uncertainty and the introduction of exciting technologies, there is a need to put in place proper staff development policies that will have a long term impact. Educators need ICT skills training in order to be effective within an ICT-based learning environment. ICTs can be beneficial to both educators and learners alike, if they have the skills to use them.

Staff Development at Schools

When developing policies, schools face a number of challenges which need to be overcome or dealt with in order to effectively implement school computing. These include:

• Educators who are generally inexperienced with computers.
  
• Implementation of newer educational approaches for which software may not be available or if it is available it is extremely costly.
  
• Inadequate training and support for educators learning new ICT skills.
  
• Lack of effective models and best practice guidelines for educators to follow.
  
• Staff wanting to take home computers.Conflicts in time allocations for users on school ICTs.