A DEPUTY headteacher in Darwen is giving up his position in a bid to improve ICT teaching in schools across East Lancashire.

Graham Dean, 53, of Darwen, has been second-in-command at St Barnabas Primary School since 1979 but has now decided to concentrate on what he believes will be the future of education.

He will take up a 12-month contract with Blackburn with Darwen Council's E-Learning team on September 1 to help provide more assistance to teachers wanting to make better use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in their classrooms.

He said: "The new post will involve working as a member of a team supporting teachers who are keen to make more use of ICT in their teaching, in their own classrooms and with their own school's resources."

The father-of-two, who also taught science at St James Secondary School, Farnworth, has long been an advocate for technology in the classroom and has written articles on using IT in schools.

He said: "I've been interested in using computers in education since I first came in contact with them in 1972 while studying with the Open University. It was to be another decade before we actually purchased our first one to use at St Barnabas.

"Leaving St Barnabas was not a sudden decision. In the early years of computers in schools, when there was a dearth of software and computers were relatively simple to program, I wrote a number of simple applications. Then I went on to write occasional articles on using IT in schools and review software and websites.

"I also maintain a website containing a number of resources for schools and I was involved in the lottery-funded training of teachers from six schools in using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) between 2000 and 2003.

"The new post will involve working as a member of a team supporting teachers who are keen to make more use of ICT in their teaching, in their own classrooms, with their own school's resources."

A presentation will be made to Mr Dean at the Leavers' Service in St Barnabas' Church, from 9.30am on July 15.