A survey conducted by the Chartered Institute for IT three years ago revealed that most schools – over 80% – thought that it was important to teach children how to touch type. Yet the survey revealed that only around 15% of schools actually did so.

The same survey showed that, on average, secondary school children were using a computer for around 3 hours every school day.

Love them or loathe them, computers are here to stay and are emerging in ever increasing forms. Yet one thing has remained constant and that is the need for the computer keyboard.

Despite the introduction of ipads and smart phones and some progress in voice recognition software to enable digital dictating, the keyboard remains the most effective, fast and accurate means of putting thoughts into words when using a computer, provided the user can touch type.

Children who learn to touch type not only gain a hugely important skill that will last them a lifetime and give them a significant advantage when they leave school. It will also help them enormously whilst attending school.

Touch typing enables children to produce work at least twice as fast than if they were writing it down. And the automatic nature of touch typing means that their mind is free to process creative thought rather than to expend energy on finding the right key on the keyboard.

And of course children who touch type produce legible work every time (usually with the correct spelling), which makes it much easier for teachers to mark, saving their valuable time too.

So why do so many schools steer clear of offering any touch-typing training for their pupils? Type&Test, the UK’s leading specialists in online touch-typing training speak to many schools about this and they have found that most cite two main reasons.

The first is that they don’t have space on the timetable to offer typing training. The curriculum is already jam packed, and touch typing is not a national requirement, so it doesn’t get a look in.

The second is that they feel that they lack the knowledge and expertise to teach it – after all, most teachers cannot touch type either!

Type&Test has provided many schools with online touch-typing training software over the years. But they have found that most schools who invest in it don’t use it effectively because they don’t have the time to administer and manage it.

So Type&Test has decided to offer a complete solution to schools that handles everything. Called ‘Total Typequick’ it includes:-

• All pupils enrolled on the courseware at the outset
• Each pupil is provided with simple log-in and user instructions
• Ongoing support for pupils via email, with response within 24 hours
• Pre and post course assessments set up remotely with full result reporting back to the school
• Printable Certificates of Achievement, personalised for each pupil and customised with the school’s name and identity
• Ongoing monitoring of pupils’ progress, with monthly reports sent to the nominated teacher or administrator
• In-school typing competitions set up and managed remotely.

So the only thing the school will need to do is to provide Type&Test with a list of pupils’ names and email addresses (if they have them) and nominate a teacher or administrator as the main contact for the service.

For more information, contact Andy Stevenson at Type&Test on 01480 861867 or email andy@typeandtest.com using the subject line ‘Total Typequick’.