Michael Wills emphasised the need for new technology

The minister announced the extension of a scheme - called Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia (TEEM) - in which teachers try out new software and hardware in the classroom.

Mr Wills also said he would invite information technology companies to submit products to the Department for Education for evaluation - with a prospectus of specifications to be published this summer.

"We need to ensure that the best material reaches the classroom and that it is made available to all children," said the minister, emphasising the need to avoid the so-called "digital divide", in which children from better-off families take the greatest advantage of new technology.

'Freebie culture'

The conference also heard the problems facing IT companies seeking to develop educational software.

Schools were resistant to the idea of buying software - which they often expected to be free - said Phil Hemmings of Research Machines.

The culture of free material on the internet also encouraged an attitude within schools that they should not have to pay for software, he said.

Ann Foster of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing said there were many cultural and curriculum differences which made exporting educational software very difficult.

But Nigel Ward of Granada Learning said the use of information technology in education was still often further ahead in the United Kingdom than elsewhere in the world.