Trevor Kerry: "Challenges for educators"

"But much experience that youngsters of the future may have will be second-hand rather than first, gained through computer programs rather than through real life and social relationships."

Distance learning and the use of video-conferencing would mean that teachers might have very different roles from one another.

Learning from home

These changes are taking place already, with some schools using video links to allow one teacher to deliver a lesson to pupils in several schools.

Some educators argue that school buildings could be dispensed with - as pupils log on at home and choose a registered teacher for whatever subject they are interested in.

But research suggests most teachers are nowhere near familiar enough with the emerging technologies to use them to their full capacity.

The Learning and Technology Minister, Michael Wills, said in a recent BBC News Online interview that he thought there was potential for greater flexibility and that an "exciting new world of learning" was opening up.

But he said: "There's still going to be a classroom, there's still going to be a teacher in it and there's still going to be children learning together."

Social deprivation

The professor - formerly a secondary school teacher - also challenged the government view that schools could do well even though their pupils might have disadvantaged social backgrounds.

"Children in the most deprived areas often go hungry, and research tells us this impairs performance," he said.

"The links between poverty, poor housing, poor health, criminality and low education attainment are proven beyond doubt."

Poor self-image was a factor in educational under-performance.

"Aspirations are a step too far for children already living on the edge."