Transformation is the ultimate goal, but in reality that transformation demands a developmental journey. Technology can improve so many different aspects of the way a school or college works, from basic administration through streamlined lesson preparation to personalising learning, that school heads or other senior managers need a careful and comprehensive plan to draw all the different elements together, with distinct milestones along the way.

Technology can substantially raise performance, but only if behavioural and other cultural elements are addressed alongside the implementation of the technology itself. For instance the government recently announced its intention to ensure that all learners had broadband access to school resources from outside school. The initiative connects immediately with other important ambitions, including personalising learning (it should mean that

all students really can work where and whenever it suits them best) and fuller parental engagement in a student's work at school (and there is clear evidence that such engagement can boost performance).

But for a school to pursue this potential it will need to have a "learning platform", which among other facilities offers students a dedicated online workspace; it will need to be adapting its teaching methods around the potential of that learning platform, and it will also need to be working consciously with parents to encourage their deeper engagement in the life of the school.

Many schools are already well advanced on this journey, and some 1100 have gained the Becta ICT Mark, the national standard in the use of technology across all aspects of school life, including student assessment, teaching and learning, and the development of staff, leadership and management.

The ICT Mark is a rigorous and demanding standard, which is probably why research shows that ICT Mark-accredited schools are four times more likely to be rated as outstanding in the overall effectiveness category of Ofsted inspection reports. Other research has also shown that pupils at ICT Mark schools achieve better results.

But because many other schools have some way to go on their journey to the kind of excellence demanded by the ICT Mark, Becta has developed a new initiative to encourage and help them on their way.

Available from January 2009 the Next Generation Learning Charter offers a way for schools to declare their commitment to the improvement journey. The commitment is specific. When they sign up schools will be saying that over the next three years they will:

• develop a shared vision for the use of technology
• plan the use of ICT across the curriculum
• use technology to enhance learning and support
• assess how technology is supporting their pupils' learning
• ensure all staff and learners can use technology effectively and safely
• use technology to extend learning beyond the school
• make sure they have safe, secure and sustainable resources
• use technology to help learners progress and achieve.

Logically enough these commitments reflect closely the criteria for the ICT Mark, and they also can be linked directly to the elements of Becta's Self-review framework.

The Self-review framework itself offers a powerful tool for schools to compare themselves against best practice and plan their progress in a structured way. And because it is designed to develop best practice in every way it offers a path to more effective procurement.

With schools having to plan their journey in a tightening economic climate, managing technology investment within realistic budgets is critical. The good news is that the Next Generation Learning Charter offers both a public commitment to excellence and a clear way forward.