As 19,000 families in Kent learn next week which secondary school their child has be allocated, and decide whether to take up that place, Gary Hollingsbee, head of e-learning at the Malling Holmesdale Federation, argues that the use of technology in teaching should be one of the most important selection criteria for parents. He can be contacted on gary.hollingsbee@mhfederation.co.uk

As a child growing up in the 1970s and 80s, my memory of computers (like many of us I suspect) was of a single BBC machine in a dusty backroom of the school that required borderline genius to operate.

Even when I eventually went into teaching English, computers kept their air of mystery until I began noticing the tremendous effect they were having on literacy, descriptive powers and use of language, ability to weigh up text, critique it and understand what was being communicated.

Now an amazing array of devices is being used in infinite ways to make children more flexible, quick-thinking, communicative and broad-minded. And it’s not at the expense of physical activity. New technology is designed to be used on the move and also can map movement and dance, coach sport and make exercise so much more fun.

The reason we have to “get with” technology is many of us can’t even imagine the world our children will be working in. They won’t be competing or working with the person sitting next to them; it will be the person in the US, in Africa, in Australia. What we regard as backward countries have technology every bit as good as ours. Kenya, for example, has been pumping millions into technology infrastructure and now has one of the best in the world. European and North American children can’t afford to sit still or they will be quickly outpaced.

This is why technology at school is one of the most important places to start; it provides a safe learning environment in which to experiment, gives access to devices children would never normally have a chance to use and, most importantly, it applies technology to learning. To me, learning is about acquiring skills and information which can then be applied for genuine benefit; schools can make sure the technology being taught has a real purpose.

So how can you check your child’s new school has the right approach to technology? Undoubtedly, the starting point is the ratio of children to computers. You should be looking for a school with one computer for every child. Some schools offer a scheme whereby students have their own laptop to use in school and take home for homework, or at least have access to their own laptops during the school day. Wireless or wired broadband throughout the school must be available to support this.

To make best use of the computers the school should also have a virtual learning hub or community sitting behind their website. This is a site children can log into to access learning resources, homework and assessments; parents can also use it to ensure their kids are on top of their assignments. You will be able to tell if the school you are looking at has one when you go on to their website because there will be a link to My School or similar that is a virtual learning environment.

The last must to look for is a skills-based curriculum, especially for Year 7 and 8 children just coming into secondary school and working their way towards their GCSE years. This is a way of combining several subjects into one project to apply subjects in a practical way. Skills or project-based learning is proving such a successful approach in terms of eventual GCSE results at both Holmesdale Technology College and The Malling School, we are moving towards having fewer pure subjects in the curriculum for the first two years and instead teaching most subjects through projects underpinned by technology.

So my argument for technology to be one of the most important focuses of the school you finally settle on for your child is because we can no longer think of schools competing with other schools in the region; they must be world-class and capable of bringing children up to be comfortable and capable at a world level.