Schools in England have been applauded for their embrace with technology by a leading teaching union, it has emerged.

Martin Johnson, the deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said that secondary schools were using more interactive IT support for lessons, which was encouraging for the position of education overall.

He continued: "Internationally speaking, English schools are probably the best, or certainly amongst the best, equipped in the world and the teachers are amongst the most ICT ready."

Mr Johnson described the interactive whiteboard as "ubiquitous", although the same could not be said for primary schools around the country, as they did not have the same resources at their disposal.

According to a recent report by government educational technology organisation Becta, the majority of teachers seem to be confident in the abilities of ICT in the school environment.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).