Scottish Borders Council is to set up a centre of excellence in the use of Apple technology.
This comes with the award of Apple professional learning provider (APLP) status by the global technology company.
The council said it has obtained the status through its Inspire Learning project, which has provided technology and professional development to staff and young people in the area.
This will lead to the launch the Inspire Academy to support other education technology projects and local authorities across the country.
This will provide professional development opportunities and support for teachers and education leaders across the country.
Scottish Borders said that APLP status will provide its education staff with access to partnerships with leading education technology providers from around the world.
It will also lead to national education events being hosted in the Borders, with attendees from across the UK, and provide training opportunities to its education staff.
Supporting the vision
Cllr Carol Hamilton, executive member for children and young people, said: "As an Apple professional learning provider we will now be able to host exclusive national events here in the Borders, bring key partners - including Apple, CGI (our IT partner), Education Scotland and others - to invest in, highlight and support the Inspire Learning vision, and use it as a national example of good practice that can help similar projects in other areas of the country and further afield.
"We see many potential opportunities for our teachers and young people as leading members of a global community of best practice in education and see this as a way to add enormous richness and value to learning experiences in our region.
"We will soon be bringing forward more detailed plans for the initial launch of this new venture and look forward to sharing these with everyone as we enter such an exciting new chapter in the Inspire Learning journey."
Apple professional learning providers support schools in implementing Apple technology, with objectives including learning, teaching, coding, deployment and management.
