The major sponsors for the conference are the Department of Education, Northern Ireland, Microsoft and the Department of Education and Science, Dublin.Significant sponsorship has also been provided by the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster, Qwizdom UK Ltd and IEARN.

The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland is offering 10 bursaries, each worth £100, to teachers from Northern Ireland who wish to attend the conference. These will be made available on a first come, first served basis and will be triggered by registration for the conference. The newly established Teaching Council in the Republic of Ireland has also kindly provided support for two Southern teachers to attend the conference

This conference is eligible for Comenius 2.2 funding for delegates to attend. There are new guidelines for eligibility for 2006 which indicate that ‘grants may be made for active participation in a conference/seminar’ organised by …a genuinely representative European association active in the field of school education’. Delegates from outside the UK should apply to their own National Agency for funding; if they have any need for clarification they should refer to the Socrates website.

The Socrates grants which may be available concern residents of the 31 countries participating in the programme; the 25 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. No funding is available, for example, to delegates resident in Africa or Asia.