Are IT budgets always too small?

Will even larger IT budgets for schools solve even the most common problems they encounter? Will even more investment in equipment and networks that quickly become outdated help students and teachers improve standards? The UK is Europe's leading nation in equipping classrooms with digital equipment and doubled the budget for education over the last decade. But according to the OECD Report 2010, few improvements in learning outcomes can be directly linked to this investment. Yet, more ICT (read IT) is recommended. Who is driving this on-going IT saga? Are today's education professionals IT addicts rather than more skillful educators? Or are they right to push for even more investment, as there is no way back?

From: Education Executive
business management magazine written exclusively for school business managers and bursars

ICT budgets too small
Survey shows education professionals want more investment
Released 24/03/201

This is according to research conducted by NETGEAR at BETT 2010, the world's largest educational technology event. Over a third of respondents attribute the lack of investment to the restricted budgets allocated by LEAs and the Government, with 22 percent stating that the high cost of networking technologies is preventing educational institutions from sufficiently investing in these areas.
…
Remote access (17 per cent), training (17 per cent) and purchasing up-to-date equipment (13 per cent) are currently seen as the top priorities for investment; however these are just pieces of a puzzle when installing a successful IT infrastructure.
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Over half of respondents stated that, once an education establishment has implemented these technologies, insufficient resource is allocated to maintaining their networks. Schools, colleges and universities are therefore looking to identify the right solution to suit their specific needs; at the lowest possible cost. 11 percent believe the confusing choice of networking technologies available is a key hurdle that must be overcome to achieve this.

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The future of Becta

Becta, the British institution for promoting and integrating IT in education, points out that budgets are likely to become tight, especially for IT in most schools. John Spencer evaluates the achievements of Becta. Please note that the phrase "ICT" is commonly used where-as only IT, computer driven appliences, are targeted in efforts to replace the traditional ICTs.

From:



Becta and school ICT: end of the line for the gravy train?
March 05, 2010, Posted by: John Spencer

… But here is the rub… there is an election coming and our lost tribes are getting more than a little nervous as they survey the national debt, public sector cuts and party manifestos.

The Conservative party, who may well win the election have already pledged to shut Becta so maybe this is a good time to reflect on the doings of our old friends.

Long before the 2008 crash, trouble was brewing. Those naughty appointed vendors may have taken a few liberties with their market dominance and educationally discounted software.Schools were now virtually all locked into Microsoft's Operating Systems and Office upgrade cycle...things were getting expensive.

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Spending, benefits and reality hitting home

Well, it seems that IT in education will be high on the political agenda in the UK. After blowing budgets on all kinds of splendour of promising new technologies in the classroom, questions are being asked about what we actually invested in. Do you know? From BBC News Blog dot.Rory:

Are we building schools for the future?
Wednesday, 3 March 2010, Rory Cellan-Jones

In the last decade there's been a technology revolution in schools. Billions have been spent on computers for teachers and pupils, on installing wireless networks, on putting electronic whiteboards in just about every classroom - and on the IT suppliers who run school systems. But now there's mounting disquiet about this huge investment programme - and questions are being asked not just by politicians but by teachers about whether it's delivering what children need.

"But when you throw in projectors, electronic whiteboards, a wireless network and a swipecard electronic registration system it all adds up to a lot of money - £1.5m for the initial fitting-out, and then big running costs every year."

"A common theme was of over-ambitious new building schemes that were so inflexible that the technology was out of date or not fit for purpose by the time schools opened. I heard of huge frustrations about contracts with IT suppliers which head teachers felt did not deliver what their schools needed."

"Nobody I spoke to wanted to go back to chalk and talk, dump the computers, and leave children to make their own way in the digital age. But there was a growing recognition that spending big sums on kit did not necessarily deliver better education.

The symbol of the school IT spending spree is the electronic whiteboard. But I met plenty of teachers who were not convinced that an interactive board costing several thousand pounds was essential, especially in an education system where a teacher standing at the front lecturing silent rows of rapt children is now seen as old hat."

Read and listen here

related to this previous post

Teacher scare

Don't forget the teacher, a blogpost from




Why teachers should boycott ICT (except Linux)
February 17, 2010, Posted by: John Spencer

ICT in schools is a good thing... or maybe not if you are a teacher.
Like all powerful tools ICT can be used for good or ill. In my opinion the last decade has seen the bad side come to the fore.
This really was highlighted for me recently by an article carried in the national press which raised concerns about teachers becoming victims of the dreaded key-stroke analysers now used very widely in schools in the UK.

If we want to extend learning using modern technology, as most politicians seemto wish to do, then we need to sort out how it should be used.

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Are IT budgets ever enough?

The IT dream often hits reality somewhere. Lessons to be learnt... again. From


Head of Bristol Brunel Academy says much school IT spending is wasted
February 9, 2010 by Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent

An academy designed to be the first fully wireless school has been blighted by computer problems since being opened by Gordon Brown more than two years ago.
The head of the £24 million Bristol Brunel Academy — a beacon of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme — said that its wireless system had yet to work properly and teachers still did the register on paper because of problems with swipe cards. Other heads had told him fingerprint recognition systems were unreliable.

Mr Di-Finizio criticised the millions of pounds being spent on technology in schools, and suggested that there was a fixation with constantly updating classrooms with the latest gadgets.

Mr Di-Finizio said that there were pressures on schools to buy expensive equipment. “One could be led up the wrong path by IT experts. Is it worth having card-swiping and fingerprint detection systems in place, if the teacher still has to do the register?

read the full story here

How to spend a budget

The Australian government gives IT education $40m boost.




Computerworld Australia points out a characteristic feature concerning a grandscale introduction of a promising ICT (read IT)-project. Somehow it's hard to find any details on how it is supposed to work for schools, teachers and students.

$40m fund set up to teach teachers ICT
19 February, 2010 by Trevor Clarke (Computer World)

The Federal Government will spend up to $40 million to give teachers training in ICT.
As part of the so-called Digital Education Revolution the government will conduct a consultation process with the education sector and develop an ICT self-assessment tool that will be trailled from February 2011.

However, no details were provided as to what skills within the broad ICT category would be targeted by either of the new funds.

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Malaysian Smart schools

From the New Strait Times

In name only
2010/01/23 by SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

By the end of the year, all Malaysian schools will qualify as Smart Schools. However, local academicians say they have yet to capture the essence of being “smart”, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU Up to last month, Universiti Utara Malaysia College of Art and Sciences lecturer Dr Abdul Halim Mohamed would drive 25 minutes from Sintok or Changlun, Kedah to Arau, Perlis once or twice a month to spend five hours at a primary school where he was coaching.

While schools may seem ready to be Smart Schools, Abdul Halim thinks it will be years before they can truly capture the essence of being “smart”.

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IT in education is expensive

An interesting article with some facts on the real costs of introducing computers into schools. From


How to stretch that budget. One computer per child in schools has long been an unattainable ideal: schools cannot afford it. Could the answer lie in thin-client technology? Sean Dodson reports

find it here