12 Jan 2010
Public sector budget cuts after the 2010 general election could lead to schools actively outsourcing their ICT, according to a survey by Redshift Research on behalf of ICT provider The Stone Group.
The study found that budgetary restraint was the top concern for 84 per cent of schools in 2010.
Further reading
Stone Group technical services manager Richard Stockdale argued that historically there has been a reluctance to outsource IT in schools. “But then they have never faced a situation like this one, where the funds available will be reduced,” he added.
The survey also showed that the majority of schools and colleges have in-house ICT systems, with 93 per cent also managing their own network.
Additionally, desktop and server management are handled internally by 91 per cent and 90 per cent of schools respectively.
ICT has become embedded in the national curriculum, but schools also need it to comply with the government's pupil/system ratio targets. "It is very much something they can't do without now,” said Stockdale.
Stockdale said that schools will be forced to look at outsourcing because they are increasingly run like businesses.
The survey polled 200 ICT decision-makers in the UK education sector.
Being a governor in a large secondary school , I would like to repsond to both of the previous posts.
Pandora must have limited experience of IT in schools because my experience is that students are taught a wide range of technologies. This is also done with an emphasis about the application if ICT in business / the outside world.
I don't see outsourcing stifling innovation because it is the responsibility of the teacher not the technician to deliver the curriculum.
Posted by: york blue 17 Jan 2010
Most companies have realised the folly of outsourcing and are returning to inhouse ICT where they can. There have been no cost savings, overruns and complete lack of control.
This is presumable why "ICT provider The Stone Group" are desperate for more business and paying for "studies"
Posted by: Tom Potts 16 Jan 2010
Just as business starts to insource, schools are going to outsource? Traditionally paying low salaries to their ICT staff means savings are unlikely, while losing the in-house expertise will suppressi innovation further. If they really want to save money, open source is the way forward.
Posted by: Chris Puttick 15 Jan 2010
IT (and C) in Schools, from my experience, is very poor.
Children aren't taught IT, they are taught Microsoft Office - and then a particular version. I pity any students getting office jobs and having to deal with "the ribbon".
Outsourcing can only help - and I say this as an employee of an outsourcing firm who believes outsourcing rarely benefits either side.
Competent IT professionals are what this country needs.
Schools don't even teach (or implement) the basics. The number of incidents when new applications have been implemented untested and data lost (no backups) that have been reported to me is amazing ... but then few of the young PC owners I know regularly backup anything either.... aren't taught but, frighteningly, don't learn either.
Posted by: Pandora 13 Jan 2010
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