Posted By Sion Humphreys at 09/07/2010 12:57:50
There is increasing concern about the Coalition government’s commitment to ICT in schools. The case for the prosecution was presented succinctly by Mike Baker in a piece posted on the BBC Education website entitled, ‘Technology in schools: Is the clock being turned back?’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10495726.stm) Points supporting this view include the absence of ministerial responsibility for ICT, the abolition of BECTA, diverting Harnessing Technology funding to areas deemed more important, not implementing the Rose primary curriculum and abandoning BSF.
In an article posted on ‘Merlinjohnonline’ , Miles Berry, from ‘Open Source Schools’ , draws attention to this evidence and suggests that ICT in schools will be further hit by spending cuts to come. (http://www.agent4change.net/grapevine/platform/645-an-open-source-manifesto-to-help-cope-with-ict-cuts.html)
Berry’s article explores how schools can anticipate this by exploiting open source solutions. It offers ten money saving tips. It is probably fair to say that the jury is out over open source and the extent to which it is a panacea. However, Berry’s piece is well worth exploring not only a part of a value-for-money review but also as part of a strategic ICT review in schools.
