Spending on ICT for education still on the curriculum

As published on Public Technology.net

The demise of BECTA and the Building Schools for the Future programme have not deterred schools from planning continued investment in ICT for education.

The British Educational Suppliers Association’s (BESA) 2010 survey of 1,379 UK schools - 812 primary, 567 secondary – found that 58% of primary schools and 51% of secondary schools intended to press on with planned ICT investments for 2011-12.

That said, the sum spent on items such as laptops and desktops is predicted to decline, and as the overall price of technology declines schools will start looking for more volume for the same amount of money.

“The BESA ICT in UK State Schools research indicates that after year-on-year increases in ICT budgets since 2001, we are now naturally experiencing a reduction in estimated ICT allocations from school budgets,” said Ray Barker, director of BESA.

“However, despite financial pressures faced by schools, the survey indicates they are managing the cuts sensibly and with optimism. This is in part due to the efficient procurement of resources by many schools as well as a drop in prices of individual units. They may be spending less, but they can get more for their money.

The research also revealed that 71% of primary schools and 70% of secondary schools feel their teachers get good access to computer equipment for curriculum purposes while 88% of primary schools felt that they provided good internet access levels to teachers.

Schools also predicted that by 2011-2012 they will be well resourced in other IT areas, such as whiteboards. But when asked about digital content availability, only 48% of those polled regarded their schools as well resourced with that figure dropping to less than a third – 32% - in secondary schools.

“The figures show that there have never been so many computers and interactive whiteboards in UK classrooms,” said Barker. “Those schools indicating they feel under-equipped in vital ICT equipment, such as laptop computers and internet access for pupils, do so mainly because their levels of expectation have grown over recent years.“