By Chris Taylor
06/05/2011
The majority of UK schools 'feel' that they cannot upgrade planned IT implementations due to budgetary constraints, computing.co.uk reports.
These are the findings of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) who asked both primary and secondary schools about their IT strategies over 2011 and 2012.
BESA found that 65 per cent of secondary schools and 56 per cent of primary schools say that they believed they did not have enough money to make any changes at all. This is a claim that BESA strongly contest.
They said their research suggests schools do not have a proper understanding of the school funding system. Particularly as there is a centralised cash fund available for schools use. Although it is true that a previously ring-fenced ICT grant offered by the last government is now defunct.
Ray Barker, director at BESA, explained that if schools thoroughly investigated the IT market, then they could work around their false budgetary perceptions. For example, automated IT systems management would remove the need for multiple software interfaces and could manage routine tasks on a daily basis, eliminating strains on the ICT department.
Mr Barker explained: "Schools have a perception that they don't have money now, because it's a very different system."
"Some schools have got even more money, while others have less, and this is because there are no ring-fenced grants coming, as they did under the previous government," he added.
Last year the Government proposed centralised school funding as an alternative to local authority funding, and consultations are still ongoing, according to education.gov.uk.
