42 | ISBA ICT SURVE Y | INNOVATION
THE IT CROWD
ISBA reveals the results of its first-ever ICT survey of independent schools
ISBA ICT Survey 2014: The Largest Study Undertaken of ICT Usage in the UK Independent Schools sector:
T
he Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (ISBA) has launched the results of its recent Information
Communications Technology (ICT) survey of independent schools across the UK. The first sector-wide survey of its kind, the ICT survey reveals some insightful trends into how technology is being used in schools – both preparatory and senior, big and small – and provides pointers to schools and suppliers to the sector on ICT strategy and procurement planning for the future. “Today sees us all living and working
in a fast-moving technological world,” explains Mike Lower, general secretary of the ISBA. “Schools face particular challenges in keeping pace with new developments and ensuring the necessary level of ICT investment to meet the growing expectation from pupils, staff and parents of technology-rich learning environments.” The ISBA’s ICT survey results are based
IT Strategy Management: Only 52% of ICT strategy groups include the Head and 30% do not have a Strategy Group at all:
on the anonymous responses of 271 independent schools (all members of the Independent Schools Council), including both boarding and day schools. The average school size was 693 pupils, although many smaller schools also participated in the survey. The results indicate that schools are
increasingly creating more mobile environments for their pupils, with educational software being accessed over the internet and via teachers’ and pupils’ own devices. Perhaps unsurprisingly, schools believe that keeping pace with future connectivity will be a major challenge, with 50% of survey respondents anticipating bandwidth requirements growing by more than 100% over the next three years. “Enhanced connectivity is also
IT Strategy Management: 42% have no strategic plan, 31.2% owned by IT only
becoming increasingly important as schools look to make more use of e-learning and, in particular, streamed video,” Mike adds. “This indicates that ICT staff in schools will increasingly need to spend less time running systems and traditional location-based machines, and more time training staff and pupils to use software more effectively. Although most schools support a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme for staff and pupils, the remit of ICT staff will increasingly need to be more focused on developing a formal approach to managing personal device access to the school’s IT infrastructure and services.” With nearly half of the schools in the
survey expecting capital expenditure on ICT to rise by up to 25% in the next
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