COMPUTING & IT RESOURCES
Bridging the digital divide: why education needs a fresh tech strategy
GARY DAY, Group Director for Public Sector at Apogee, shares his thoughts with Education Today.
I
n a digitally-driven world, schools, academies, and further and higher education institutions need the best technology they can afford. They rightly want to upgrade their IT in the most cost-effective and sustainable way possible. Outdated technology is no longer just inconvenient, it’s a major barrier to opportunity. But with budgets tight, we still have a long way to go before the much-discussed digital divide disappears, removing the disparity between institutions with different levels of resourcing. Back in 2021, Ofcom found 17% of UK children did not have consistent access to a device suitable for online home-learning. So, how far has the sector come since then?
The Department for Education’s (DfE) completed its consultation on ‘Narrowing the digital divide in schools and colleges’ earlier this year, focusing on the future of digital and technology standards. This came alongside a “£45 million investment to improve connectivity”. But what about the immediate challenge of providing up-to-date devices and laptops for students?
As an industry, we have spent years talking about digital transformation in education. Yet, we’ve built procurement models and support systems that make true transformation almost impossible for under-resourced institutions. This must change.
The true cost of short-term fixes With cash tight and limited IT resources, it is difficult for schools to level up students from disadvantaged backgrounds, or for FE and HE institutions to match their better-endowed counterparts. Students from better-resourced schools have consistent access to fast, secure devices, while others lose out on digital skills, access to online learning and ultimately, career readiness. This is a tech equity issue, and a social mobility one. Education leaders and IT providers must work together to shape solutions that don’t wait for policy.
Because of budget restrictions, many institutions are relying on legacy devices or buying equipment term-by-term. While understandable, it’s not the optimum approach from a cost perspective, nor the best way to conduct an educational IT strategy. This reactive method may save pennies, but it will cost students. Leadership, therefore, must stop thinking of tech investment as discretionary spend - it is fundamental infrastructure.
46
www.education-today.co.uk November 2025
Focusing on short-term cost instead of long-term value and stretching devices beyond their useful life might seem economical, but it actually costs schools more in lost learning time, support overhead and security vulnerabilities.
A smarter approach
There is a way out of this bind,, primarily through more innovative leasing mechanisms backed by genuine sustainability accreditations such as Blue Angel, which covers a product’s lifecycle. Such schemes are ready to replace the practice of buying in small batches while extending the use of the remaining laptops and devices - a tactic that leaves institutions with underperforming, less secure technology and does not resolve the problem of lack of tech access among students.
Major manufacturers and managed service-providers are starting to adapt what they provide to better suit the needs of organisations determined to bridge the digital divide. Instead of a purely transactional approach, rewards and cashback mechanisms have come into play, alongside a continuing relationship that starts with device set-ups and continues through support and replacement.
The result is not only greater access to the latest technology for more institutions - many are also relieved of the time-consuming chores of device management. Institutions can spread costs and receive hundreds of new laptops rather than installing them in stages. Device management becomes more efficient through applications such as dashboards demonstrating the performance and status of all an organisation’s devices, wherever they are. As education institutions seek to bridge the divide in digital resources, they should examine the value of more long-term and collaborative relationships that will provide the essential technology they need for their aims. But it isn’t just the job of schools and colleges – it’s a collective responsibility. Technology providers and education leaders must start working together to design funding, support and technology models that build digital equity into the system itself. It will take innovative thinking, bold procurement models and tech providers willing to act as strategic partners, not just suppliers.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
