ICT in Building Schools for the Future
18 March 2008
Building Schools for the Future progress report – key challenges and milestones: Doing it right, not just right now
ICT in BSF, 18 March 2008, Royal College of Surgeons
This morning I want to:
- Update you on progress of the BSF programme nationally
- Show you how ICT is playing a key role in transforming education and opportunities for millions of young people
- Share with you how we, at PfS, are developing our processes and learning from members of the BSF community, and what we are doing to disseminate this valuable knowledge
- And challenging all of you here today to be bold and innovative in imagining and delivering ICT in your schools.
The fact is we have to be bold, to think big, because there is no blueprint for how we go about delivering a programme of this scale. No one has ever done this before. And we’re doing it at a time of great technological innovation. We are responsible now for designing schools which need to be safe, welcoming, and inclusive, but they also need to be inspiring centres of learning not just for now, but for decades to come. That’s an awesome, and awe-inspiring, challenge.
But it’s a challenge in which ICT has an absolutely crucial role to play. ICT is, I believe, at the very heart of how we go about engaging the disengaged. Young people are comfortable with technology, their every waking moment is saturated with it, and they move seamlessly from using one gadget or more to the next with an ease which makes our fumbling attempts to text message look ridiculous.
Yet for too long we have been telling young people to turn off technology – be it their phones, their MP3 players, or their PDAs – when they come through the school gates. But by turning off technology we have literally been turning large numbers off education.
Building Schools for the Future is therefore about much more than simply bricks and mortar, or new versions of old schools. It’s about the total package where every single element has been thought about and is there for a reason – and that means that ICT has to be an integral part of school environments, not a bolt-on or afterthought. We need to understand how all learners – that includes teachers, adult learners in the community, as well as school pupils – use technology, and find ways to incorporate this into building and curriculum design at the earliest stage. We also need to think about how this will evolve, and at what pace, and that’s the tricky part for all of us involved in BSF.
Imagining the future
As I said earlier, the schools we are building or remodelling over the lifetime of this programme will need to stand the test of time. But when it comes to technology, none of us really know how schools or society are going to use it in five years time, let alone 15 or 30 years down the line.
As a species we are blessed with fantastic imaginations. The problem is often working out which of these fantastic ideas are practical and useful and not just some flight of fancy.
[SLIDE – 1920s vision]
Take this 1920s vision of what they thought a day in the life of a businessman in his office would look like in the 1970s. Some of you may recognise this if you’ve been the PfS headquarters. What it demonstrates is the preoccupation in the ‘Roaring Twenties’ of radio technology – everything here uses this new fangled technology, from a radio-controlled clock to radio-controlled automatic aeroplanes.
[SLIDE – 1970s vision]
Or this from a 1970s vision of our lives at the turn of the millennium, complete with
- Enormous skyscrapers whose residents would go for weeks without setting foot on the ground
- A family car which turns into a plane so easily that – and I quote – “a woman can do it in five minutes”
- Where wars are fought by robots
- And all our living room furniture is waterproof and can be cleaned by being blasted with a garden hose.
Think about your own gadget life and the changes you have seen – how the Blackberry has liberated you from the office and allows you to work anytime.
I would never have imagined, for example, that I could demonstrate my 10-pin bowling expertise to the PfS team from the comfort of our offices, as I did last week for Sport Relief.
The fact is we are always going to be surprised by tomorrow’s technology – by what is embraced and widely used – and when it comes to education we are already behind the curve.
[SLIDE – examples of new technologies used by young people]
The gap between the young people’s ICT lives and their school-based learning lives are already miles apart.
We need to narrow that gap. As well as providing young people with new and inspiring physical environments, the BSF programme gives us the opportunity to provide creative and engaging virtual spaces. BSF challenges local authorities and schools to use ICT to the fullest, across the curriculum, beyond the school day, and to support lifelong learning opportunities for all members of the community.
The picture of ICT use by young people that we get from the media is often of pale-faced, socially inadequate teens hunched over a laptop in a dark and smelly bedroom getting up to goodness know what and speaking to goodness knows who. There are real issues around this which the Government is committed to tackling, but for most youngsters ICT is about community and sharing, be that their music on Myspace, pictures on Flickr, thoughts on a blog, or by joining a Facebook group.
One example of the multitude of ways in which students use technology can be seen at the Haringey Sixth Form Centre, jointly funded by the Learning and Skills Council, the London Borough of Haringey and BSF, which opened in September last year. Along one corridor alone is a media-editing suite and a sound-recording studio where students have access to professional industry standard video and music editing software. There are several session rooms, as well as a quiet study area equipped with books and ICT. Throughout the centre there is a mix of open-plan teaching areas and flexible classrooms, and a swipe-card system controls access to the college, as well as storing credits for photocopiers, meals and drinks.
[SLIDE – Haringey quote and image “This is a centre of excellence for post-16 education which gives students access to a high quality of teaching and learning fit for the 21st century”]
The ICT-rich environment of Haringey is a million miles away from what most of us experienced during our time as students. But it is what students expect, and need, to prepare them for 21st century jobs and to be 21st century citizens.
Getting students involved
You’ll hear much more throughout the day about how to develop your ICT vision, and what transformed education looks like. But one thing I would like you to take away from this is a commitment to really involve students, teachers and community users in discussion about the ICT solution for your school and your area. Not just consult them, but learn from them. Just as we are encouraging students to get involved in the design process through the Sorrell Foundation’s BSF workshops, so we should be harnessing the ideas, the enthusiasm and the first-hand knowledge of young ICT users to shape provision in our schools.
In the past we’ve been afraid of introducing new technology into our schools – even though we know young people are often early adopters. We have been too ready to say ‘mobile phones should not be used in class’, but I’ve heard about schools which are saying to students, get into pairs, get your phones out, and now take a 15 second clip of your partner explaining what happens in the first act of Romeo and Juliet, or what photosynthesis is.
I’ve heard about students running CPD courses for teachers, familiarizing them with what podcasts are, how to upload a video to Youtube, how to edit Wikis. Let’s not waste this expertise available to us here and now.
Future proofing BSF
We have never before seen capital investment for education on this scale, and each and everyone of us involved in BSF has a duty to ensure that we do not squander these resources, and that we use them for the very best outcomes and to benefit the greatest number of learners.
At PfS, we believe that sustainable, well-thought ICT provision is pivotal to success of any BSF project – and that means developing a vision for teaching and learning and the technology needed to support this vision – long before plans for the building are set in stone.
The solution has to work for teachers, it has to work for students, and it has to work for parents who increasingly expect real-time information about their child’s progress rather than notes which get lost in the bottom of a rucksack or a once-a-term encounter with staff at parents’ evening.
But in a fast-paced world these demands are bound to change. That is why we consider the manage service model offers the best solution to support transformation, and more importantly to future-proof it for the years – and the technology – ahead.
New five-year ICT contracts with external suppliers linked to a managed service are seen as the way forward to keep pace with the vision and imagination of school leaders who are ditching the computer labs and insisting on a seamless integration of fixed and mobile technology throughout their buildings. In many cases heads are encouraging students to bring in and use their own equipment – PDAs, laptops, phones or other pieces of kit, and require an infrastructure that can support this kind of approach.
The managed service model is a break from what the vast majority of schools have been used to in the past, managing their own ICT contract on an individual basis. The new model hands over the contract management to the local authority, whose duty it is to ensure that each school in its estate gets the tailored ICT provision they demand and to the highest quality.
It frees up schools to concentrate on their core business – raising standards and inspiring learners – and it still allows individual schools to decide how a considerable portion of ICT funding is spent to complement existing arrangements or to enhance specialisms.
I understand that where schools are already pioneering users of technology the managed service model is sometimes viewed with suspicion. After all we often think ‘if ain’t broke, why fix it’. But I truly believe that the investment in ICT and the managed service enhance all schools, not only those with a lot to learn on the technology front. BSF wants each and every school to strive to be the very best it can on all fronts so that every young person can, in turn, do the very best they can. We do not want to stifle innovation. If you’re already ahead of the curve on ICT, we want to challenge you to maintain your position at the front of the pack, to lead, and to share this knowledge and experience with other schools. But we want all schools to raise their game, and to aspire to some of the great examples we are seeing already.
We need to remember that every local authority, every school, every member of staff is in a different place when it comes to planning for future ICT provision and managing the changes that come as a result of new services.
[SLIDE – Kelmscott, Waltham Forest]
Kelmscott School in Waltham Forest, part of Wave 1 of BSF, will get its new managed service next month. It’s an exciting time for the school, although headteacher Lynette Parvez acknowledges it has at times been difficult to juggle the twin demands of finalising a new building and a new ICT service.
Her tips for success are, I think, worth sharing and can help us all understand a bit more about the environment in which we are operating.
Firstly, that all staff need to have a say, and that internal working groups should include the most and the least ICT capable in it, from all areas of the school. And that definitely includes student engagement.
Secondly, don’t second guess what ICT people want and need, and don’t get bogged down in what technology you will have – instead define concepts and purposes you want to support, like 24-hour parental access to student progress reports.
Thirdly, look at other schools, but also look at other places – shopping centres, airports – and start an ideas notebook.
Above all, what we hear from projects across the country is that a successful managed service solution requires good communication – from the school and local authority spelling out what they want and what they expect, the ICT supplier keeping its clients informed, through to speaking out when things don’t quite go as planned – and as we all know, with technology, that can often be the case.
We must not forget that BSF is not about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about the key role ICT plays in raising standards. Becta’s Next Generation Learning campaign, which calls on parents to become champions of innovative ICT in schools, showed that almost 80 per cent of parents questioned think technology can bring lessons to life and engage their child in subjects they find difficult, while more than 60 per cent believe the use of computers raises standards.
Virtual Learning Environments are providing ways for students to study from home, for federation schools to share lesson plans and resources, for online communities of local teachers to exchange ideas on best practice, for students to take tests when they want and where they want – and for parents and teachers to track their attainment. Well-designed and well-used VLEs have a motivational effect on learners, allowing them to take more control over their learning, and fitting neatly with the personalisation agenda.
We are seeing the trend for Management Information Systems which track pupil attendance and grades, VLEs and e-learning and communication platforms being rolled into one in Managed Learning Environments. Some heads tell us this one-stop solution, combining learning as well as assessment, is helping them towards their vision of reducing bureaucracy.
As the pace of delivery gathers pace and the market matures, we must never lose sight of the fact that for schools and local authorities joining the programme, this is probably the largest and most time-consuming project they have ever been involved in. All of us are guilty at times of making assumptions about prior knowledge and levels of understanding, so perhaps all BSF stakeholders should consider spending time in each other’s shoes to get a better perspective.
Nor should we forget that we are all learners in BSF. We are working in new ways with new people and technologies to create new learning opportunities for generations to come.
BSF progress
So where are we on our BSF journey? There are now 12 BSF schools open, from Newcastle in the North to Bristol in the South. Bristol Brunel Academy – opened by the Prime Minister in September – has attracted significant attention. It was a first for us – the first school to be delivered by a Local Education Partnership – but we must not forget that it is just one of a growing number of BSF schools making a difference to young people, to teachers and to local communities nationwide. Schools like the Michael Tippett SEN School in Lambeth which welcomed students for the first time this month. Many of its students have very severe disabilities, and the ingenious and sensitive use of ICT in this school is already helping to engage and stimulate these young people.
Over the past year we have addressed this issue head-on, introducing a number of measures which have significantly reduced the delivery timetable for the pre-procurement phase of the programme – by up to six months. And the picture across the programme is a healthy one, of a dynamic and maturing market.
[SLIDE – BSF progress]
At the end of 2006, just one deal had reached Financial Close. That figure is now 18
These deals amount to £2.5bn of investment.
72 Local Authorities in England are in the programme, covering over 1,000 secondary and SEN schools.
[SLIDE - BSF Procurement Review, key recommendations]
We recently shared the initial proposals from our procurement review with stakeholders – and I’ll be talking about this in much greater detail this afternoon. But the headlines show that savings of up to £250 million could be made across the national BSF programme, significantly reducing costs for bidders and making the procurement process more timely and efficient.
The review included some vibrant and interesting discussions with diverse stakeholders. The message that came through strongly from local authorities and suppliers was that the integration of ICT in the BSF programme is having a beneficial impact in terms of a more rounded and efficient consideration of the long-term operational issues for building and ICT infrastructure.
Integration is already beginning to benefit building design and this should continue. The procurement model does however need to be able to adapt to local circumstances where good ICT services exist. In these instances the procurement model needs to consider specifically the ability of the bidder to integrate existing services effectively and build on them. There will be much more on this later on today.
Listening, learning and sharing
Over and above the efficiency savings offered by the procurement review, it was a hugely important exercise in taking a step back, seeking views, and learning from members of the BSF community.
I see our role at PfS as encouraging discussion and sharing of knowledge, so that projects in later phases of BSF can learn from the experience of others, and build on these solid foundations. Some important lessons were learnt from the very early days, but I am absolutely clear that we will continue to learn and refine throughout the programme.
That is why I am pleased today to unveil our new-look Partnerships for Schools site.
It is one-stop shop for anyone looking for information about BSF, from when their local authority will join, to details about our processes, and to see pictures and videos from some of our BSF schools.
[SLIDE – website: project pages]
So whether you’re a student, a parent, a head teacher, a governor, from the private sector or a local authority – whoever or wherever – we hope you can find what you need, and learn a little more about this once-in-a-lifetime programme along the way.
And as BSF is about local solutions, not a one-size-fits-all approach, we are developing over the next few months an online collaborative area - which will be developed over the coming months - for project groups to share thoughts and solutions. The next phase of development will offer enhanced social networking opportunities. Ultimately I hope that our collaborative working areas will become a Facebook for BSF, with stimulating and relevant online discussions. We really do want to encourage anyone involved in any way with BSF to share their experiences, to post information they think may help others, to seek advice or assistance, and even for students from different areas to chat about their experience of their new BSF schools.
This site is hot off the press – or whatever the 21st century version of this is – so I really want to encourage you when you get back to your workplace or at home to log on: www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk. Take a look, but more importantly share your knowledge and experience for the benefit of the BSF programme as a whole. And of course you can use the new site to tell us what you’d like to see in future conferences and workshops.
I do not want our legacy or the success of the BSF programme to be measured in bricks and mortar, but by our success in providing inspiring learning environments for citizens of the 21st century; by our success in raising aspirations and improving the life chances of young people and communities across the country; and by giving young people the chance to learn and broaden their horizons through access to the best technology and resources we have at our disposal.
These are not just words, we are starting to see the positive impact for ourselves – and so I want to give the final word today to some of our very satisfied staff and students.
[SLIDE – Wow! clip]
ENDS
