ICT and the procurement maze

By Ray Barker DIRECTOR OF THE BRITISH EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION (BESA)

Budgeting in schools has changed this year. For ICT, the most important change is that the capital element of the ICT in Schools Grant 31a will merge with Devolved Formula Capital to give schools a single source of capital funding for ICT infrastructure and buildings.

The revenue element of the ICT in Schools Grant 31a - match funded by the Local Authority - is being added as a grant to the newly expanded Schools Development Grant. The idea is that the DfES will no longer be specifying exact amounts of ICT funding added to both these two grants. Schools decide upon their own priorities and needs. Ring-fenced funding has gone - only elearning credits for software and digital content, are ring-fenced. It’s all in one pot now and you have to fight over it. But is the best way to deal with purchasing and refreshing computer infrastructure? As usual, constant change and initiative overload have hit schools, and the danger is that muddle could ensue. Could confusion stop the movement towards ICT providing the transformation agenda?

Let’s be clear about resources in schools. After a school has paid teachers and dealt with its building’s issues, the sum that’s left is usually what’s called the ‘resources budget’. It shrinks and expands according to issues related to the other two budget headings. That’s why specific grants helped schools to resource themselves - they were assured of the money even if their roof leaked or if their staff all left.

The DfES has recently set up the Centre for Procurement Performance (CPP) to work across the whole of education to ‘promote more effective procurement’. To you and me that means ‘to save money’ in the light of the Gershon Report. Out there is confusion, they say… we need to make the system easy. Billions are spent on education every year by government and it naturally wants to know that it is getting value for money and that investment is producing results. The problem with doing this at school level, however, is that it’s going to be difficult to decide what has the biggest priority - bottom line figures in the school budget or the teaching and learning resources to improve standards.

‘Substantial efficiency savings on better procurement choices will free-up resources to improve front-line services’ says the new Director of the CPP. He is keen to stress that these savings will not be clawed back by the DfES but will be just more money to add to the school bank account - but life is not always that easy as we know. He needs to save £1.4billion per year within the next three years in a very complex environment. All this is within a challenging time for schools. Ofsted has changed its inspection regime and the new documentation required is challenging for a school management team. Even there you will find comments and best value and the most effective way of spending school funds. How will the personalised learning agenda impact on the kind of classroom environments and resources needed? Budgets are never easy to balance and with Workforce Reform, time and extra staffing needs to be juggled - all meaning money. New pay structures mean that funding on staffing will probably increase. New three-year budgets - when they finally arrive - will help schools to forward plan at least.

‘Best value’ is not always about price. It is essential to compare companies and products - not just on price. Consult with others to find out what the real stories are. Look for case studies. Don’t confuse cost with value. Let’s just take the concept of ‘preferred suppliers’ or ‘framework contracts’. Many LEAs have a preferred suppliers’ list and although community schools can suggest cheaper options these suppliers are almost destined to get the contract. Many schools choose to employ the LA to cover many of the tasks that they cannot, e.g. staffing, legal, but rarely do these options go out to tender. Whiteboards, for example are being bought through ‘framework contracts’ which focus on price. Schools will buy pretty cheap equipment but suppliers have always seen it as important to provide support and training with a package. If this is not bought, what price embedding technology? What’s the use of a school full of ICT equipment not being used to its best ability? The question is: can schools really have the freedom to choose the resources they want in the present system?

Since 1988, funding is designed to give teachers easy access to a wide range of learning materials, which they can use to support their teaching across the curriculum: it will help free teachers to do what they do best - teach - by making lesson planning easier and faster, and by making it easier to tailor their lessons to meet the needs of pupils. The educational resources available in the UK are firmly based on educational outcomes and are designed to make a difference in classrooms. And the most important factor is that it is designed to be mediated through teaching professionals who choose the content and the approach they want, in order to increase teaching and learning opportunities.

BESA invented to two key educational events of the year in order to highlight the best in educational supply and to promote choice and diversity in procurement. Nothing can really compare with the opportunity to see, test and compare products: BETT is the largest educational technology show in the world in January every year in London. The Education Show has become the leading event for general educational resources and attracts nearly 19,000 educators in March, in Birmingham.

BESA is here to help educators through the procurement maze, but it’s important that you have the right to choose - after all, it’s taken us a long time to get the message across that no one size fits all in schools. What price ‘personalised learning’ if education professionals can’t get what they really want to make teaching and learning fit the child? www.besa.org.uk