Finance bridges the digital divide

There is a way to fund improved IT investments in education, says Philip White

Philip White: Responsibility is falling more to schools to up PC provision among young people

Much of the comment surrounding Gordon Brown’s speech at the end of the Labour Party Conference has, probably deservedly, centred on the leadership ability, or otherwise of the man himself.

But although the media was keen to paint this as Brown’s last stand, we should not overlook the actual content of the speech, specifically, a new initiative offering vouchers for computers and internet access for the poorest families, and the government’s continued commitment to IT as an enabler to learning, social mobility and economic growth.

We are nearing the end of the government’s ‘Five year strategy for children and learners’, an initiative presented to Parliament in 2004 by the then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke. This comprehensive document explored the development of our modern education system, setting the scene for the educational environment we find our children in today and exploring the reasons for the vital reforms that firstly the Blair and now the Brown Government is in the process of implementing.

Importantly, the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners demonstrates how the fundamental changes to industry, employment, society and technology over the past 60 years have completely changed the requirement for education and training, and how an education system originally designed to deliver only a basic minimum entitlement to education for all must now evolve to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of society. In essence, the most significant change to our education system, both in ideology and practice, is the shift towards lifelong learning, personalised education and self-directed learning.

Technology is completely central to the successful delivery of this new approach, as the government itself acknowledges, and Brown’s pledge to provide vouchers for internet and computer access to some of our most disadvantaged and disenfranchised families should be a welcome announcement for all of us working within the education IT sector who realise that access to technology should be considered a right, not a privilege.

This latest initiative aims to ensure that, by 2011, all seven to 19 year olds will have access to the internet at home. But while this scheme will help the very poorest in our society, there is still a significant job to be done to make IT more affordable and more accessible for the majority of pupils and their families for whom home computing (increasingly including access to multiple PCs or laptops) is an option, but not necessarily an easy one. It is also perhaps worth noting that, as the economy continues along its unsettled path, the market for ‘affordable computing’ will doubtless grow even further.

Increasingly, despite the government’s commitment to helping the poorest families, responsibility is falling to schools to increase PC provision among young people – a fact that has not gone unnoticed by our channel partners in the education sector, many of whom are working in partnership, not just with the schools themselves, but also with finance companies, to help devise the most affordable route to equitable IT provision.

Specifically, schools are looking to laptop schemes, such as Learn Anywhere, as a financially sustainable way to achieve mass mobile computing provision (sustainable for both schools and their technology providers). Such schemes, if managed properly by an experienced education IT finance provider, can enable schools to spread the cost of the IT over its useful working life without leaving the IT supplier out of pocket.

Independent schemes such as this are not linked to a specific supplier and schools can choose the most appropriate equipment for their pupils’ needs. Since software and services can be included in the payments, and upgrades can be built in, laptop schemes can deliver a sustainable, cost-effective and financially viable way to increase the provision of mobile computing for schools, as well as providing an ongoing revenue stream for resellers.

In 2007, I had the opportunity to work with an inspirational teacher at New Addington High School called Rufus Sanders. He had this to say about access to IT: “Sadly, there is still too much funding emphasis on the ownership of hardware, with the expectation that learning somehow just happens. To even out this imbalance, it is vital to increase access to broadband since, without connectivity, there will soon be little point in even having a computer. Once we grasp the importance of “always-on” technology as a right....we will be profoundly thanked by generations to come.”

In a direct echo of his words, this week we heard this statement from Schools Minister Jim Knight: “Young people are now at a significant disadvantage if they do not have a computer and access to the internet. They are no longer luxury items, but are essential for a good education.” It certainly seems that the government has heard the message loud and clear from education providers like Rufus, and is now ready to act. Those of us in the industry should also see this as a call to action, working together to ensure we have the solutions, support services and finance propositions in place to help turn this vision for equitable IT access into the affordable reality our young people deserve.

Philip White is chief executive of Syscap