back to article Tech budgets in schools heading north again

The amount of money schools splash on tech is on the up despite the government putting an end to ring-fenced spending for ICT a year ago, a study by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has found. According to the UK survey of 766 primary and 551 secondary schools conducted in July, budgets are looking likely …

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  1. James 51

    Spent for them or spent by them?

    1. Tom 38
      Facepalm

      I hope the former, given track records of Heads not grasping when HP is a rip-off:

      Liz Steel, former head of Glemsford Primary School in Suffolk, was one of the victims of mis-selling firms. Her school was left owing more than £500,000 for 125 laptops.

      She said: "When the auditor came in, supposedly to count the equipment, he just sat down and told us that it was a colossal scam. And it was like my world had just fallen apart."

      Ms Steel had signed the deal after being told the school could lease as many laptops as necessary and, because of corporate sponsorship, would not have to pay for them.

      ( source )

      The key ingredient in every scam is a stupid mark who thinks they can get something for less than it is worth, and believe anything as long as they think it will lead to that fairytale.

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
        Headmaster

        And, with the best will in the world, we're entrusting the education of our kids to her.

  2. andreas koch
    Coat

    What happened there?

    Are the ruling "Public School Boys" afraid of running out of educated servants who are able to operate their devices for them later?

  3. Pete 2 Silver badge

    All the gear

    ... but no career.

  4. Robert E A Harvey

    New plan

    Why don't we think about what we need to teach, and how, and then think about the hardware required once we know what it is for?

    1. Suricou Raven

      Re: New plan

      Because if you don't spend everything you're given, you won't get as much next year.

      1. kwhitefoot
        Flame

        Re: New plan

        Reminds me of this post http://m.forums.theregister.co.uk/post/424485

        Can't find any other source for the supposed quote but even if it isn't real it should be. There is a tendency to think that spending money makes things better when in fact it is getting what you actually need that counts. Where I live (Vestfold, Norway) practically every class room has a full scale audio-visual system, students in the academic line (studiespesialiserende) in senior high school (videregående) have officially provided (though not paid for) laptops, and as far as I can tell this has zero effect on the quality of the education provided. I speak from experience having had one child through the system before all this was common, one who attended when it was new and the third is now going through the same process with as far as I can see no greater quality of education than the previous two. If it doesn't result either in a reduction in teaching costs or in an improvement in the outcome then what is the point?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: New plan

      I think iPads in school is a bad idea. Getting a tablet is not a problem, but get an open source one.

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