Budget cuts in education means new ideas are needed

"The last 11 years have been very successful in enabling schools to build a modern infrastructure and to develop learning and teaching, of and with, ICT very effectively."

"The issue now is one of being able to maintain that standard, if budgets are constrained or reduced."

Mary Copeland, Head of Belle Vue girls school in Bradford

ICT has become so embedded in most subjects that it is taken for granted, especially by pupils. However, with a new government promising funding cuts and policy changes, where are schools with technology and, more importantly, where do they want to go?

Michael Gove is a politician that has been notoriously tight-lipped about his attitude to technology. As he settles in as the new schools secretary, he will be evaluating how much funding schools will be allocated for ICT.

He is already reviewing the £55bn Building Schools for the Future program, with insiders saying some savings from the annual £8.5bn new school budget could go towards the Conservatives' plan to start Swedish-style new schools.

Little wonder, then, that teachers, long used to generous budgets for new technology, are starting to fret about the future. "Clearly, infrastructure gets outdated very quickly, that's a real issue," says Paul Butler, an ICT teacher at Didcot girls' school in Oxfordshire. "Because of the national debt, there isn't going to be as much money around. That's going to be a worry."

With worries about future budgets becoming a real threat, schools should be looking for new and innovative ways to maintain the standard of their projects. With regards technology and ICT, we can only move forward, and we should adopt the same stance when it comes to creating innovative ways to funding new technology.

Could you give up paper to save energy?

Sawtry Community College has done just that by focusing on technology to provide some cost-cutting solutions and hopes to save up to 20% of its whole school budget over the next year.



The Huntingdon School is planning to replace its desktop computers with thin client PCs as existing hardware wears out. These operate simply as interfaces allowing them to function without hard drives with all the processing done by servers. As a result they use less energy and consequently emit less heat, which, in a room of 30 machines, has the knock-on effect of diminishing air-conditioning costs.


In an effort to make a big difference quickly, one department has completely disposed with the use of paper. The science department has taken to scanning things directly into a virtual learning environment. Associate principal Alan Stevens says that "It has saved £1,000 a quarter on paper, laser cartridges and general running costs, and is environmentally friendly."


Less paper and energy used means money saved. The dovetailing of sustainability and efficiency is exactly what children's secretary Ed Balls called for at the end of 2009 when he urged schools in England to make £2bn worth of savings in part by thinking green.


School leaders have been skeptical but, according to the Carbon Trust, a government-funded, not-for-profit company, ICT is one area where UK schools could definitely cut costs.


Alongside more switching off and powering down, better use of ICT applications, such as videoconferencing, offer a much greener way forward.
To speak to an advisor about ICT Health Checks, “Green Audit’s”, or donating to a School of your choice through Adodo Community and cheaper bills call 0800 092 1471