Pictured: Dara O Briain host, Nina Woodcock, Head of Capital Programmes BECTA, sponsors of the “Best ICT Partnership in BSF “Award and the team from Civica who won the award for the Sheffield BSF project. Tim Byles from P4S is on the right of the group.

Who says you cannot innovate in a managed service?

“Not us” would be the answer from some of the Sheffield schools in the early waves of BSF and CIVICA who last week won the “Most Effective ICT Partnership” award at the 2nd annual Partnerships for Schools BSF Awards evening held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

Civica’s education solutions enable secure information and resource sharing. Together with Microsoft, the company has developed a managed learning environment offering a broad solution from electronic registration and cashless catering to student portals. One of the foremost providers, Civica has a 20 year pedigree in education and learning but it has been it’s ability to work closely with Sheffield Local Authority, attempt to satisfy the schools and the wider community and be creative in the contract management that has won praise from the judges and respect and credibility within the BSF community.

The tangible positivity, energy and enthusiasm evident in the room at the awards ceremony is a powerful reminder of the momentum partnerships for schools has now developed in this vital transformation project.

Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools and Chair of the Excellence in BSF Awards judging panel, said: “This year’s entries captured the excitement, innovation and real sense of the difference BSF is making to young people, to teachers and to communities across the country”.

There have been some questions about the perceived tension that exists between a schools desire and need to innovate and the constraints of the managed service but according to some of the Sheffield schools and Civica it is a challenge that can be overcome.

“We have worked very hard to engage and listen to the teachers and pupils within the schools and then try and make sure the managed service delivered what they wanted”, said James Grant, Bid Director from Civica.

“This is not a case of “one size fits all” and the service needs to support innovation and transformation in learning” added James.

BECTA, the government agency responsible for ICT in education, and sponsor of the ICT award, also believes the challenge can be met;

“ We know that technology has the potential to transform learning. We are committed to inspiring education providers to realise that potential and equip learners for Britain’s future success” said Nina Woodcock, Head of BECTA’s Capital programmes.

The most recent research from BECTA on ICT in schools demonstrates that whilst progress has been made to infrastructure and teachers are “enthusiastic and positive” about the use of technology to enhance learning only about 50% of teachers use it effectively in a range of tasks. Similarly, whilst an increasing number of schools are becoming “e-enabled” there is still a lot of work to be done to support schools in their transformation journey and reap the potential benefits in effectiveness and efficiency.

If the Sheffield/Civica partnership can be replicated elsewhere in BSF surely then there can be no reason why the words “Innovation” and “Transformation” cannot be synonymous with a “managed service”?

Naace will be holding a BSF think tank on December 4th on this very issue.

For more information:

CIVICA
http://www.civicaplc.com/UK/Sectors/Education/

BSF Award winners
http://www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk/media/press/pr_2009-11-13-awards_winners_2009.jsp

BECTA Schools survey and questions for BSF
http://future.ncsl.org.uk/News.aspx?ID=194

Naace
http://www.naace.org/934

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