Where’s it all going?

1. Where’s it all going? Dominic Savage British Educational Suppliers Association

2. What was wrong? – the sunset view of life • Demise of Building Schools for the Future • Creation and demise of the Technology Policy Unit • Effectively a four year moratorium on curriculum development • Budget ‘stress’ (word chosen carefully) • Confusion of the school, academy, free school mixed economy • Demise of local authorities as aggregators of some school purchasing • Hands-off policy • ……but meddling with phonics and related procurement

4. …why the new dawn is just beginning

5. The School Budget Not easy to change or reduce It only takes a memo to turn the tap off Mostly not easy to reduce

6. …why the new dawn is just beginning Realisation is kicking in

7. What the ‘realisation’ means • Getting the house in order • Being serious about your own vision

8. Planning the year • BESA’s market barometer report showed £200million unspent in schools’ resources budget at the start of January 2012 • That’s a little under 20% of the annual spend to cover 25% of the year. • So why is January to March generally such a good time for this industry? • Because the consumables and the ‘must have’ supplies have been bought • The balance is ‘discretionary spending’ – the time for innovation

9. Planning the year • Timing of BETT – 30 January to 2 February 2013 • Character of BETT – we dropped the link to government policy in 2010

10. What Michael Gove said at BETT 12 • Technology is already bringing about a profound transformation in education, in ways that we can see before our very eyes and in others that we haven’t even dreamt of yet. • Our school system has not prepared children for this new world. Millions have left school over the past decade without even the basics they need for a decent job. And the current curriculum cannot prepare British students to work at the very forefront of technological change. • It’s clear that technology is going to bring profound changes to how and what we teach. But it’s equally clear that we have not yet managed to make the most of it. http://www.education.gov.uk/a00201868/michael-gove-speech-at-the-bett-show-2012

11. How he started • Thank you very much, Dominic, for that kind introduction. I’m delighted to be here at BETT today.And I have to start by congratulating all the companies in this Hall.British companies are world-leaders in the field of educational technology, and going from strength to strength – the members of Besa, for example, increased exports by 12% in 2010.

12. His headings • Education has barely changed • A new approach to technology policy • What can technology do for learning? • We’re not going to tell you what to do • We want to focus on training teachers • The current, flawed ICT curriculum • Disapplying the Programme of Study • And we’re encouraging rigorous Computer Science courses • This means freedom and autonomy • This isn’t a finished strategy – but it shows our ambition

13. Primary Curriculum 11 June announcement • Primary curriculum will aim to embody sense of ambition, love of education for its own sake, respect for the best that has been thought and written, appreciation of human creativity and determination to democratise knowledge. • Mathematics – additional stretch with more challenging content. Pupils expected to be more proficient in arithmetic, knowing number bonds to 20 by Year 2 and times tables up to 12 x 12 by end of Year 4. More emphasis on written methods of long multiplication and division, and more focus on fractions, decimals and negative numbers. • Science – focus strongly on acquisition of scientific knowledge and language with new content on solar system, speed and evolution. • English – pupils will be taught to read fluently and develop a strong command of the written and spoken word. A strengthening of focus on fundamentals of phonics, grammar and spelling. More emphasis on reading for pleasure. Expectation of importance of spoken language and pupils will master formal English through poetry recitation, debate and presentation.

14. The future of tablets and apps in schools – BESA research May 12 • It is estimated that there are currently about 100,000 tablets for use by pupils in classrooms across the UK. It is forecast that by the end of 2015 the number will have increased to 400,000 • By the end of 2015 it is anticipated that about a fifth of teachers will expect to see publisher-created educational apps • Nearly three-quarters of schools want to see research evidence to support the adoption of tablets in the classroom. While a third of primary schools want Government policy support before adopting tablets, only 18% of secondary schools hold the same view • A quarter of secondary schools have a preference for parents to pay and own tablets, while accepting that there will be support for low-income families

15. The Crystal Ball • Will it work – and what happens if significant numbers of academies and free schools are not outstanding or good?OFSTED flags: “If a school is satisfactory or is judged inadequate and requires a notice to improve or special measures, the report will explain why. We will monitor up to 40% of schools judged to be satisfactory; we will also carry out monitoring inspections of schools which require a notice to improve or special measures” • Once most schools are academies or free schools and therefore not subject many current policies, what is the chance of a new Secretary of State being able to keep their hands off the system? • Stephen Twigg, Shadow Secretary for Education says he won’t turn the clock back, but does want a more joined up approach to local provision

16. Time to stick together.. • This industry needs to be seen by government as unified • The range of officials and teams within DfE that now need to addressed has increased • BESA is working on a new set of regular interactions for members with DfE, with a wide range of teams • All organisations relevant to the sector must be joined up • We need to make a noise – it’s a leadership of education issue www .besa.org.uk dominic@besa.org.uk