Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

So how many of us read the variety of reports on ICT that come out every month? It’s not exactly bedtime reading, but some of them are interesting and help you work out possible and future directions. Last week I got around to reading the Content Advisory Board’s Report to the Secretary of State. Their third report was published in December. The Board’s terms of reference are:

To advise the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on the performance of Curriculum Online in relation to the development of a comprehensive range of online digital learning resources for schools…

Within this, the specific objectives are:

• to undertake gap analysis of the range, breadth and depth of curriculum subject areas
• covered (Objective 1)
• to consult on a regular basis with the independent market analyst (appointment by the
• Secretary of State) on matters relating to the development of the digital content market
• before making recommendations (Objective 2)
• to consult on relevant public and private sector content commissioning plans and expenditure (Objective 3)
• to regularly assess the impact of e-Learning Credits (possibly by market category or subject) in stimulating the market (Objective 4)
• to monitor public sector involvement in Curriculum Online (Objective 5)
• to consider any matter that inhibits the effective delivery of Curriculum Online (Objective 6).

There’s a lot of stuff in this report, so I’m going to attempt to split it into a number of posts and make some personal comments. This first post comes from section 3, The State of the Market, and in particular the level of spend on eLCs in schools.

“Our analysis of the evidence suggests that, although schools are continuing to spend a significant proportion of their eLC allocations, the level of spend has slowed. … the eLC allocation in 2002–3 was fully spent by teachers or schools. However, the apparent reduction in spend in 2004–5 does suggest that there is an increased level of leakage – and that schools and teachers are choosing to spend eLC allocations on other resource priorities.
…

Possible reasons included the existence of a level of content ‘saturation’ or ‘indigestion’ in schools given the high-level of spend in 2003–4 and school budgetary pressures (for instance, from the PPA requirements of 10% non-contact time).
Given the possible scale of leakage and the impact that this could have, especially when the level of ring-fenced eLCs is to reduce, CAB recommends that the DfES investigate the potential for some form of monitoring of ring-fenced expenditure in schools.”

Are the Board’s suggested reasons correct and purely down to content saturation and pressures on the budget from other areas? My anecdotal evidence is that the leakage in eLC spend is more likely to be spent on additional hardware. In other words, it might be leaking out of the digital resource area, but it’s staying in ICT.

You can download the full report here.