Ping Wales: Becta, WAG and OSS–A Missed Opportunity?

“Originally a UK government body, the British Educational
Computing and Technology Agency (Becta) has, since devolution, been
funded jointly by the four separate education systems. While its
pronouncements are only advisory, they do carry a great deal of
weight, both in Cardiff and with education authorities throughout
Wales–which is why it is so disappointing when it settles tamely
for promoting the status quo rather than driving forward real
initiatives for change.

“Accepting that some schools’ managements do not feel up to the
task of running their own IT, Becta has selected sixteen preferred
suppliers of managed IT systems. They are big companies with solid
reputations and will do an adequate job, but shouldn’t Becta be
about more than that? Where are the training courses for schools’
IT staff so they can run their own systems? Where is the advice on
buying cheap hardware and integrating it into a school’s existing
network? Where is open source software (OSS) in all this…?”

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