The Importance of Supporting and Developing ICT in Education
An introduction from the Managing Director of Trusol Ltd

ICT is now a fundamental element of teaching and development within Nurseries, Schools, Colleges and Universities in the UK.

From planning and delivering lesson strategies, in or out of an interactive classroom environment, to electronic registration, administrative student records, year group coursework storage and assembly presentations, ICT and its related technologies are now taken for granted in most teaching environments.

It is only when a particular technology or ICT service is not available, that its importance in the teaching environment is appreciated.

Common, day to day examples of this range from a loss of internet access, the inability to access school email systems, server issues which prevents access to either Administration or Curriculum files, wireless network problems which prevents a stable network environment in mobile classroom situations or problems with interactive whiteboards, projectors and audio systems in the classroom.

More serious issues such as critical data loss due to insufficient backup practices, through to data corruption or severe network disruption for long periods of time due to Virus related issues where antivirus systems are not regularly updated or implemented across the whole school network, can bring unnecessary stress to all members of schools staff and management personnel.

Recent surveys conducted across the UK show that an average Primary school has 233 pupils with 33 PC’s, 11 teacher laptops and at least 1 server. An average secondary school has 990 pupils, 302 PC’s, 68 teacher laptops and five or more servers.

The survey also highlighted that most secondary schools have on average 3 full time ICT technical support staff to deal with the above mentioned ICT issues whereas only one in three Primary schools are fortunate enough to have a permanent ICT member of teaching staff, the other 2 out of 3 schools rely on part time ICT support from reputable support partners.

The problem faced by many Primary schools today, as a direct result of technological advancements in the school environment, is how to afford a technician with the skill sets necessary to accommodate all of the possible areas of failure or ICT recovery.

Experienced technicians with the fundamental ability to overcome the diverse range of potential ICT issues in a school environment are almost impossible to find and when they do materialise, their experience is reflected in the high salaries expected.

At Trusol, we recognise that Primary schools in particular are faced with these issues in an ever increasing ICT environment and have employed multiple ICT technicians with varied skill sets in order to be able to overcome any issue quickly and cost effectively for the schools that we support through Service Level Agreements. Coupled with our extensive range of ICT services such as Interactive Whiteboard system sales and installation, network cabling installations, ICT classroom design and build projects, wireless network surveys with installations and general hardware sales, Trusol has refined itself as a “one stop ICT solutions provider” for education in London and the Home Counties.

As a well established, highly reputed and professional support company, I’m sure that we will be able to assist you and your school with any element of ICT, so please feel free to call one of our educational specialists on 08456 121222 and I look forward to meeting with you in the coming months.

Many thanks

Neil Goodhead B.Eng, RCDD
Managing Director