FITS and starts

This morning I attended a briefing about BECTA's Primary Framework for ICT Technical Support in Schools. The session proved very useful in helping me think about planning the logistics of change and transitional management of ICT at an institutional level. It provides guidelines and a structure to frame the delineation and definition of roles and responsibilities within the diverse functions ICT serves in the school context. I would strongly recommend that anyone who has not seen this framework, reviews and shares it with their head and leadership team, as it highlights the central and key roles they play in the strategic management and development of ICT infrastructure. Another tool I would recommend if you have not accessed it yet is The BECTA Self Evaluation Framework which has proven invaluable in supporting my action planning for ICT within our School Improvement Plan this year.

Why FITS and Starts? Today having engaged with colleagues around the framework, I now have an additional tool to kick start an aspect of my action plan for this year which was beginning to flounder, and which we can use as a supporting structure within our ICT management toolbox, to establish and scaffold the organisation of hardware, software and infrastructure management tasks. Using the template files within the toolbox, and the function structure of the framework, we should be able to quickly enhance our current monitoring structure, making strategic planning for systems design, hardware deployment and use of technical support more effective.