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September 2012 - Education

A survey by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has now seen an increase in IT spending by UK schools for the first time since 2009.

The quantitative study, which surveyed 1,317 UK schools (766 primary and 551 secondary) on their spending and budgetary plans, discovered that on average, schools have spent £246.5 million on ICT (information and communications technology) in 2012, representing a 2.1% rise compared to 2011.

While primary schools generally spent around £12,720 on ICT this year (an increase of 2.3% from 2011), secondary schools spent an average of £56,560 (up 1.9% from last year).

In contrast, ICT budgets in primary schools fell 4.1% and 6.8% in secondary schools during 2011. This demonstrates an upturn in confidence within the educational sector that they will be provided with enough budget to invest in this area.

By 2014, BESA says that nearly half of all the schools they surveyed anticipate more than 50% of pupil-time will be exposed to teaching and learning through technology.

Caroline Wright, Director at BESA, explained this rise in IT spending: “For years, schools panicked and thought that their budgets had been cut, so they cut down on expenditure. Now they're starting to realise ... they have more money than they thought they had.”

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