Strategic consultancy / IT function review
Is your IT set up to support the school?
In many schools the technical side of IT and the teaching side are competent and work hard but may not pull in the same direction. Responsibilities often rest with one person, projects start and finish slowly, and nobody is sure who owns what.
The IT function review shows you how IT runs today and how to set it up so that it supports the school.
- Two to three weeksfrom our initial conversation to your report
- Two days in schoollistening to the people involved
- £2,850 plus VATfor the visit and the written report
What the review looks at.
How the two sides talk
How the technical side and the teaching and learning side talk to each other.
Who supports what
And how technology decisions are made.
What rests on one person
Which systems and knowledge depend on a single member of staff.
How projects run
How they are chosen, prioritised and finished.
Principles and values
Whether clear principles and values guide the work, and whether everyone knows them.
Technical and teaching, pulling in the same direction.
The review looks at how IT itself is set up: whether it is coherent, whether everyone is working to the same ends, and whether it supports what the school is trying to do.
What the report shows.
Two examples from an IT function review report. The school and its roles are made up.
Who supports what
One page that shows who leads each area, who supports it, and where the school depends on a single person.
Who supports what today
From section 4 of the report.
| Area | IT manager | Technician | Digital learning lead | Deputy head | Bursar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network and wifi | |||||
| Devices for staff and pupils | |||||
| Management information system Rests on one person | |||||
| Learning platform | |||||
| Filtering and monitoring | |||||
| Staff training | |||||
| Budget and contracts | |||||
| Digital strategy No owner |
The IT manager leads five of the eight areas, and one of them has no cover. Nobody owns the digital strategy.
Options for structure
The report sets out the options side by side, with what each would change and an outline of every role.
Two ways to set it up
From section 5 of the report.
Option A
One senior post owns technology and digital learning together.
- Director of digital strategyOn the senior team
- IT managerNetwork, devices, systems
- Technician
- Digital learning leadTraining and classroom practice
- IT managerNetwork, devices, systems
Option B
Two lines, joined by a termly digital board.
- BursarOwns infrastructure and contracts
- IT managerNetwork, devices, systems
- Technician
- IT managerNetwork, devices, systems
- Deputy headOwns digital learning
- Digital learning leadTraining and classroom practice
What the report covers
The sections of an IT function review report.
- How IT runs today
- What works well
- What could be better
- Who supports whatA map of roles, systems and decisions
- Options for structure
- An outline of each role
- Next steps
What you get.
Conversations with the people involved on both sides, from the IT team to teachers and senior leaders.
A map of who supports what and how decisions are made.
A written report: how IT runs today, what works well, what could be better, and the options for structure with an outline of each role.
Job descriptions and person specifications for the roles you choose can be added.
How it runs.
An initial conversation
To agree the brief and who I should speak to.
Two days in school
Listening to the IT team, teachers and senior leaders.
The report
It reaches you within two to three weeks of our initial conversation.
When schools ask for it
A key person is leaving, a restructure is planned, or projects keep stalling.
What it does not do
The review covers roles and structures. Decisions about people stay with you.
You work with me.
I do every review myself. I spent more than fifteen years in senior leadership in schools, eight of them as a deputy head. I am a serving school inspector and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching.
I have sat on the teaching side and worked closely with the technical side, so I can talk to both.
Questions.
Is this a technical audit of our network?
No. It looks at people, roles and decisions, not at cabling or security settings. If the review comes across a technical risk, the report says so and recommends who should look at it.
Who sees the report?
Whoever commissions it, usually the head or the bursar. You decide who else reads it.
Will staff speak openly?
Conversations are one to one, and what people say is not attributed to them in the report.
Can you help us recruit afterwards?
Yes. I can write job descriptions and person specifications for the roles you choose. Decisions about who to appoint stay with you.
What does it cost?
£2,850 plus VAT for two days in school and the written report. Larger schools and trusts need more time and are priced to fit, and the price is agreed before we start.
Find out how your IT is set up.
Twenty minutes on a call is enough to agree what the review should look at and who I should speak to.