PCs in Schools: Calls for rushed spending at odds with strategic planning

The Australian federal government reportedly has $AUD 1 billion left in the cookie jar to fund its ambitious PCs-for-schools program. This sum represents around half the expected total cost of the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund (NSSCF). The NSSCF aims to achieve a computer-to-student ratio of 1:1 by December 31, 2011, in pursuit of what the Government likes to refer to as the “Digital Education Revolution”, or “DER” (a DigiScent iSmell award goes to whoever came up with that particular acronym). A little over half the money still to play with! This is a call for the government to grasp the “strategic planning” nettle. To think beyond immediate economic and political agendas. This is a major educational and infrastructure initiative, that has the potential to transform the learning experiences of Australian students. Do we have the vision to make the most of it?

Ten days ago, a story was run in the IT supplement to Australia’s national newspaper, suggesting that local IT peak industry groups were wrangling over the question of when the remaining money from the NSSCF should be spent—in terms of boosting the IT industry and the economy, as well as improving resources and opportunities for students.

Fast-tracking the spend could potentially stimulate creation of jobs for skilled technicians, both during the installation / roll-out phase of the program, and also in terms of schools’ ability to employ tech support staff over the longer term. However, concerns have already been raised by commentators as to whether the spend will in fact stimulate the local economy, or whether it will simply funnel money to the successful international tenderers, Lenovo and IBM (and presumably, Microsoft, as the winning machines will be running Windows 7—much to the despair of FLOSS advocates, who had earlier promoted the adoption of Linux, in a distribution such as Edubuntu).

Of less immediate concern, perhaps, to industry groups like the AIIA and ACS, but of the greatest importance to staff and students, is the need to upskill staff and students in the pedagogy of teaching and learning with technologies. In respect of this, Julia Gillard, Education Minister, has signalled that around half of the existing PD funds available under the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program ($AUD22.5 million) will be directed towards “ICT-related, school based professional development for teachers”. Reference groups will also come up with a PD “Road Map” for teachers. It’s a start.

But I want to see more than throwing money at the problem, and more than an abstract “road map”—I want to see practical steps towards culture change. Staff PD activities and initiatives integrated with the creation of new learning opportunities for students. The broad adoption of a pedagogy involving elements of enquiry based learning—where both staff and students are positioned as co-researchers and co-constructors of (digitally-enabled) knowledge.

The urgency of the current global economic environment has created a political climate in which large-scale programs and funding streams are suddenly conceivable. In Australia, we’ve seen $AUD14.7bn for “Building the Education Revolution” (improving the educational built environment/infrastructure), as well as the (still-debated) National Broadband Network—a cool $AUD 43bn. $AUD100 million for High-Speed Broadband to Schools.

The “fast-tracking” of the Building the Education Revolution program led to accusations from architects, school governors, IT bods, and the general public, that the money was not well-spent. Learning space design is – ought to be – a multidisciplinary endeavour, where multiple issues are brought into relation: environmental; educational; architectural; technical. Fast-tracking the IT spend could lead to far too narrow a view of what “IT”, or even the “DER”, constitutes and its long term implications are for schools, teachers, and learners.