Head of Information Services

[KWestos]

Do you think this is an appropriate title for a new position within a school. This post will be above the Network manager and reports to the Business Manager/Bursar. This is purely a strategic role driving policy, managing sims co-ordinators and overseeing whole school ICT use. There will be no technical requirements to this post, purely strategic.

 

Is this title ok, also, can anyone come up with alternatives, i.e ICT Director??

[kmount]

Strategic curricular? or strategic service/provision?

[IanT]

I've noticed alot of schools bringing in this form of role in, mainly called ICT Director.............to overlook the entire IT......teaching and technical....I know alot of Network Managers dont like it......I know a few......

[KWestos]

I've noticed alot of schools bringing in this form of role in, mainly called ICT Director.............to overlook the entire IT......teaching and technical....I know alot of Network Managers dont like it......I know a few......

 

Hi Ian

 

Many thanks for the reply. I guess from your reply you are one.

 

Would it be possible for me to pick your brains regarding the role of ICT Director within schools.

 

Many thanks

[IanT]

Im no ICT Director and wouldn't wanna be one at all!

 

Plus I dont work within the education sector yet......used to be a Network Manager (6 Months ago) and used to have a ICT Director who "tried" to control things........

[pete]

How many schools would have sufficient (financially justifiable) work for a (presumably non-teaching) person dealing with IT strategy?

 

I mean, here we have an ICT Coordinator with responsibility for guiding curriculum use of IT, but they're a full-time teacher. Our IT strategy is a 3-way between him, me and $deputy_head, with input from interested parties on a per-project basis.

 

Now for an academy or something ("parent" school and affiliated schools) I know of a few places where they've got a IT Director (+NM + techs at the main site) plus NM + techs at the other schools so efforts can be coordinated. However, $closest_place is run by lunatics, so I won't recommend you talk to them and the individual per-site heads often throw a tantrum and stategy takes a swan dive out of the window.

Edited September 16, 2009 by pete

[Diello]

Director of IT Strategy?

 

How many schools would have sufficient (financially justifiable) work for a (presumably non-teaching) person dealing with IT strategy?

 

It's down to the importance the school places on IT at the end of the day. If IT is central to the ethos of the school in providing education, then yes, if it's more discrete, then no.

[bossman]

Strategic leader of ICT? (SLICT)

[KWestos]

How many schools here have a non-teaching ICT Director (or equivalent) who does not get involved in the nitty gritty of support. It would be interesting to find out!

[Hollie1985]

How many schools here have a non-teaching ICT Director (or equivalent) who does not get involved in the nitty gritty of support. It would be interesting to find out!

 

not many schools I know of have a non-teaching ICT Director but lots of colleges do.

Answering the job titles question- Strategic ICT co-ordinator, E Learning Co-ordinator, Strategic E Learning Development Manager some ideas there

[apoth0r]

That is the exact role that I am hoping to move towards within the next 5 years. Bringing the IT technical aspects and the curriculum needs together. It's an important role in this day and age and needs to be a lot more accepted then what it is.

[KWestos]

That is the exact role that I am hoping to move towards within the next 5 years. Bringing the IT technical aspects and the curriculum needs together. It's an important role in this day and age and needs to be a lot more accepted then what it is.

 

I fully agree. I've been a network manager here for just over two years and getting increasingly frustrated because the IT is so disjointed here. I want to pull it all together but don't have the time as the support takes all my time up.

 

We have just become a specialist school, formed a trust partnership with another school my school will be expanding by almost a third in the next two years, so something needs to be done.

 

My vision (I hate that word) is to adopt the other schools ICT provision, provide support for the feeders and provide a more focused approach to ICT. It's just how do I approach it. I have started to write a report, but it's just convincing the powers that be!

[apoth0r]

It's easy to say that IT support is providing the yes/no approach to requests but then you need the "what shall we do instead" appraoch to try to find a compromise.

Some people don't need to hear the jargon behind how or why it is possible but hear that someone is there looking into a possible alternative.

IT support does a fantastic job in most schools, but it's that bit in between that is often missing, not only is it then furthering the gap between teachers and technology but it's putting a fair few off it completely by simply hearing "no's" all the time.

I'm sure it'll be a hard-worked position but at the end of the day, it's going to have to happen in most schools to keep the flow of technological improvement in schools, which can help schools turn around without flamboiant policy changes every year.

[mossj]

Stratigic Head of IT? (SHIT)

[KWestos]

Stratigic Head of IT? (SHIT)

 

I like it! I get that every day, but not the title

[Jiser]

Seems to add more bureaucracy?

 

If done properly though in a larger school without micromanagement it could effectively bridge the gap between education/techy side of things. Don't see how there would be enough work though for any I.T. Director unless they are taking over curriculum roles and techy roles? Therefore taking jobs from I.T. Hod and Network manager.

[mossj]

I like it! I get that every day, but not the title

 

What about "Information Gathering E-learning Technician & Stratigic Head of Information Technology" (IGETSHIT)

[KWestos]

Seems to add more bureaucracy?

 

Don't see how there would be enough work though for any I.T. Director unless they are taking over curriculum roles and techy roles? Therefore taking jobs from I.T. Hod and Network manager.

 

The idea for the role is to oversee not just support for the network (line managing the N/M), but SIMS, e-safety, policy, links with feeder schools, parents, businesses, etc etc.

 

It would be a wider scope than that of a Network Manager, maybe sat on the SLT

[Jiser]

The idea for the role is to oversee not just support for the network (line managing the N/M), but SIMS, e-safety, policy, links with feeder schools, parents, businesses, etc etc.

 

It would be a wider scope than that of a Network Manager, maybe sat on the SLT

 

True. Effectively removing the need for the Assistant headteacher (in some schools or deputy) to be the line manager with various I.T. related roles - those who usually have no real knowledge of I.T. Would be nice to see people with genuine I.T. experiance taking these roles - those who have more real world experiance than in education. Would make a big difference in kids education if the role was done well.

[GrumbleDook]

Yep, this was me apart from not answering to the Business Manager but to the Head (me and BM were both on the SLT).

 

Chunks of my role have been merged into that of the Business Manager now (Director of Operations) and this is a growing trend ... Business Managers (those doing CSBM and DSBM) don't have to come from a financial or HR background ... some are from Buildings and H&S, some from IT / Technical, some from pastoral care.

 

Apologies for not getting back to you on this ...

 

The Role can take on a number of the following areas but they are, as pointed out by Bossman, an extension of the Strategic Leadership of ICT (a course that Heads / Deputy Heads went on and usually followed up by a team of 3/4 key staff in the school going on TeamSLICT ... typical group would be the Bursar / Deputy Head with responsibility for ICT/IT and Head of ICT Curriculum. Occasionally you would also get the Network Manager or the Data specialist or even an eLearning specialist)

 

Try looking at it from the following areas (by no means the only way, but has worked quite well)

 

Strategic Planning

Strategic Delivery

Strategic Review

 

It is a cyclic process so there is no correct start point or end point. It is a dumbing down of other methodologies but can easily be padded out with ITIL and FITS, with projects managed via PRINCE2 methodologies if needed. Each section is also cyclic too.

 

Strategic Planning

Break this down into needs analysis, financial planning and sustainability

 

Strategic Delivery

Break this down into change management, service management and release management

 

Strategic Review

This is the tricky one IME, but break it down into 360 user feedback (consisting of user feedback from staff, students, SLT and support team ... don't forget to get user feedback from the support team!), suitability feedback and innovation/change studies.

 

A lot of manglement speak there ... but breaking it down and pointing towards things like FITS (and trying to keep this fairly short)

 

Needs Analysis - You should be providing a system that does what is required to deliver the curriculum, run the school and cover other agendas such as Parental Engagement. It is a two-way things ... sometimes the technology will dictate the use and other times the user will dictate the technology. It *has* to be a two-way discussion and will involve conversations with subject leaders, keys staff in the school (eg pastoral care, exams officer, finance, buildings / caretakers, even the school nurse and PCSO) and has to fit around the present School Development Plan. It will feed *back* into the school dev plan too but more on that later.

 

Financial Planning - The model for finance planning is based on what you need, when do you need it, how do you propose to change and what financial impact it has on the school. Sometimes it will be that the finances dictate what you can do and sometimes it will be the other way around. Remember that should you not be able to afford to provide tools / resources that a subject need for a new course (eg Music Technology) it will impact on how well they can run the course or even may stop them from running it. Compromise is the important term here ...

 

Sustainability - There is no point in planning for stuff in one year unless you know how it will be paid for in years 2-5 (or longer). You need to refresh equipment on a cycle. Becta have some tools for this (already linked somewhere ... will add the link again later) but that ranges from desktops and laptops, to servers, to backup tapes, to network hardware, to printers, to scanners, to ... well ... I think you get the idea. Consumables are important here too and can easily be forgotten ... and we go back to the needs analysis again ... just because the teachers need it in year one ... they will need it in year two and so on. Digital cameras get broken and lost, batteries for netbooks in science could do with replacing. Try to base it in experience within the school and talking with others. (hey ... I bet that place EduGeek could help there!)

 

Change Management - Oh my ... the more you look at change management in schools the more you realise that it is not just in IT that it is desperately needed. Introducing new courses, refurbishing the carpet in classrooms, changing break duty systems ... many people follow change management processes based on the important (and oft forgotten) skill called common sense. Important to remember that not everyone follows it in the same way and the key to it being smooth is communication. Strategic planning introduces the chance to take a bit more time and not having to set out an new ICT suite based on the idea of the Head 3 weeks before the end of term! FITS really goes into change management and if people don't look at anything else in the full ITIL or in PRINCE2 then change management is the key!

 

Service Management - This is the bit that tends to affect most members here. Small things like the introduction of an SLA help, improved documentation, training, a helpdesk (either physically or as a process) ...

 

Release Management - This is often bundled in as part of Change Management but I have it separately for a single reason. Politics! As much as we might hate to deal with politics in schools it happens, from that little bit of gossip about who earns what for however much or little work they do ... through to Union involvement in changes to working conditions (eg teachers signing the AUP often gets reviewed by unions). Not everyone needs to know the full picture all the time. The big picture ... yes ... but not every little detail. It is not their job, they have to trust you to get on with it the same way you trust them to do a good job teaching / preparing science facilities / looking after the buildings / etc. When to share knowledge is important and both communication and training are the key links between change management and release management.

 

360 User Feedback - You can only know if what has been planned and delivered is doing the job if you get feedback. It is not a bad thing to have students saying nasty things about the techies ... perhaps they are moaning that the filters are too harsh ... in which case perhaps more eSafety awareness needs to be done with them. Staff should have a chance to say whether what they use to teach with and what students learn with ... that it does the business or not. Often these things may be small items that are tweaked as part of service delivery, but that is based on user feedback ... If it turns out that feedback requires a significantly larger change that expected then that goes back into the planning section. Remember that in most sectors you can measure ROI quite well ... in schools it is hard (hard in other areas too) and so user feedback is an important metric, similar to up times, adherence to project timelines or timescales in change processes. As the person dealign with the strategy the often missed group are the support team themselves. If they are not delivering is it a training issue? Time management? Sheer lack of time or too great a workload? Are they doing extra stuff such as working in the classroom (eg Music tech as a sound engineer) and they wish to continue (so do the music department) but that has an impact on service delivery?

 

Sustainability Feedback - User feedback will often result in changes to services, which require changes to financial planning and sustainability. Other areas affect this too. Change in staff in school, courses getting dropped because they don't give the required results, additional provision is needed, increased cost of particular software or hardware, software and hardware no longer being available ...

 

Innovation / Change studies - The last thing you shouldn't forget is that these are schools we are talking about. Some schools go with the flow but others push the boundaries. There are a number of examples in this group of early adopters of Windows 7, schools testing Solus, and so on. There are others here who are doing fun and interesting things with VLEs / Learning Platforms, developing software, etc ... and there are those at schools at the cutting edge of teaching too. This requires support teams to be damn flexible and accommodating. As I have on a t-shirt of mine ... "Miracles we can do today, the impossible requires 24 hours notice ... and chocolate ... and bottles of coke ... and perhaps a pizza ..." it goes on .... Someone has to be the middleman between innovation and normal service delivery. Again, it fits into a variety of previous elements including change management, financial planning, etc ... but is an important feature. A pilot that has been successful in the school may need to be rolled out school-wide, changing carefully laid plans ... you know the ideas I mean. It may be that staff have seen something new at a tradeshow and it changes their future plans. It may be that the support team have evaluated a new solution that saves money, saves, electricity and gives more flexible working (eg TS, Citrix, etc)

Edited September 17, 2009 by GrumbleDook
Formatting

[GrumbleDook]

So ... there you have it ... a brief run down of things. I haven't covered SIMS in here yet, or eSafety, or staff training (though that is part of change management and release management) partly because I would say that next you need to understand the role of data at the school, who has ownership of it within the SLT and so on ... eSafety is part of teh wider safeguarding side of things and should fit into the pastoral side of things, involving the head of pastoral care, the child protection officer, PSHE, citizenship, parent support advisor, etc ... staff training should be integrated into the general training program that also covers things like lesson observations, leading from the middle, classroom management, behaviour and a heap of other CPD items.

 

Happy to answer any more specific areas and hope this covers a bit more. Also thought I would do it publicly as I am interested in feedback from others too.

 

And the last thing ... every school is different and the above is just an elementary framework.

 

HTH

[GrumbleDook]

True. Effectively removing the need for the Assistant headteacher (in some schools or deputy) to be the line manager with various I.T. related roles - those who usually have no real knowledge of I.T. Would be nice to see people with genuine I.T. experiance taking these roles - those who have more real world experiance than in education. Would make a big difference in kids education if the role was done well.

 

The person does not need to be a formally qualified teacher but an understanding of education is important. The same way working in tech support is not mutually exclusive of understanding education T&L, leadership and management, being a teacher does not exclude you from understanding IT. It is just historical that it has been rare but it growing.

[apoth0r]

Someone who has taught ICT for two years, worked in various roles in the education sector for the past 5 years and has a passion for it could possibly be qualified enough to take on that role?

I hope so

[mb2k01]

I am in a similar role to the one you are describing but have the title "Head of ICT Services".

At one point the position was going to be the "Director of ICT", but I didn't personally like it - felt far too dictorial and had the potential to make others confused / unhappy, so I managed to have it changed.

 

My role is strategic and occasionally technical, but nothing to do with day to day teaching as such. The school has quite rightly (in my opinion) made a clear division between technical and teaching.

We also have a more traditional Head of IT (Teaching) who does the co-ordination etc.

 

Really internal relationships (between Heads / Directors of.. and Network Managers) shouldn't be a negative issue. It certainly isn't here. I was a Network Manager for a number of years, so know exactly what the job entails. I personally see the kind of role I'm in as being a link between key (and maybe more senior) staff and the technical team.

 

When I was Network Manager a lot of my time was taken up by talking with members of our LT about various things, which meant I actually had less and less time to do "Network Management"! If a Network Manager has a non-teaching "Head of"/"Director of" above them, then it should be positive - they can get on with their role but also be safe in the knowledge they have someone above them to bounce ideas off.

 

As for your question on titles - I prefer your title to be honest!

Edited September 17, 2009 by mb2k01

[GrumbleDook]

Someone who has taught ICT for two years, worked in various roles in the education sector for the past 5 years and has a passion for it could possibly be qualified enough to take on that role?

I hope so

 

You would need to have experience of financial planning and working cross-curricular. Project management experience would be essential too IME, but that can be built on. Man management is another key factor, even if you have only managed people as part of a significant project.