BECTA to be shut down as part of Government cuts

[Dos_Box]

Golf! Pah. He's in the N0_Io clan and I pwn him!

[PiqueABoo]

the outsourcing vultures are gathering overhead

 

Private Eye today:

 

'The same little piggies who fed hungrily during Labour's spending splurge are now eagerly sniffing around the trough in what could paradoxically be an equally rewarding "age of austerity".

 

With this week's £6bn in cuts just a starter, Britain's outsourcers are trying to give the impression that taxpayers will be spared the cost of running public services if they are handed over to them. (In fact the services usually end up costing more and getting worse)...'

[torledo]

When is Becta closing exactly? I've seen dates of 12 months from now, November 2010, and 1-June-2010 (next week).

 

According to Idealo, the Home Access programme is continuing for a little longer, but doesn't say for how long.

 

until the pot runs dry ?

[GrumbleDook]

A few things on the Becta track ... the organisation is being disbanded, but we do not know what is happening with the functions it performed. That will have to wait a while longer. At the moment the plans for closing things down are being drawn up but give them a bit of breathing space. We will find out soon enough.

A number of people have started taking copies of things from the site, some of which is already under CC agreements. There are lots of people asking the question about this and it really depends on what happens with each of the functions Becta does.

Personally (and as I suggested in my blog) I would recommend you go and have a good look round the site anyway, just to see what is on there and to try and understand what you may have to pick up (either individually within your schools or collectively as a group) to do.

[Dos_Box]

I have to say that we do need a BECTA, but one that is better run and has more teeth and better communication skills. I have a sneaking suspicion that with BECTAs resources and responsibilities getting blown to the four winds, that the vacuum of advice and policy (even temporarily) we allow vultures from the commercial sector to begin selling rubbish, poorly specced and poorly constructed software and hardware to schools again. For those of us who have been in the education game for more than a few years will remember the dross that schools were fooled into buying back in the early 2000's before we had guidelines and industry had specifications that they had to meet. \the education IT sector needs written rules and standards that both schools and the private sector have to abide by, because without them, it's going to be a vultures market again.