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Digital Workspace becomes top IT priority for education sector, Softcat report reveals

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  • 80% of education organisations are prioritising Digital Workspace solutions in the year ahead –

 

  • 22% now say sustainability is key to their IT decision making – 

 

 A new report from Softcat offers an exclusive snapshot of the education IT landscape and what technologies organisations are prioritising in the year ahead.  

 

The findings are based on the views of nearly 1,250 organisations in the UK and Ireland, across 23 industries including education. 

 

Looking at a sector level, the report reveals 80% of organisations in the education sector are now prioritising Digital Workspace solutions above all other technology areas. 

 

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the planning, provision and delivery of education, accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic and government ordered restrictions on in-person teaching. 

 

Exceptional user experience and frictionless workflows are becoming key to supporting students and employees to work easier, from anywhere, requiring investment in new Digital Workspace solutions. 

 

Digital Workspace solutions put people first and technology second. They enable true collaboration and deliver a great user experience by securely connecting people, applications, data and devices together, helping employees to do their job seamlessly – wherever they are. 

 

 Cyber Security is the second most cited technology investment area for the next year, with 68% of education organisations saying it’s an important part of their IT strategy. 

 

Maintaining robust cyber security is a pressing challenge for the education sector, as demonstrated by the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021. While primary schools are relatively close to the typical business in terms of how many identify breaches (36% vs 39%), secondary schools (58%) and further education colleges (75%) are much more likely to identify breaches. 

 

Universities have also become lucrative key targets for cybercriminals in recent years, mainly (but not soley) due to the huge amounts of non-public research information they hold. A report published by the National Cyber Security Centre shows that the university sector was the third most vulnerable to cyberattack. 

 

And as education becomes more digitalised, the sector will only attract more interest from cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities for monetary gain. Therefore, cyber resilience in education is now a high priority and organisations are being encouraged to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to securing networks, devices and data. 

 

Networking is ranked as the third most important IT priority within education, according to the study, with 43% of respondents citing it. 

 

Importantly, organisations were also able to rank sustainability as a focus for the first time. And 22% of those in the education sector (compared to a 10% cross-sector average) cited sustainability as an important factor in their IT strategy for the coming year, signalling a shift towards greener and more ethically conscious decision making. 

 

Technology has a vital role to play in supporting organisations in meeting their sustainability goals, to ensure compliance with tightening legislation and help the global community meet science-backed climate targets.  

 

Richard Wyn Griffith, Managing Director of Softcat commented on the findings: 

 

“Over the past 18 months or so, the education sector has been heavily challenged; working hard to limit the impact on business-as-usual or respond to unprecedented restrictions on in-person teaching.  

 

“People, empowered by technology, have made navigating this uncertain and disruptive period possible. And this will only continue as we learn to live and thrive with new ways of working.” 

 

The full findings from the 2021 Softcat Business Tech Priorities Report, including expert analysis, can be downloaded here. 

 

Bursary boost for female tech students

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Women interested in studying computer science have been able to apply for a bursary worth £12,000 – the first of its kind ever offered at Nottingham Trent University.

 

The bursary was set up by leading B2B technology solutions provider Jigsaw24 to create a new opportunity for a female student from a lower-income household. 

 

The company hopes to counter gender imbalances in the IT industry, with recent research highlighting that while 49% of UK workers are female, only 19% of those in technology are women.

 

Running from September 2021, the new scholarship covers Nottingham Trent University’s BSc Computer Science FT/SW, BSc Computer Science (Games Technology) FT/SW, and BSc Software Engineering FT/SW undergraduate courses.

 

The cash bursary provides £3,000 per year over four years of study (including a placement year) and will be funded entirely by Jigsaw24.

 

Roger Whittle, CEO at Nottingham-based Jigsaw24, said: “Women play valuable roles in our company and in technology more widely, yet representation remains low, especially in technical, sales and leadership positions.

 

“The IT industry is for everyone, and people of all backgrounds should have the chance to break into it.

 

“We know that sponsoring a single student is not going to solve the inequalities in our industry, but introducing this unique bursary is a positive step in the right direction.”

Kayleigh Glasper, Head of Philanthropy at Nottingham Trent University, said: “We are delighted to have created this bursary with Jigsaw24, to support a talented female undergraduate studying in the field of computer science. This provides an exciting opportunity and we are very grateful to Jigsaw24 for their generosity.”

 

To be considered for the Jigsaw24 Bursary in Computer Science, those interested needed to be female, a UK applicant for fee-paying purposes, have a household income of less than £25,000 per annum, and have been offered a place to enrol on a relevant Nottingham Trent University course in September 2021. 

 

The investment by Jigsaw24 reflects its unique approach to corporate and social responsibility, by concentrating its investments and empowering employees to carve the firm’s own way and help make a bigger difference.

 

For more information about the Jigsaw24 Bursary in Computer Science, visit the Nottingham Trent University website.

 

For more information about Jigsaw24 or to view the company’s current vacancies, visit Jigsaw24 website or careers page.

 

50% of schools would like more support with remote learning

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  • Jigsaw24’s lockdown learning survey finds 50% of schools would like more support when delivering remote learning.
  • 70% reported struggling during the UK’s first lockdown – in some cases, up to 80% of students did not engage.
  • However, 75% of schools say issues are on the mend thanks to resilient staff and investment in mobile devices.

 

At Jigsaw24, we’ve been providing IT solutions to schools, colleges and universities for nearly 30 years. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned in that time, it’s that things go better when schools work together. However, recent circumstances have made that difficult: communication has become harder, pupils and their families are facing huge challenges when it comes to accessing essential resources, and teachers have struggled to maintain access to their usual resources and support systems.

 

But schools across the UK have risen to the challenge, each finding their own way to handle remote learning and the pressures of lockdown. We spoke to teachers, IT teams, admin staff and school leadership teams from 12 schools across the UK to find out which devices, apps and strategies have served them best, and are sharing the results in our latest whitepaper. We hope schools will be able to see how organisations like theirs have adapted, and earmark solutions that they want to try going forward. You can download the full whitepaper here, or read on for a few of our key findings…

 

Platform-agnostic apps are the way to go

Because the initial lockdown happened so quickly, many schools struggled to provide devices for each child to take home. To offset some of this uncertainty, 33% of schools chose to connect with pupils primarily over email and 25% relied mostly on phone calls. However, multi-platform apps were also popular. Google Classroom, which can be installed on a device or accessed via a browser, was used by 33% of schools.

 

We typically recommend using an app like Showbie, which is device-agnostic and allows for the sharing and feedback of work in a single, unified environment. Some anecdotal feedback we’ve received from parents shows they’re not familiar with apps like these, which are primarily designed to facilitate student-teacher interaction. In those cases, checking in with parents via methods like emails, phone calls or text to ensure they’re aware of what their children should be working on has proven to be hugely helpful.

 

Parental engagement is schools’ number one concern

As any educator will tell you, lockdown learning has not been without its issues. 70% of schools reported having issues at the start of their remote learning programme, the most common one being a lack of pupil engagement – in one case, up to 80% of students were failing to engage.

 

Other issues included pupils having to share devices with parents who were working from home (and therefore not being available for synchronised activities like class Zoom calls or live streamed lessons) and an inability to reach parents.

 

But staff have risen to the challenge

Teachers are nothing if not resourceful, and 75% of respondents said their initial issues – including that worrying dip in engagement – are now fixed. This is largely down to the amazing from staff across the school. 60% of respondents said teachers adapted quite well or very well to remote working.

 

If you’re one of the 40% of schools that are still struggling with the transition, we can provide training that will help boost your team’s confidence. As well as providing basic and subject-specific skills training on new apps and devices that your school has rolled out, we can deliver training on how best to structure remote lessons and keep pupils’ attention on task while they’re learning from home.

 

Mobile device management plays in a key part in safeguarding

Managing devices while they’re off the school network is a key safeguarding issue for schools. Asked how they managed their devices, 60% of respondents said they’d invested in dedicated device management software, which allows them to control permissions, block apps and send alerts to the school when students may have used their device inappropriately. 30% said they have outsourced device management to an external provider, while just 10% said they manage each device manually.

 

The great thing about software-defined MDM is that it can be done “over the air”: devices are managed over the internet, so IT teams have the same level of control (and can offer the same degree of protection) wherever a student or teacher may be. Applications like Jamf Pro and Apple Classroom make it easy for admin staff to group students into classes or year groups and apply granular, age- and subject- specific restrictions in a reliable (yet invisible) way.

 

Only 30% of schools received support from DfE – and 50% would like more support

It’s clear from our survey that schools have worked hard to make the most of limited resources and offset the very real hardships their students are facing. But 50% of respondents wanted more support in order to improve remote learning going forward.

 

That’s what we’re here for.

 

Our regionally based team includes former teachers and IT engineers who can help you make sure your remote and in-person teaching is perfectly synced. From supplying hardware (including pairing schools with compliant financing partners) to device management and ongoing support, we’re here to help schools tackle any technical issue they may face. You can get started by downloading the whitepaper here.

 

For more insights from lockdown learning survey, and to find out more about how Jigsaw24 can help schools manage remote learning, visit Jigsaw24.com/education. Alternatively, get in touch with the team on 03332 409 290 or email education@Jigsaw24.com