Driving Up Standards In Educational ICT Technical Support

Essential ICT Management Skills for School Leaders

Sep20
2012 1 Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield

The start of a new academic year brings with it a reminder that the challenges we left behind before the summer break are still here to be managed now.

Today many schools have considerably more ICT than most businesses.

Businesses operate their ICT effectively and efficiently by adopting ICT management practices that are considered to be best practice and are proven to impact positively on the user experience.

For ICT to impact positively on teaching and learning experiences and outcomes, school staff must be confident that;

  • the equipment will work reliably
  • issues will be resolved quickly
  • problems won’t recur

For this to happen;

  • teaching and admin staff need to know the process for reporting issues
  • technical support staff need to know the process for resolving issues
  • leadership teams need to know the process for managing issues

FITS (Framework for ICT Technical Support) is an international methodology specifically designed to help schools manage ICT implementation, day-to-day performance, and technical support. FITS improves the quality of ICT technical support services through the use of a structured service delivery framework.

How FITS helps?

FITS helps schools by;

  • reducing ICT support costs by as much as 25% through efficient and repeatable processes
  • shifting technical support from reactive fire fighting to proactive management
  • promoting a customer service ethos among technical support staff
  • creating an environment of common language and understanding of ICT across the entire school
  • improving communications and relationships between technical support staff, teachers, office staff and school leaders
  • integrating ICT into the school planning and budgeting processes

Who should receive FITS training?

Best results are achieved when schools train a team comprised of;

  • Principals, business managers and other school leaders who drive ICT strategy in the school
  • ICT directors, managers, technicians and other staff who support ICT in schools

FITS trainng is provided at two levels – Practitioner and Advanced. Both are accredited through SQA (The Scottish Qualifications Authority) and consequently carry internationally recognised qualifications.

To register your interest in taking control of your ICT through the FITS training and learn more about FITS go to http://www.thefitsfoundation.org or http://www.ttpartners.com.au if you are based in Australia or New Zealand.

Posted in The FITS Foundation

Technology Advice & Guidance For The Education Sector

Oct18
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield
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Hello and welcome to The FITS Foundation.

The FITS Foundation was formed in September 2009, with the help and support of Becta, as a not-for-profit organisation limited by guarantee to manage the on-going development and support of FITS so that it became self-funding. The aims of The FITS Foundation are

  • to provide a resource for senior leaders and practitioners in the education sector
  • to spearhead the professionalisation of the ICT workforce in the Education sector
  • to improve the quality of ICT technical support services through the use of a structured service delivery framework
  • to have a positive impact on teaching and learning experiences and outcomes

The first stage of the journey towards a self-funded model was to create internationally recognised accreditations for all those involved in ICT technical support in education. Consequently, two levels of accreditation have been designed and are now registered on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). They are SQA Level 3 Certificate In ICT Support in Education for Practitioners (QCF) and SQA Level 4 Certificate In ICT Support in Education for Managers (QCF).

To support these accreditations we have designed two matching training courses which are run over two or three days, depending on the course, and delivered by one of a number of training partners that we have signed up for this purpose located around the UK and internationally.

Delivering Effective ICT and Value For Money

By implementing the structured methodology that is FITS, schools have been able to save on the cost of their technical support. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has adopted the Framework for ICT Support for delivering ICT in a total of 100 primary and secondary schools. Since its introduction, FITS has established a reputation for providing useful processes and tools that have improved the delivery of technical support within education.

“Over the past three years, the team have received positive feedback from clients. By using FITS, my team has been able to manage more incidents and lower costs, in fact FITS directly allowed us to reduce support costs by 25%” – Paul Levett

Listen to What our Users Say

 

 

The FITS Foundation Members Area

In the past, schools were able to access the Becta website for advice, templates and general guidance on a wide range of subjects. In order to continue to provide that advice and guidance, we have created a members area where we make available all of the FITS material. However, we are aware that this only covers a small part of what was previously available so we have plans to expand on that material.

We have membership options for Schools and individuals which can be found in our members area here. As a not-for-profit that receives no government funding we have to make a small charge for this membership. However, the charge has been kept to a minimum to provide value to our members.

Future Plans

The next stage of the work of The FITS Foundation is the creation of a professional body specifically geared to everyone involved in the use of Technology and Support in Education. The new organisation will have charitable status and will initially be called The Association for Technology and Support in Education. It is planned that in due course it will become an Institution but this takes longer to achieve since it requires specific Government approval.

We are at the final stage of creation of this organisation now, submission to the charities commission, and expect it to commence operations early in 2012. Anyone joining The FITS Foundation as a member now will be automatically registered as a member of the new association when it goes live. Joining us now will ensure that you become a founder member of the new professional body at the current membership fees. One of the many benefits that we have recently introduced for members is a 10% discount on our scheduled courses.

Help Us to Help You

As we build our new resource it is important to us that we include all of the areas that our membership require help with. We can only do that if our members and other visitors to our site let us know. We therefore invite everyone to post their comments here or send us a private message through our contact form.

If you share our vision you may want to help us further by becoming a sponsor. We have a range of sponsorship packages that I would be happy to discuss with you. Contact me personally regarding this on 07977 130379 or email me at trevor.greenfield@thefitsfoundation.org.

Thank you for taking time to read this introduction to The FITS Foundation, I look forward to continuing to help and support education in the UK and internationally.

Trevor Greenfield
Chief Executive
The FITS Foundation

Posted in The FITS Foundation

FITS for service providers

May31
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield

For Service Providers, having a recognised standard in place like the FITS accreditation, means that when they take on the service provision for a school and TUPE over the technicians previously employed by the school, they can be confident that those technicians have attained a certain standard. READ MORE »

Posted in Service providers

FITS Accredited Service Provider

Feb28
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor

The aims of The FITS Foundation are to spearhead the professionalisation of the ICT workforce in the Education marketplace, improve the quality of ICT technical support services through the use of a structured service delivery framework and have a positive impact on teaching and learning experiences and outcomes. READ MORE »

Posted in The FITS Foundation

European Electronique moves towards FITS accreditation

Feb25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor

In February 2011, European Electronique put a group of their technical support staff through the FITS Practitioner course in the first stage towards becoming a FITS Accredited Service Provider on the DfE ICT Services Framework.
The course, which was delivered on-site at European Electronique, was enjoyed by a mixed group of front-line technicians and support desk staff. Feedback from the course was excellent and all attendees passed the examination. READ MORE »

Posted in The FITS Foundation

FITS training for Suffolk technicians

Feb25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor

Trevor Greenfield, Chief Executive, was invited to speak at the recent Suffolk IT Support Network meeting where around 50 technical support staff attended a session outlining FITS and the training and accreditation provided by The FITS Foundation.
The sessions were very well received and as a result 20 staff are now scheduled to attend the FITS Practitioner course in March.
This is another example of where schools and Local Authorities are seeing the benefits and cost savings that FITS delivers and taking positive steps to implement the FITS methodology in their schools.

Posted in The FITS Foundation

Visit Us at BETT 2011

Jan06
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield

Visit Us on Stand K56

This year we are exhibiting at BETT on stand K56 as a guest of ROAR Educate. We will be showcasing our Practitioner and Advanced accredited courses, our new online Practitioner course which we are providing as a collaborative exercise with VITAL and The Open University and the new ICT Maturity Assessment service.

Come and talk to us about;

Professionalisation of your ICT workforce
Getting a better return on your ICT support investment
Boosting staff confidence in your ICT infrastructure
Having a positive impact on teaching and learning outcomes

“FITS directly allowed us to reduce support costs by 25%”

- Paul Levett, STASS, Tower Hamlets

Posted in The FITS Foundation

** News Update **

Dec09
2010 1 Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield

Here at The FITS Foundation we are continuing to work to provide advice and guidance to not just the technical support departments in educational establishments but to people throughout the school. As we all struggle to come to terms with the difficult times that we are facing, we want to do all that we can to help.

Some of you will have seen that the Becta website will be closing down on the 31st January and the content captured on the National Archives. Some functionality, however, will not be available after that date. The FITS Foundation is concerned about the fact that the help and guidance that is currently available will then be harder to find and may not be available after the end of January.

We are prepared to host some or all of this content if people feel we should and we want to hear from you what you feel about this. If we get sufficient support from the community to do this we’ll investigate it further. I know from my contacts not just in the UK but in Australia and Norway where we have FITS Training partners now that lots of people rely on the availability of this information.

We have now launched our forum that is accessible from the link over on the right of the home page. Please check it out, introduce yourself and leave suggestions for any other boards or features that you would like to see.

To ensure that we provide the best service that we can, we need your input.

Posted in The FITS Foundation

Government Becta Announcement (posted 24 May 2010)

May24
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield

The Government announced this morning that Becta will be closed down. This has created concern with some people that FITS will also cease to exist. Whilst this move may have some impact on The FITS Foundation, the reason that we set it up in initially was to move FITS to a self-funded model and protect it from this type of Government action.

We are progressing well with our target to achieve self-funding status and are receiving testimonials from schools throughout the country describing the cost savings and benefits they are experiencing from getting their technicians trained and implementing FITS.

We in The FITS Foundation are more convinced than ever of the tremendous benefits that FITS provides in terms of cost savings, improved service delivery in schools and positive outcomes on teaching and learning.

In light of the very difficult times that schools are experiencing currently we are putting together a comprehensive consultancy package to include assessment of where you are currently, training and accreditation for your technicians and hands-on assistance with implementation of FITS to help you realise savings and benefits in the shortest time possible.

Contact The FITS Foundation on telephone number 01926 800121 for more details.

Posted in The FITS Foundation

Train the trainer courses – a success!

Nov17
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Trevor Greenfield


We have now completed two ‘train-the-trainer’ courses and they have been a resounding success.

The course now runs for two days and attendees found this much more beneficial. The first day covers all of the processes of the practitioner accreditation and includes advice on the points that our trainers need to cover.  On the second day the delegates work through a case study of a typical school going through a FITS implementation. In the afternoon of the second day trainers now sit the examination for either the practitioner or advanced course being trained.

This will now be the format that we will use for all future courses. READ MORE »

Posted in The FITS Foundation - Tagged
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Keep Safe Online – Internet Safety Course

News Update

We have now included the FITS Internet Safety course within the FITS members area providing even more value for our members.
If you are not already a FITS member or your membership has expired we encourage you to join now to get the Internet Safety course at a much cheaper rate than it was previously.
Check out the Internet Safety course with us

News

Ruby on Rails - Serious exploit
This item is a heads up in case you are running Ruby on Rails. There is a serious exploit for RoR out in the wild. Full information is posted here

If you are not running any Ruby on Rails websites then this does not affect you.

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