Kent Schools Outsource IT

* - Article from Silicon.com

Kent County Council has signed off a £29m outsourcing contract for Northgate Information Solutions to provide IT managed services to 11 schools in the area.

The contract will run for seven years and may be extended to a further 25 schools.

The move is part of a £600m project to refurbish, rebuild and transform the 11 schools into modern education institutions and a significant part of the contract with Northgate will be to deliver an online managed learning environment. This application will serve as a hub for students to deliver coursework to teachers from home or school, ready for marking.
The hub will also serve as a school management and administration tool, keeping track of student attendance and exam results. This information will also be made available to parents.
In addition to this, Northgate will also manage the schools' desktops, laptops, networked projectors, interactive whiteboards and handheld devices as well as a full wireless network for each site.

In a statement, Kent Building Schools for the Future programme director Grahame Ward said: "By equipping our schools with state-of-the-art ICT facilities, we will not only improve the business of education through more efficient school management process, greater collaboration and the sharing of resources, but also raise attainment and transform the educational opportunities available to young people."

A spokesman for Northgate said the project will start in a couple of months.

MIS / Data Analyst - Current Vacancy

Data Analyst skilled with SQL and with experience in the Education sector is urgently required. You will also have experience with Access and Excel. You will be responsible for: -

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Any experience with Unit-e would be highly desirable.

This is an excellent contract which is moving fast, so please do send through a detailed CV asap.

G & G Recruitment are working as an Employment Business.

The lure of the public sector

Often when sourcing staff for our clients we encounter some resistance from candidates who have only worked in the Private Sector. They usually point to the unorganised, unstructured approach of the Public Sector, the length of time it takes to get anything done and the bureaucracy involved. While this may be true in some organisations within the Public and Not-for-Profit sector, I am sure that it is true within some Private organisations as well.

The article below (from http://www.whatpc.co.uk/) explains nicely why working in the Public Sector can be better than working in the Private sector: -


It is a common misconception that work in the public sector lacks the dynamism, innovation and pace of its private sector counterpart ­ – and in the area of IT, nothing could be further from the truth.

The challenges of moving from private to public sector, particularly where education is concerned, are much greater than people think.

But if you are ambitious, keen to innovate and eager to work on some of the largest IT projects in the country, then the education sector could be right up your street.
The detailed procurement processes that schools and universities go through when reviewing an IT implementation can help to fuel innovation, by opening the door to new firms that might be seen as too bleeding-edge for private business. As a result, IT managers and directors are often ahead of their private sector colleagues when it comes to the latest technological advances.

With the drive into electronic government, for example, public sector organisations of all shapes and sizes have developed some of the most proactive and responsive web sites in the UK.

The response mechanisms to online information provide citizens with a channel of communication that many private sector companies struggle to achieve. Such processes are mirrored in the education sector, with even the smallest village schools having their own web sites for prospective parents to access information.

The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme is providing many opportunities for innovation in the education sector. The project is receiving major investment, which will have a considerable effect on the technology available in secondary schools across the country.
While innovation is not a word commonly associated with the public sector, the government can lead the way in IT skills and standards.

Some of the world-class standards, such as Prince2 for project management and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) ­ – see Key skills for public sector IT workers, below ­ – have become core to not-for-profit working.

Prince2 was developed in 1989 by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency as a government standard for IT project management. Undertaking large-scale projects enabled the public sector to spot a gap in the market, and to propose standards of project management that could help implementations run smoothly and to budget.

As personnel transferred out of government into business, they took these skills with them into the private sector.

Prince2 is now used in more than 50 countries worldwide for all types of projects, not just those in the IT sector. The approach will prove invaluable to schools going through BSF projects to ensure they are properly managed and cause as little disruption to pupils as possible.
But if you are looking for a smooth and an unchallenging role, do not assume the education sector is for you. Just because there are no financial shareholders reviewing performance on a daily basis does not mean there is a lack of accountability.

In fact, you could argue that the education sector has a much tougher audience ­ – the general public. When mistakes happen they will reach the public domain ­ – something that may not always happen in the private sector. But if you want to get involved in some of the largest IT implementations in the UK, then the public sector offers a wealth of opportunities. The scale of projects in the major government departments such as the Department for Children, Schools and Families, or the Department for Work and Pensions, provides an ideal career opportunity for IT professionals looking to build their skills set.

There are few such opportunities in the private sector where you can expect to be involved with so many users or as many customer records. Add the joined-up government initiative and you can see why any IT professional should be getting excited about public sector projects that will look to push the boundaries of technology in the future.

The public sector offers an innovative environment, without the financial pressures of shareholders, and the added incentive to educate children and young adults to help make a difference.

Robert Chapman is chief executive of IT training specialist Firebrand Training

Key skills for public sector IT workers

Prince2

Prince2 – Projects in Controlled Environments – is a project management method covering the organisation, management and control of projects. Since its introduction, Prince2 has become widely used in both the public and private sectors and is now the UK’s de facto standard for project management. Although Prince2 was originally developed for the needs of IT projects, the method has also been used on many non-IT projects. The latest version is designed to incorporate the requirements of existing users and to enhance the method towards a generic, best-practice approach for the management of all types of projects.

ITIL

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of concepts and techniques for managing IT infrastructure, development and operations. ITIL is the only consistent and comprehensive documentation of best practice for IT service management. Used by many organisations around the world, an entire ITIL philosophy has grown up around the guidance.

Lack of IT students puts future at risk

Some things, unfortunately, never seem to change.

Yet again, the number of UK schoolchildren studying IT or for computing exams fell this year, even though we have undoubtedly the most technology-friendly teenage generation ever.
But we are not alone ­ Intel chairman Craig Barrett last week bemoaned the state of technology education in the US. Barrett pointed out that in fast-emerging economies such as China and India, there is a premium on engineering and technology teaching, and a student enthusiasm unmatched in the West.

Many in the IT industry say the problem comes from a lack of computing teachers, rather than the attitudes of children. For any subject, the enthusiasm and motivation of the teacher is key to students’ success ­- and there is a widely held perception that there are simply not enough IT teachers with the ability to enthuse their class.

In how many schools is the computing teacher an expert in another subject, such as maths, corralled into taking the IT class?

The difficulty is that this is a tomorrow problem for a today-obsessed government. The knock-on effect of a lack of technology education now will not hit home for another decade at least. In the short term, there is little chance that the target of 140,000 new entrants into the IT profession every year for the next five years will be met ­- and the UK’s technological capability will suffer.

There are, unfortunately, no immediate solutions ­ but we need a concerted effort from government and the IT profession to reverse the continuing decline in student numbers.

* - Article from www.computing.co.uk

It seems a strange that in an Industry where there are above average salaries on offer we cannot attract enough students. Maybe the image of IT being boring and IT professionals being social stunted needs to be addressed (May i point out that i don't conform to these views). Yes, there aren't many jobs in the world that people actually get up and do a little jig of delight because they are off to work. However, IT does offer variety and with its large amount of project work it has aims, acheivements and therefore satisfaction on offer in abundance.

IT Recruitment - whats the market like?

We thought we would give you all a quick update on how the current IT and Information Management recruitment market is looking within the Public and Not-For-Profit sector.

Well. So far this year, as mentioned in a previous post all has looked fine, not much change to mention. However, we did notice a drop in July. Maybe it was because everyone was on Summer Holiday or maybe it was the current economic climate taking hold. The good news is that it appears to have been a one off. August has been very busy on both the permanent and temporary side. We have received positions from within the NHS, Education, Charity and Housing sector.

In terms of the number of applications we are seeing we believe the number has generally been consistent, however, we have noticed a slight rise in the number of people looking for permanent work. Perhaps this is because they wish to ensure stability and financial security during these uncertain financial times.

If you would like to chat to us about IT and Information recruitment please do give us a call on 0844 800 4984 or e-mail us at info@ggrecruitment.co.uk

Information / Data Manager - Current Vacancy

Learning Data Manager with previous experience within an Education environment and skilled with Crystal Reports, SQL, Excel and Access is urgently required. You will manage the learner data team, ensure that the learner data team have efficient business systems, ensure that learner data consistently and accurately reflects actuality and work with staff in the organisation to ensure that they make best use of learner data for continuous quality improvement and business development.This is an excellent position, so please do send through a detailed CV asap.

G & G Recruitment are working as an Employment Agency.