Open Schools Alliance
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following the DfES advice and using the frameworks cannot use them to
procure Open Source Software or the services to implement and support
it : the companies Becta has selected for the frameworks don't offer
that. We are campaigning against the software frameworks as currently
set up and for changes that allow schools to get the benefits of Open
Source Software.The Government spends a fortune and ignores its own research
The DfES and Becta ignore their own research that Open Source
Software can save schools between 24% and 44% on ICT and advise schools to buy through eLearning Credits and procurement
frameworks that offer virtually no Open Source Software.
Our schools aren't getting value for money; we ask the DfES to
at least take a serious look at how Open Source Software is being
successfully used in schools, colleges, universities and businesses
across the UK and the world.
Open Source Software is widely used in industry
A 2005 Optaros survey of 500 US companies, government agencies and others found 87% were using Open Source.
Respected research company IDC says that Open Source development is the biggest change taking place in the global software industry since the 1980s, yet there is no strategy to exploit this in our schools.
We know Open Source Software is worth it
Many supporters of the Open Schools Alliance work with Open Source Software every day : as teachers using it to promote learning and innovation in schools, in companies making a living from it or as users getting the benefits in our own lives.
We see the advantages, we understand the benefits and the risks, we know the pitfalls and the issues.
For too long we have stood by whilst the Government has refused to act. We've watched money being wasted as expensive software often sat unused on classroom shelves.
Now is the time to act
John Pugh, MP for Southport, has put down Early Day Motion 179 in parliament :
Software in Schools
"That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market."
This is a real opportunity for us to make our voices heard. Now is the time to fax, email, write, phone or visit our MPs and ask them to sign this EDM and show the DfES and Becta that they can no longer continue to support a discredited model of software procurement without being taken to task.Source : http://www.openschoolsalliance.org/
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