School management’s role in achieving technical sustainability

Thursday, July 9th, 2009 | Sustainability

There is more to sustainability of ICT facilities in schools than financial sustainability.  The management team of the school must also consider technical sustainability.

If technical support services are available through an organ of the State, the principal must ensure that everyone in the school understands what is involved in technical support and that procedures are in place to make optimal use of these support services.  The following must be clear to all:

What services are available?

If a need for one of these services arises, how are they arranged?

If there is a help desk, are the contact details easy to locate?

Who has the responsibility to contact the provider of technical support?

Is a logging procedure in place so that support calls can be recorded and followed up?

Who will follow through on requests for support?

What arrangements are in place to ensure that all staff members understand these procedures?

Is a procedure in place for regular maintenance checks?

What happens if the State does not provide technical support?  In that case it is even more important that the management team of the school understands what is involved in technical support.  What is the nature of the technology that must be supported?  What type of support is required?  How often is support required?

If the State does not provide technical support, the school must make their own arrangements to ensure that an acceptable level of technology use is sustained.  The cost of such support services must be fed into the financial sustainability budget.

In some cases a technical person is appointed privately by the school – this can be done on a part-time or full-time basis, depending on the size of the installation.  It is hard for some schools to afford employing such a person.  However, it may be possible to find a sponsor who would be willing to pay the salary of a technical support person.

Another option for the school is to enter into a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with a company who provides technical support services.  Such services are rendered on the basis of a fixed monthly fee, but with the understanding that the service provider will render technical support when the school requires it.  Unfortunately some poor schools can’t afford this either.

Some schools are able to form partnerships with local business organizations, and part of the agreement is that the business concern makes technical staff available to the school.  These staff members then assume responsibility to maintain the technical installation of the school.

Regardless of the support mechanism employed by a school, it is important for the school to build technical expertise among staff members.  True, not all teachers have a technical flair, but there will always be a few that can be trained to have oversight of technical issues.  In the case of very poor schools, this may be the only form of technical support that the school can afford.  The school’s manager must ensure that some members of the staff are equipped with technical skills to ensure technical sustainability.

Technical support systems often fail because internal procedures are not in place to ensure that the system is optimally used.  Principals need to take the lead in putting such procedures in place.

Tags: principal, Sustainability

3 Comments to School management’s role in achieving technical sustainability

Mitch Weisburgh
Thursday, 9 July, 2009

Some schools find that the students can do the technical support. They enjoy the feeling of accomplishment, and it provides them with additional skills. There are various ways that the students can learn the skills, including having mentors from the local private sector.

Skip Zalneraitis
Thursday, 9 July, 2009

There are huge issues including confidentiality, for one, with having students do tech support. It must be carefully planned and executed if that is one’s only choice.

Marius Pretorius
Monday, 13 July, 2009

I agree with the comment above. You need to have someone trustworthy to take the responsibility, someone who would not abuse his privileged position. If some students get the idea that the school management don’t have a clue what’s going on, they would lead them around by their noses.

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