The project report from the study "Open Source Software in Schools: A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs" demonstrates that although the implementation of OSS in schools needs careful planning and support, the use of OSS can offer a cost-effective alternative to proprietary software. UK Government studies have previously suggested that the use of OSS within the UK public sector can provide a viable and credible alternative to propriety software and lead to significant cost savings. The aim of the Becta project was to see if these findings also applied to schools. The project, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked at a small sample of schools to explore how OSS is currently being used. The relative costs and approaches to implementation were compared with non-OSS schools.
Owen Lynch, Chief Executive, Becta, said: "There are many factors that determine the true cost of products and services. The cost of support, training and maintenance, and reliability issues, are as important as the purchase price when considering the total cost of owning and using technology.
This report indicates that open source software can provide a cost-effective and efficient solution in schools if effectively deployed. Becta believes that software used in schools should be of a high quality and adhere to open standards, enabling compatibility and interoperability between products. Becta will now be undertaking more extensive research across a wider range of institutions to allow further analysis of these issues".
The report records work Becta has done with schools which have implemented a range of open source software (OSS) solutions. This study, funded by the DfES was one of an interrelated series all looking at ways of helping schools make effective and sustainable use of ICT by exploring the total costs of ownership (TCO) of their ICT infrastructures.
The project commenced with a pre-existing set of 33 non-OSS primary and secondary schools that had agreed to take part in more general TCO work. Becta used existing OSS contacts and websites to identify a number of additional schools that were already using OSS and invited them to take part in the project. Fifteen of these schools agreed to participate within the project timescales.
While both sets contained a range of schools in a variety of settings they were not selected to be matched sets or to be more widely representative and four schools were all members of a mutually supportive cluster. They therefore represent opportunity samples.
The details of ICT related expenditure in schools using OSS were compared with schools who are not using such software. Further contextual information from eight case study schools is also provided and explores the nature of the range of implementations, the effect this may have on cost and how staff and pupils feel about using OSS.
- Open Source Software in Schools: A case study report (PDF 225KB)
- Using Open Source Software in Schools: Information sheet (PDF 294KB)
Quelle: Publictechnology, 17.05.2005
