School IT Administrator Survey by European Schoolnet: Results Download report: http://bit.ly/1V2IIP7

1. The School IT Administrator
Investigating the changing context, role
and training needs of IT managers

2. Headlines
• There is a problem that needs to be addressed
– IT administrator is an essential role as schools become
digitised
– Yet many have multiple roles, are under-qualified,
overwhelmed by work, under-supported, and under-
recognised
• There is an unmet demand for online training
– There are some training needs in common (network
operations, security, BYOD, cloud…)
– With some national variation, including language

3. Background
• Digital age schooling = rising expectations of ‘IT
administrators’
– = the person who oversees the technical development and
implementation of IT, e.g. providing technical support to teachers,
administering the network, managing devices in the school and
addressing security issues
• Little known about their number, role, profile or needs
• Is IT support in schools too much taken for granted?
• Partnership with Cisco, Aug 2014-Jul 2015, to understand and
investigate the training needs of IT advisors in schools

4. Scope of the study
About the
school
Technical
environment
ICT advisor
profile
Training needs
• Number of
students
• Number of
classrooms
• Age range
• Type/quantity
of equipment
• Operating
System
• Infrastructure
• Wi-Fi coverage
• Management
systems
• BYOD
• Scope of
responsibilitie
s
• Qualifications
• Previous
training
• Willingness to
be trained
• Language
• Main
challenges
encountered

5. Method
• Online survey, 23 questions in 25 languages
• Publicised via ministries, Cisco and EUN contacts
• Self-selected sample
• Data collected and analysed
• Global and country reports (Poland, Italy, Spain, Slovakia,
France, Turkey)

6. Analysis
• Over 3,600 responses
by April 2015
• 20 languages /
countries reached a
threshold
• Note:
– DE = Germany +
Austria;
– EN = UK + Ireland;
– FR = France + Belgium
+ Switzerland
0
2
5
6
8
24
38
64
70
84
96
96
98
115
128
128
140
144
145
190
215
246
480
528
556
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
LV
NL
BG
EL
HR
RO
SV
MT
FR
CZ
EN
ET
DE
FI
DA
HU
PT
SL
PL
ES
IT
NO
LT
SK
TR

7. 1: The IT administrator’s school
• The ‘typical’ IT administrator works in a
medium-sized secondary school with between
200 and 1,000 students in 11 to 50 classrooms
• A small number work in primary schools
and/or in small schools with fewer than ten
teaching rooms
• 16% work in large schools (1,000+ students)

8. ICT infrastructure: computers
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean
IT
PL
ES
TR
NO
CZ
FR
PT
DA
LT
DE
MT
HU
SK
SV
SL
EN
FI
ET
RO
% respondents
Country/language
Percentage of IT administrators in schools with more than 100 computers
100-250
250-500
More than
500

9. Wi-fi penetration
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean
CZ
DA
EN
ET
FI
FR
DE
HU
IT
LT
MT
NO
PL
PT
RO
SK
SL
ES
SV
TR
% respondents
Country/language
Wifi in more than 75% of classrooms

10. External hosting
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean
IT
PL
ES
TR
NO
CZ
FR
PT
DA
LT
DE
MT
HU
SK
SV
SL
EN
FI
ET
RO
% respondents
Country
Service hosting
Services are
hosted
externally via
third-party
provider / cloud

11. BYOD prevalence
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
%respondents
% schools where BYOD is permitted / supported
Students / teachers bring their own devices School provides services for personally owned devices

12. 2: The ICT administrator’s profile
60%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
%respondents
60% have relevant qualification
Have a post-
school
qualification
in computer
science or
similar

13. Role: 89 % also teach
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
%respondents
Most IT administrators have teaching duties
Some teaching activities

14. Other responsibilities
46%
5%
19%
5%
19%
7%
Managing a resource
centre, computer lab/s
Non-ICT related
management and…
Support to colleagues
generally
Specific support to
colleagues involved in…
Developing and
maintaining school…
Pastoral (e.g. year
coordinator)
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

15. Professional development
37%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
%respondents
Percentage of IT administrators having had no training at all since appointment
No training at all; I learnt on the job

16. Interest in online training
21%
51%
30%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Very likely Likely Neutral Unlikely Very unlikely
Likelihood of participating in online training
In English, with people like me from other countries
In my own language, with people in my country only

17. Interest in English online training
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean
IT
PL
ES
TR
NO
CZ
FR
PT
DA
LT
DE
MT
HU
SK
SV
SL
EN
FI
ET
RO
% respondents
Interest in English language online training
(% respondents likely or very likely to be interested)
Very likely
Likely

18. Interest in own language training
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Mean
IT
PL
ES
TR
NO
CZ
FR
PT
DA
LT
DE
MT
HU
SK
SV
SL
EN
FI
ET
RO
% respondents
Interest in home language online training
(% respondents likely or very likely to be interested)
Very likely Likely

19. Top five challenges and training needs
Challenges
1. Staff development in
pedagogical ICT
2. Hardware / software
management
3. Staff support
4. Security, data
management, e-safety
5. Network operations
Training needs
1. New tools and services
2. Security, data
management, e-safety
3. Cloud services
4. Network operations
5. Staff development in
pedagogical ICT

20. Challenges and training needs
0 20 40 60 80
Hardware installation and management
Software installation and management
Central services deployment
Network operations (broadband, wired, wifi)
Cloud computing
BYOD management
Security, data management, e-safety
New tools, services and products
Interoperability of learning resources
Curriculum and assessment e.g. new courses
Management, ICT policy, project planning,…
Budgeting including maintenance and…
Staff development: pedagogical ICT
Staff development: technical
Staff support
Teaching computer science
Operation of learning management systems
Aggregated scores (max. possible = 100)
Training need
Challenge

21. School
Denmark,
Italy,
Portugal,
Spain
ICT
infrastructure
IT
administrator
>1000,
older
students
<200,
younger
students
Finland,
Norway,
Slovakia,
Slovenia
Highly
digitised
Digitally
developing
Poland,
Romania,
Turkey
Denmark,
Norway,
Sweden
Highly
qualified
Less
qualified
Czech
Republic,
Lithuania,
Poland,
Romania,
Spain
Finland,
Italy,
Malta,
Sweden,
Turkey
National groupings

22. Challenges Training needs
English,
cross-
border
My
language,
national
Poland,
Romania,
Turkey
Denmark,
Norway,
Sweden
Network
operations
People-
related
Czech
Republic,
Lithuania,
Poland,
Romania,
Spain
Finland,
Italy,
Malta,
Sweden,
Turkey
Clusters: challenges and needs

23. A role under stress and
under-supported?
Some comments
“Need for online training and get certified. It
is high time to regulate the status of
computer experts in schools”
Little support and understanding from
management who have poor knowledge of
challenges and risks associated with a
developing ICT infrastructure
“We lack a certified or
uncertified training
internationally
recognized”
“Give me ONE place
where I can look for /
read the news to the
theme of ICT in schools”
“It would be good to create a
central European team of teachers
from schools or some platform
directly for I feel it would be useful
to form a support network to
manage hardware and software
problems, especially in primary and
secondary schools”
“Am I an engineer or a teacher?”
“Somehow got landed with being
the go to person for issues”

24. Conclusions
• There is a problem that needs to be addressed
– IT administrator is an essential role as schools become
more digitised
– Yet many have multiple roles, are under-qualified,
overwhelmed by work, under-supported, and under-
recognised
• There is an unmet demand for online training
– There are some training needs in common
– With some national variation, including language
• Next steps?