19 March 2010

Last week was science and technology week for the Conservatives.

First Sir James Dyson published his Conservative commissioned Report on how to make the UK ‘the leading high tech exporter in Europe’. Then, a couple of days later, the Party launched the latest chapter in its emerging draft manifesto, this time on Technology. Both have a bearing on the world of education.

The Technology Manifesto first. This arrived with the customary fanfare; “this manifesto outlines the most ambitious technology agenda ever proposed by a British political party.” After some ritual dismemberment of current government policy, lost databases, white elephant projects, wasted expenditure and the rest, the Manifesto sets out how the Conservatives would do things differently if they were in charge.

“Absolutely crucial to our vision” argued Francis Maude who was hosting the launch, “is data transparency.”

Opening up data thus forms the first of the three headline elements in the Manifesto with a promise to follow President Obama in creating a ‘Right to Government Data’ policy. What this means is that a mass of government data would be opened up and made available which over time would transform the relationship between government and the people, especially the business community, and according to experts, provide a massive boost to the economy. Some of this would be critical performance data such crime maps, energy consumption and education and health performance. The interest here for the world of education is what this might do for performance tables. Last year, Conservative thinking on league tables provoked considerable anxiety but this approach could see the controversial tabulation of school league tables transformed into a much more comprehensive picture of a how a school performs, presented in different ways by different schools.

Nor would it just be public services held up to scrutiny through the release of data. The Manifesto proposes that “every item of central government and quango expenditure over £25,000” would be published online and in standard format, as would government contracts for goods and services over a similar figure and procurement tender documents for contracts worth over £10,000. In an acknowledgement to life after the expenses scandal, MPs expenses would be published online as would the salaries of those government and quango bosses earning over £150,000. Nor would this stop at central government. Local council bosses earning over £60,000 would equally be required to publish their salaries and details online while the council itself would also have publish “every item of spending over £500.” This has already been tried out in some councils and apparently saved costs.

The second element in the Manifesto deals with the creation of ‘a new 21st c high tech technology infrastructure.’ A key aspect of this is the building of a new superfast broadband network: “we will be the first country in Europe to extend superfast 100mbps across most of the population.” The government has faced difficulties over the funding of its broadband expansion through the proposed levy on phone bills but the Conservatives intend to use private sector investment and if that doesn’t deliver then “use the proportion of the licence fee dedicated to digital switchover to finance roll out from 2012.” Other aspects of the Party’s new technology infrastructure include a new high speed rail network, smart meter technology and Britain’s first Green Investment Bank and closer to education, support for skills development through technical schools, apprenticeships and STEM subjects. There’s no reference at this stage to the Leitch skill targets, rather as with the government, support for economically important sectors: “we will re-establish clear national policy leadership for key technology sectors.”

The third element in the Manifesto deals with IT procurement: “if we win the next general election, we will impose an immediate moratorium on all government contracts so we can start to regain control. We will then begin to re-introduce some basic standards to government IT systems and procurements.” There’s clearly a message here about needing to get tough on IT costs and development and opening up the system to a wider range of providers. So the Manifesto promises to publish online all IT tender documents and procurement contracts, to introduce a presumption against government IT contracts worth over £100m and to reform the procurement process, all designed to ensure “that the government becomes an intelligent and capable customer.”

Apart from these commitments, the Manifesto also commits to giving a fair wind to the Dyson Report, a Report commissioned by the Party at last year’s Party Conference and produced with obvious personal enthusiasm by Sir James Dyson. “When David Cameron invited me to help the Conservatives reawaken Britain’s innate inventiveness and creativity I did not hesitate.”

Sir James has had a long-term interest in the education and training of young people, one not dimmed by his experience in trying to set up an engineering academy a few years ago. Getting youngsters excited about science and technology is one of the five challenges that his Report tackles. It’s also the longest section in the Report and while much of it goes over familiar ground such as the need to teach the single sciences, to provide better support for STEM teaching and reward STEM teachers, and to provide industry scholarships and better advice to young people, the passion shines through. Technology and engineering can be fun and Sir James wants to stimulate the taste buds in young people His view that “design and technology education is struggling to shake off a dreary image” will strike a chord with many.

Elsewhere in the Report Sir James calls for governments to get serious about engineering and science using campaigns, prizes and new language to change the culture around these two disciplines, giving universities greater freedom to develop research and knowledge transfer and encouraging and financing more high tech start-ups. In essence he calls for a shift away from some of the modern service sectors like finance and back towards making things, something in which traditionally this country has a strong record.

Given that apparently only 4% of teenage girls want to be engineers, 14% scientists and yet 32% models, it seems like a clear cut case of QED.

© Edexcel Policy Watch 2010. Steve Besley is Head of Policy at Edexcel. Policy watch is a service intended to help busy people understand developments in the world of education. Visit Edexcel at www.edexcel.org.uk