When an academy trust that runs nine primary schools embarked on its digital transformation, it had a clear focus: to put teaching, learning and students at the heart of the evolution. “As well as making sure children leave primary school with high literacy and numeracy skills, we want to give them the fundamental digital skills to access the ever-increasing range of new technologies,” says Phil Hedger, chief executive of the LEO academy trust, which operates in Surrey and the south London borough of Sutton.
The academy trust’s strategy was ambitious: to put technology into the hands of the children, quite literally. Now, every one of the 5,000 pupils and 600 staff has their own device. “We had the vision that we wanted every learner to have a device so that learning could happen anywhere, any time – at school and at home,” says Hedger.
He says that staff have worked tirelessly to reframe the use of technology in the classroom and “bring the dialogue back to pedagogy and away from technology for technology’s sake”.
One significant benefit of the digital transformation is the way technology has driven a culture of inclusivity, helping LEO schools to better support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). “These students often felt awkward because they were the only ones with an extra adult supporting them, whereas now all that resource and support is in a device, and their peers have them as well,” says Hedger. “It has proved really empowering.” As a result, he adds, the number of pupils on the SEND register has reduced by about a third.
Indeed, in an independent report carried out to evaluate the impact of LEO’s digital transformation, Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith, an educational technology expert, described the classroom as becoming “a more dignified place”. The benefits are evident among all pupils, with attainment levels “significantly” outperforming the national average.
LEO was able to afford to get the tech programme off the ground thanks in part to the savings it made by moving to cloud-based technology. “We’ve made significant savings by using multiple cloud-based systems, which has allowed us to reduce our IT costs and improve our efficiency,” says Hedger. “We’ve also made savings through reduced printing and the use of machine learning to streamline our processes.”
Digital transformation has also helped staff to work smarter, reducing workload and increasing collaboration across the trust. “The cloud-based approach has enabled staff to link up with colleagues, collaborating on planning documents, and using shared resource folders,” Hedger says, adding that working together improves the quality of lesson planning and teaching, as well as cutting down on the amount of time spent on tasks.
LEO has partnered with Intel to spread these best practices to other schools that are navigating their own digital transformation, and this has included hosting schools on digital discovery days. LEO staff are also among the first primary teachers globally to receive lead coach accreditation as part of Intel’s (free to access) AI for Youth digital readiness programme.
The success of the academy trust’s digital transformation has made it a sought-after place to work, Hedger says, with staff satisfaction consistently 15-20% above national benchmarks. “We now spend virtually nothing on recruitment, yet we’re inundated with staff who want to work with us,” he adds. “We believe this approach to education, and enabling staff to work at the cutting-edge of digital learning, is making us an employer of choice.”
LEO is one of a number of trailblazers in the education technology space. The London Design & Engineering University Technical College is another that has partnered with Intel. Running on Intel Xeon-powered workstations, the college champions extensive industry engagement and cutting-edge technology use for staff and learners.
Already having a relationship with Intel, James Culley, its chief technical officer, opted for Intel Skills for Innovation when he was looking to upskill staff, chiefly digital skills teachers. “One of the good things about Intel’s packages is that they encourage continuous professional development among staff as well as teaching them to use software or a virtual reality platform, most of which is free.”
Teachers are then enabled to use these technologies in class. “The Skills for Innovation platform allows users to dip in and out as they wish,” says Culley. “They can try a starter pack with a lesson plan and use it with their own class, and iterate it, for example. It allows people to go at their own pace.”
Culley says Intel’s programme has empowered teachers to be creative, so as to ensure curriculum planning and exam board content can be delivered with digital creativity, thus staying relevant.
Culley has shared his experiences and learning with the education community in the UK as well as internationally. The college’s application of digital has also had an impact on the wider community in a positive way. It engaged with London City Airport staff who explored machine learning for aircraft marshalling with learners on its aviation course. Culley also worked with a group of 17- to 18-year-old learners who designed and delivered a six-week basic AI workshop for community groups and small businesses, inspired by Intel’s Skills for Innovation programme. “It was so successful we had to move to larger training rooms after the first week,” he says.
As Hedger points out, the use of digital technology in education is ultimately all about high-quality teaching and learning. “The world is changing rapidly, and the jobs of the future will be very different from those of today. We believe that it is essential to equip our pupils with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in this ever-changing landscape.
“We are confident that digital learning is helping our pupils to develop the critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative skills they need to succeed in the future.”
RM StudyKIT: putting tech in pupils’ hands
Innovation is also happening within the tech community as it addresses the affordability challenges that organisations face when looking at digital transformation. To provide schools with options for making the leap, Intel has worked with the technology companies HP and RM to support the RM StudyKIT.
This is a scheme that enables every student to have their own device to use in school and at home, helping to level the field at a time when some students have greater access to technology than others.
Through RM StudyKIT, schools can get a device, protected case, warranty and insurance for every pupil, with options for Chromebooks and Windows to match budgets and performance needs.
With all pupils working on the same device, RM StudyKIT makes training and lesson preparation easier as materials do not need to be adapted for different devices. It also ensures young people do not feel left out because they don’t have the same device as their peers.
To find out more about how Intel’s education technology can help support your institution’s digital plans, visit intel.co.uk/IntelEducation