Meeting digital and technology standards in schools 

The DfE have launched a new service to guide schools on how they can meet IT service and digital equipment standards

These standards should be used as guidelines to support your school or college to use the right digital infrastructure and technology. *More digital and technology categories will be added to the service over time.

Meeting these standards can help you make better-informed decisions about technology leading to safer, more cost-efficient, practices and new learning opportunities for students.

The standards are to be used by everyone involved in the planning and use of technology in schools and colleges, including:

• senior leadership teams;
• IT staff;
• Suppliers;
• technical advisers;
• teachers.

The standards can help your school or college with:

• budgeting for technology procurement and maintenance;
• buying technology equipment and services;
• renewing a contract with a technology provider to ensure their purchases meet your needs;
• correctly installing new equipment.

You should:

1. Read each technology category and its standards.
2. Review the standards and see if your school or college meets them.
3. Speak with your ICT supplier or in-house support team to find out what can be done if you’re not currently meeting the standards.

If you need to buy new technology to meet the standards, you can get help buying for your school.

The current category standards available

Broadband internet standards for schools and colleges

Find out what standards your school or college should meet on connection type, connection speed, resilience and safeguarding.

Network switching standards for schools and colleges

Find out what standards your school or college should meet on switch performance, management, security and resilience.

Network cabling standards for schools and colleges

Find out what standards your school or college should meet on copper cabling, optical fibre cabling and installation.

Wireless network standards for schools and colleges

Find out what standards your school or college should meet on wireless network performance, coverage, management and security.

Cyber security standards for schools and colleges

Find out what standards your school or college should meet on cyber security, user accounts and data protection.

*This is a new service from the Department for Education and your feedback will help them improve it – here’s the link Feedback.