Meeting Digital Governance Standards: What You Need to Know

In our recent Education Executive article, we explored the Department for Education’s latest guidance aimed at assisting schools in meeting digital accessibility standards. Now, we’re turning our attention to the essential requirements for meeting digital governance standards

Digital governance entails identifying and establishing key roles and responsibilities within the school for good technology management. It also sets out processes, including what to do in an emergency. It ensures that up to date information on technology and technology products is available to support purchasing and procurement.

While some of the job titles in these standards may not apply to a specific person in your school, the responsibilities of the role should be assigned to the most relevant person. Any plans for digital governance strategy should be made to align with your school development plan.

Assign a member of the SLT to have responsibility

 Schools should nominate a member of the SLT to have strategic oversight of all digital technology and how it fits with their development plan. The lead should also ensure that any strategy is led by the needs of the students and staff and not the functions of the technology.

Having clearly defined roles and responsibilities will help schools and colleges focus the digital technology strategy around their development plan. This helps to minimise the risk of procurement mistakes, safeguarding and security issues and unplanned costs.

Keep registers up to date

Maintaining an accurate record of assets is crucial for comprehending the digital data, equipment, and systems in operation, as well as their management. It’s essential to keep track of licenses and purchases to facilitate the renewal or procurement of IT equipment. Schools are required to maintain the following to meet this standard:

• Contracts register
• Asset register
• Information asset register

These registers ensure transparency and effective management of school resources and technology infrastructure.

Disaster recovery and continuity plans

It’s essential to establish a structured process for reviewing and updating both disaster recovery and business continuity plans, particularly as they pertain to digital technology. These plans should seamlessly integrate with existing business continuity strategies. Once finalized, create a concise summary document outlining key details, such as emergency contacts, to securely share with all staff.

Your disaster recovery plan should evolve continuously, serving as a dynamic resource during emergencies. Regular testing, at least annually, is crucial to pinpoint any gaps in knowledge or areas requiring improvement within your digital technology framework.

As with previous articles in this series, the above information provides a brief overview of the standards. We strongly encourage school business leaders to visit the gov.uk website for a detailed examination of the standards.

In the next article in this series, we will explore filtering and monitoring standards for schools.