A Really Free Lunch

Over the last year or so there has been a real increase in the number of CEIAG services being offered directly to schools and Local Authorities; companies, social enterprises, charities - all seeking to make their mark and stake their 'claim' in the current Careers wilderness.

Many appear to be little more than re-listers or duplicators of content that already exists in the public domain - especially when it comes to Labour Market Information.

The trouble is some of these organisations not only provide little value-added to a schools' CEIAG offering, but, perhaps more importantly, some appear to be financially gaining from a rather mediocre service.

Why do schools buy in this services at all some ask - can't their ICT team support the needs of the CEIAG function and current CEIAG needs of the students?

It is fair to say that unfortunately not all technical teams, teachers or careers advisers have the personal knowledge or skills to effectively transform their establishments into the modern learning environment that is required in the 21st century. Ignorance and great 'selling' , I suspect, combine to provide schools with little choice - and the excuse to purchase some of these services in order to deliver what they believe to be necessary student CEIAG services.

And that's the problem - as learning innovators such as Prof Steve Wheeler, Shell Terrell and other commentators will confirm, their is a rich abundance of freeware and opensource solutions, that, with a little knowledge and a bit of research, can be fused together to provide an incredibly rich resource . Other free solutions to education don't even need that kind of investment of time - they get frequently shared around the Learning community and can often be as straightforward as plug and play.

The savage cuts to youth services are already impacting negatively on students throughout the UK - when it comes to CEIAG, these are probably the most fragile and hardest to protect - always the poor relation in education. The cuts mean that schools will be directly responsible for their spend in this arena as Connexions services deplete and the Local Authority hands across financial autonomy to many schools.

So, if you are responsible for CEIAG provision, are a Head teacher in secondary school, a governor, parent or guardian - infact,  a UK Tax Payer, you have a duty to question any school spending that seems unnecessary - especially where there are free alternatives in the market.

Viva Free Tools For Schools - it is the future, as long as school teams understand the need to have inhouse knowledge that makes the most of the free offerings out there, infact, it could be argued that it would be negligent in this financial climate not to do so.