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Becta, the UK government agency responsible for technology in the education sector has promised to do more to promote the use of open source software within schools and colleges and has warned educational institutions in the UK against upgrading to Windows Vista and Microsoft Office.
I've written a number of times about BECTA, charting its constant flip-flops on open source in schools – sometimes damning it, sometimes driving it. Like me, you've probably been increasingly confused about BECTA's real attitude to free software.
Officially sanctioned open source and free-to-use software could be in use across the UK education system within months after government education agency Becta issued a tender for a four-year framework agreement.
MICROSOFT has suffered further set-backs in the UK education sector this week after Becta, the government procurement quango, reformed its purchasing regime to break the software giant's hold on education, and launched a programme to get schools to adopt open source software.
More teachers and institutions are now participating with organizations like SchoolForge, the Open Source Education Foundation, and Open Source Schools. These educators are beginning to see that the open source philosophy has the power to transform education in several key ways.
Becta, the schools IT agency, has signed a new licence with Microsoft that it said offers better value for money and does not hinder open source adoption.
Can open source succeed where Windows and the Mac have failed? I’m talking here of K-12 education. An eSchools report (right) says open source spending is growing 70% per year, and will be up 800% in 2011 from last year’s level.