Exploring the relevance of Information Security policies within UK schools: a practitioner perspective

The quality of teaching and the level of student engagement within a school are acknowledged as having a significant impact on student performance. Current research into best pedagogical practices highlights how the implementation of Information Communication Technology (ICT) could potentially contribute to improved interaction by students with teaching and learning resources. It has, however been noted that ICT adoption by teachers remains below expected levels and concerns have been raised over teacher reluctance to embrace new technologies. In addition, very little research has been conducted to examine how national and school policies may hinder the pace of ICT adoption within UK schools. The lockdown of UK schools due to COVID-19 and the subsequent push to rapidly integrate more ICT for the use of remote learning has highlighted the pivotal role of a school's Information Security (IS) policy in ICT adoption. These policies and the managers responsible for interpreting them may come into conflict with teachers who want a rapid roll-out of new ICT teaching and learning tools. This paper discusses 2 examples where this conflict occurred. It argues that investigating the interactions that occurred during this period will facilitate discussion on the role IS policies have in hindering or facilitating ICT adoption within UK schools.