What planet is Robert Chapman on? (The lure of the public sector).

Is it planet BSF (Building Schools for the Future), or BSP as we call it in our school Ð Building Schools For Profit?

Has he even had a sniff of working in IT support in a school? Come to work in education IT, he says. Well I did, in 1998 when innovation, dynamism and thinking on your feet were key to driving forward IT provision in schools.

Now it will be a very different proposition - as other people quite rightly point out - when schools' technical staff are downgraded to time-constrained monitor monkeys who may not even work in one place but could be shifted around.

I know plenty of people who have jumped ship in the past three years as they see what is unfolding and would prefer to swim rather than sink with the BSF project.

I am employed in a BSF school and have had to  put up with the stress, heartache, uncertainty and mushroom management of the IT provision. Just the thought of rereading a proposal for one of our almost-built BSF schools sends a shiver down my spine.

I can see it now: wireless everywhere, hundreds of laptops in students' hands, computer-controlled door access all flooded throughout the school and all requiring expert on-the-spot support. It will be a nightmare, especially when the private company renegotiates our contracts after the two protected years, which it will do, and downgrades all the IT staff or even makes some   redundant in the relentless pursuit of profit.

Am I jumping ship? You bet I am, as soon as possible. Get out of IT in education before BSF gets in.

Saul Hudson