A peep into RM’s history

How RM began

Founded in 1973 by Mike Fischer and Mike O'Regan, RM has been involved with ICT in education since its inception. In fact educational ICT is now our only concern and we are probably unique as a company to have such a wide range of offerings and products totally focused on education. We are based just outside Oxford and have regional offices in Scotland and the North West of England. We also have a number of group companies across the UK, which give us wide geographical coverage. Added to this are our offices in the US, India and Australia and you can see we have a good international flavour too.

What we offer

By offering a whole host of education services we aim to provide schools, colleges and universities the very best technology, designed and enhanced for the unique demands of education. We do this by working with those involved in education. For example, through working with teachers, technicians, and network managers to design a new PC, the RM One was born. It is a robust, secure, practical and compact computer - exactly what is needed for the classroom. We did the same when we developed the ecoquiet PC.

Our customer panels told us that they found it hard to teach over the noise of a bank of PCs in the PC room and asked if we could find a quieter solution. So we did. And in doing so we made a PC that was not only quieter but also uses up to two-thirds less power than a standard desk top PC. So by using this PC teachers can save their voice, save on their fuel bills and maybe help do a little bit to save the planet too.

Working together

Working collaboratively and in partnership are linchpins of our philosophy. Over 100 of our employees are school and college governors and many more have worked in education in the past. We also have key educational thinkers like Tim Brighouse and Mike Tomlinson on our board - to advise and steer us and to make sure our educational thinking is sound.

We helped Tim Brighouse publish his booklet The Jigsaw of a Successful School, where he identifies 15 characteristics of a successful school.

Our vision

At the top of Tim's list of characteristics is, "We share values, a vision of the future and we enjoy telling stories". It's a characteristic that applies as much to a successful business as it does to a successful school and, at RM, we too aim to share values and a vision of the future. Our vision is about helping teachers to teach and learners to learn; our values are about being a moral and useful organisation.

While education standards are probably higher than they've ever been, policymakers, education managers and classroom teachers remain committed to improving them further. It's a moral duty - as Tim Brighouse would say, you can't have a free society without educated people - but it's a pragmatic duty too. Economic success in the 21st century will require a highly educated workforce that is comfortable with technology.

The future

The UK has pioneered the effective use of ICT in the classroom and RM is proud to be part of that tradition. But things don't stand still, especially in the world of technology.

Things like social networking and blogging will soon find a role in education too. As Professor Stephen Heppell said recently, "Whatever kids come to school with in their pockets, we mustn't expect them to power-down to get on with their learning." For example, we recently launched Podium, which we believe is the world's first dedicated education Podcast environment. That's exciting learning. 

Technology has the potential to transform teaching and learning, but only when it's applied with a real understanding of education. We hope that by working with the people at the heart of education we can help them do just that.

More information

Further information about RM's ICT (Information Communications Technology) products for educational establishments can be found at www.rm.com. Details about other companies in the RM Group can be found here. 

RM is a public company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange; financial information is available from our investor relations web pages.