IT skills taught at school can be at odds with how children view technology
Skills experts bemoan poor IT teaching
/v3-uk/news/1941032/skills-experts-bemoan-poor-it-teaching
02 Mar 2010, Rosalie Marshall , V3
IT education needs to be improved in UK schools if the industry's talent pool is to advance, according to speakers at an e-Skills event yesterday.
Estimates from the European Commission (EC) suggest that Europe may have a shortfall of 384,000 ICT practitioners by 2015 if more people are not attracted to the profession.
EC principal administrator André Richier pointed out that only half of ICT practitioners actually hold a degree in their field.
However, British Computer Society chief executive David Clarke believes that more ICT professionals and those with high IQs can be encouraged into the sector only if the teaching of IT at school is changed.
"Young people could not be more engaged in IT. They are more switched on than the rest of us, so what's the problem?" he said.
"It's because of the way IT is taught in schools. IT seems to be boring. It's taught as secretarial. It's Word. It's Excel."
Clarke argued that the main way children are taught IT at school is through copying and teacher instruction, but the way they want to learn is through groups and by completing practical tasks.
"This is how they learn technology outside school, but inside it's the opposite," he said.
Stephen Uden, head of skills and economic affairs at Microsoft, agreed. "The problem is that the IT skills children are taught at school are at a mismatch with how they view technology," he said.
Lizzie Holman, senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Education and Skills Group, maintained that the problems continue to degree level.
Some 64 per cent of science, high-technology and IT employers believe that the content of degrees are not relevant to their needs, according to CBI statistics.
"What we need is a qualification that is really fit for purpose," said Holman, adding that universities, business and the government need to work together to create a worthwhile qualification.
Gareth Preece, skills specialist at UK Trade & Investment, suggested that the quality of IT degrees is a "subjective subject".
"Universities are producing IT graduate students, but whether the degrees fit with business needs is another question. We need a wider conversation between business and universities," he said.
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Do you agree?
IT teaching
I am a teacher of IT and have taught it since it became a subject and the truth is - IT is not taught at all. What is taught is ICT which is the use of computer technologies. This makes veryone familiar with office programs, web authoring and graphics. The hard core IT is only taught in sixth form and the numbers of students has been falling for at least 5 years. A big reason for that is the nature of the A level syllabus which is firmly based in the 80s.
Posted by chris bradley, 02 Mar 2010
Clarity of requirements?
Most school leavers can make a print with words and pictures in the right place - sometimes after a few tries.
Some can then change the font face without the alignment messing up. For some employers and many teachers these are essential IT skills, or ICT skills if they know the difference. For others, the ability to replace a £4k Windows server with a £300 Open Source server doing the same job is the essential ICT skill. For yet others, the design of a user-proof UI is an important IT skill. For others, the ability to monitor and control network traffic, or safely and conveniently encrypt sensitive information, or devise an efficient and symbiotic algorithm for loosely matching data items... the list goes on. The governmentrt,of course, believes that every school leaver should be able to redesign the database of the organisation (s)he goes on to work for - an aspiration that I suspect is only employer led in the context of the civil service. Whilst the same government that commissions major IT projects is also responsible for the IT curriculum in schools life for IT professionals will be interesting, amusing and lucrative.
Posted by Eddy, 03 Mar 2010
Sad, boring monoculture
There isn't enough creativity and real problem solving taught. It's also mostly Microsoft based, as if this is the be-all and end-all, propagating an out-moded, ossified outlook. (No pun intended).
If it were up to me I'd teach things like how Facebook or Twitter work behind the scenes, or I'd run joint art/ICT projects involving digital cameras/video and music. Or how games are conceptualised, organised and constructed. iPhone Apps is another area.
Posted by Sir Josmould Herringpole, 03 Mar 2010
ICT courses need to fit what the industry is doing
Having also previously been a Head of ICT for many years I watched helplessly as other teaching staff with no real appreciation or understanding came into teach the subject. Shortages of real ICT teachers continue and hence with this we will always get ICT lessons being no more than basic office skills. The new e-skills IT Diploma gives some hope that through closer contacts with business there will be more realisation by schools and students of what ICT can really do. As part of their course students should study the different specialisms that the industry tries to recruit for. Just what does a business analyst, data integration architect, SAS programmer do? What is SaaS, SAP, ERP, etc, etc. The depth and breadth, challenges, opportunities and rewards need to better understood. - Arthur Butterfield
Posted by Arthur Butterfield, 03 Mar 2010