Government under increasing pressure to revamp ICT curriculum

The Department for Education (DoE) is facing increasing calls to reform ICT education in schools as a potential skills crisis in the industry looms.

During an event at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) on Thursday, new research from the group was unveiled that shows a looming ICT skills crisis as graduate numbers drop off sharply.

According to the REC research, the number of school children opting to take ICT at GCSE level has almost halved since 2006 – from 109,601 to 61,022.

This has led to the number of undergraduate applicants for computer courses also falling by 10,568 over the past 10 years, which draw a stark warning from REC technology executive Les Berridge.

"If we don't act soon, we won't have any IT candidates," he told recruitment and IT professionals attending the event.

Carrie Hartnell, head of industry strategy at trade body Intellect, said her organisation had been lobbying the government for years to change the ICT GCSE so more students are encouraged to enter the sector.

"Time and time again we have tried to tweak the ICT GCSE, but it still continues to put students off having a career in the sector," she said.

Hartnell said Intellect has now begun campaigning for the government to scrap the GCSE altogether and make IT education more interlinked with other subjects on the curriculum.

"Technology education needs to be integrated as students need to understand how it interacts with every subject," she said.

Hartnell's said this scenario would prepare students for the workplace, where technology is an integral part of business.

Because the government had failed to change how ICT is taught in schools, many businesses have taken it upon themselves to offer ICT training or apprenticeships.

However, Hartnell said there is still a lot of government red tape restricting businesses from offering such opportunities.

Hartnell said Intellect had increased pressure on the government to change the GCSE since it launched its review of the National Curriculum in January.