Corporate IT Forum calls on government to provide all UK schools with computing clubs

The Corporate IT Forum (CIF) has called on the government to provide every UK school with enough funding to run a computing or science club.

V3 has recently partnered up with CIF on Make IT Better, a campaign to improve IT education in schools and encourage the government to be transparent in its IT curriculum reforms.

Now, in a report on the IT skills crisis facing the UK, CIF has argued that IT education is in a state of "complete disarray", and this needs to be fixed in order to attract young people into IT careers.

The report further suggests that the IT industry as a whole needs to have more input in IT education, as well as in the design of the new IT curriculum.

At the moment, the government tends to favour input from IT developers and vendors, rather than those businesses who use IT to deliver products and services, and which hire a large number of IT staff.

According to CIF, computer clubs in schools would be focussed on creating commercial products, and would encourage pupils to use out of school knowledge and experience in their designs.

"It's astounding how many of us in the industry have a passion for technology that stems from us learning how to program in our bedrooms in order to play computer games as kids. We need to create that curiosity, enjoyment and fun in schools today," said CIF chair John Harris, speaking to V3.

"Computing clubs would be for children to come together to learn and innovate. Maybe students could solve a problem or create a game."