ICT or not ICT? That is the question . . .

The government are making sweeping changes to the way ICT and computing are taught in UK schools, by 'scrapping' the ICT National Curriculum and replacing it with computer science lessons,

.

The teaching of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in UK schools has been in the national headlines over the last year, generally for undesirable reasons.

A recent Ofsted report found that although ICT teaching in two thirds of primary schools was good or better, it was judged to be 'inadequate' in a fifth of secondary schools.

IT industry leaders such as Dr Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, and Ian Livingstone, Life President of games developer Eidos, have spoken out publically about how ICT lessons in schools fail to prepare pupils for the challenges of studying a computer science degree at university.

There have also been warnings that we are in danger of becoming a nation of 'digital illiterates'. Mr Livingstone's recent report for the government argues that rather than ICT, schools should instead be teaching computer science.

Many people are surprised to learn there is actually a difference between ICT and computer science. In fact they are two distinctly different subjects that nevertheless share many common characteristics and approaches, a bit like biology and chemistry.

ICT involves learning to understand and use a wide range of computer systems to efficiently and creatively solve problems, while computer science is concerned with logical thinking, computer design, and computer programming. Society needs experts in both.

Now it looks as though the champions of computer science may have got their way. This week Mr Gove, the Education Secretary, announced that the ICT National Curriculum will be withdrawn from September this year. It is to be replaced with 'more rigorous computer science and programming lessons'.

It is unclear precisely what the new computing curriculum will contain as there is to be a consultation exercise on its development. One idea is to involve industry experts such as Google and Microsoft so that there is a closer match between what is taught in schools and the skills that are in demand by the IT industry.

As a teacher trainer I am privileged to visit many secondary schools across the West Midlands. I work with many ICT departments.

Despite the gloomy reports mentioned above, there are a lot of very talented and dedicated ICT teachers who work hard every day to teach interesting and engaging ICT lessons to their pupils. These lessons cover a very wide range of topics from data protection and how computer networks function, to digital animation and building web sites.

When ICT is taught properly pupils learn not only skills, but also the knowledge of how to combine those skills effectively. Additionally, they understand how to use the skills to meet the needs of a specific audience or purpose in the work they create.

Pupils are taught to become independent, critical users of ICT, so that they can cope with new applications and technologies, and stay safe when they are online. We encourage pupils to be creative, and to use ICT to explore new ideas and share what they learn.

Hopefully the outcome of the consultation exercise will be a well-considered, balanced approach, taking the best and most useful aspects of both ICT and computer science, to create an exciting and relevant computing curriculum.

The on-going Curriculum Review has been suspiciously quiet so far on the future role of ICT/computing in schools. Now the government have recognised the crucial national importance of computing, we can only hope that its place in the new curriculum will be secure and appropriate.

At the University of Wolverhampton we are currently working with both education and industry partners in developing training and teaching materials to support teachers and schools in delivering this exciting new type of computing curriculum. If you work in education and would like further details please contact us at g.m.rhoades@wlv.ac.uk