You are here > Home > News
Govt set to reform IT education in schools
IT News |
12/01/2012
Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, has revealed plans to scrap the current "harmful and dull" IT curriculum in September 2012.
A consultation into the reforms will begin next week, with schools likely to be given more of a say in how information technology is taught to young people.
"Imagine the dramatic change which could be possible in just a few years, once we remove the roadblock of the existing ICT curriculum," Mr Gove stated.
"Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word or Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations."
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has welcomed the government's announcement on the importance of computer science to the national curriculum.
Bill Mitchell, director of the BCS Academy of Computing, said the proposals are "a significant first step" towards enabling schools to teach computer science.
He welcomed the fact that good schools will be free to teach the "underpinning principles and concepts" of computer science through "imaginative and rigorous" curricula such as the Computing At School (CAS) curriculum, which is endorsed by both Microsoft and Google.
"There are major challenges ahead not least because there is a shortage of both intellectually challenging GCSE qualifications and teachers with expert computer science knowledge," Mr Mitchell stated.
"However, together with CAS and collaborating with groups like Next Gen, our experience and resources mean that we are ideally placed to provide teachers with what they need to teach both digital skills and computer science."
Simon Humphreys, BCS co-ordinator of CAS, said Michael Gove's announcement today is just the start of a "very exciting" new period in the education of our children, and one the organisation has been working towards for a number of years.
"Just as we give every student the opportunity to learn the workings of physics, chemistry, and biology, because they live in a physical, chemical, biological world, so we should offer every student the opportunity to learn the workings of the digital systems that pervade their world," he stated.
"This knowledge is empowering, enriching, and inspiring; computers are good servants but poor masters."
Posted by John Lynes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IT Recruitment Agency - 12.5% Fee / 3 Month, 100% Rebate - Transparent Recruitment Fees Since 1999.
Sign up to our e-newsletter service to receive our headline news directly to your inbox
