Edulito
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Reviews
  • Teaching Resources
    • GCSE Resources >
      • OCR GCSE Computer Science J277 (from 2020)
      • AQA GCSE Computer Science 8525 (from 2020)
      • Edexcel GCSE Computer Science 1CP2 (from 2020)
    • Professor Cody
    • Python Programming
    • Books >
      • Professor Cody Book
      • Python - A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Teens
      • OCR CS Exam Revision Workbook
    • KS3 Resources
    • Freebies
  • Blog
  • Video Tutorials
    • Code 5 Christmas Games using Scratch
    • Code 8 Games using Scratch
    • Learn to Code using Scratch
    • Learn to Program using Python
    • Programming Concepts
    • Code 2 Halloween Games using Scratch
    • Picoh the Robot
  • Contact

The end of ICT – or is it?

5/11/2017

1 Comment

 
​GCSE and A Level ICT are now in their death throes. The conservative government, mainly in the guise of Michael Gove have killed them off. It was at the beginning of 2012 that Gove said that the existing curriculum in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had left children "bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers".   Having been an ICT teacher at the time, all I can say is that I don’t recognise his criticism as being a true reflection of what was happening in the classroom.  Yes, we were teaching students to use applications such as Word and Excel, as these were essential tools not just for students, but also for the majority of working adults.
It is a caricature of the reality that was seen in schools, where students were learning about control, programming (usually using graphical programming languages, such as Scratch), video and audio editing, scripting languages (such as html) and creating relational databases.   It was a small cohort of so called “experts” who advised Mr Gove into bringing their vision to reality. This misguided group threw out the baby with the bath water. 
Wind forward nearly six years from this change and there is already ample evidence that this decision, by groups with a vested interest, was at best a misguided decision and at worse a retrograde step.
Early this year, it was ironically the British Computing Society (BCS), one of the groups who advised Mr Gove, that were showing concern that the number of students taking up a qualification in computing would likely halve by 2020.  You could have asked any ICT teacher back in 2012 and they would have been able to predict this outcome.  Not that the computing/ computer science curriculum is of no value, it definitely has its place as a valuable qualification, but only alongside ICT/IT qualifications. 
We now have students arriving at secondary schools from many primary schools with little knowledge of ICT. Many of them have used a tablet, but never a desktop computer or laptop.  Secondary school teachers need to teach the students basic ICT skills before they move on to teaching computing, that’s if they have the time.   
GCSE ICT was always a popular choice for girls and despite money being spent on encouraging girls to choose GCSE computer science, there is little evidence that this is having any impact. So not only are fewer students choosing a “computing” qualification, even fewer of these are girls.
It really is time to bring back GCSE ICT and A Level ICT before even more damage is done.
1 Comment
Kids Pets and Other Hobbies link
21/7/2023 21:13:36

Very thooughtful blog

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Russell Bryant, has taught Science, ICT and Computer Science both in the UK and in South America for over 20 years.  This includes teaching GCSEs, A Levels, IB and IGCSEs. He has also worked as an online learning consultant in London, helping schools to develop an online learning strategy.

    Archives

    November 2023
    September 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2016

    Categories

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Reviews
  • Teaching Resources
    • GCSE Resources >
      • OCR GCSE Computer Science J277 (from 2020)
      • AQA GCSE Computer Science 8525 (from 2020)
      • Edexcel GCSE Computer Science 1CP2 (from 2020)
    • Professor Cody
    • Python Programming
    • Books >
      • Professor Cody Book
      • Python - A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Teens
      • OCR CS Exam Revision Workbook
    • KS3 Resources
    • Freebies
  • Blog
  • Video Tutorials
    • Code 5 Christmas Games using Scratch
    • Code 8 Games using Scratch
    • Learn to Code using Scratch
    • Learn to Program using Python
    • Programming Concepts
    • Code 2 Halloween Games using Scratch
    • Picoh the Robot
  • Contact