School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme.
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- Category: Education News
- Written by BBC.CO.UK
The current programme of information and communications technology (ICT) study in England's schools will be scrapped from September, the education secretary has announced.
It will be replaced by an "open source" curriculum in computer science and programming designed with the help of universities and industry.
Michael Gove called the current ICT curriculum "harmful and dull".
He will begin a consultation next week on the new computing curriculum.
He said this would create young people "able to work at the forefront of technological change".
Speaking at the BETT show for educational technology in London, Mr Gove announced plans to free up schools to use curricula and teaching resources that properly equip pupils for the 21st Century.
He said that resources, developed by experts, were already available online to help schools teach computer science and he wants universities and businesses to devise new courses and exams, particularly a new computing GCSE.
"Imagine the dramatic change which could be possible in just a few years, once we remove the roadblock of the existing ICT curriculum.
"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," he said.
Computer games entrepreneur Ian Livingstone, an adviser to Mr Gove, envisages a new curriculum that could have 16-year-olds creating their own apps for smartphones and 18-year-olds able to write their own simple programming language.
Mr Livingstone, co-author of last year's Next Gen report which highlighted the poor quality of computer teaching in schools, told BBC news: "The current lessons are essentially irrelevant to today's generation of children who can learn PowerPoint in a week."
"It's a travesty given our heritage as the most creative nation in the world.
"Children are being forced to learn how to use applications, rather than to make them. They are becoming slaves to the user interface and are totally bored by it," he said.
Other experts voiced concerns about a shortage of teachers qualified to deliver the new curriculum.
Read more about this story at the BBC Website.
