Primary schools "failing to keep pace" with kids' IT skills

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 9 Dec 2008 at 10:23

Primary school children are capable of dealing with the IT lessons currently delivered in secondary schools, according to a Government review of the school curriculum.

Sir Jim Rose, a former head of inspection at Ofsted, says the primary ICT curriculum is failing to keep pace with children's computer literacy.

"The Review has conducted a small scale survey the indications from which are that ICT is not yet providing value for money in many schools," the report states.

"As one teacher said, 'ICT is not working hard enough to support learning or to help us manage the curriculum'."

His report recommends the Government "review whether aspects of the Key Stage 3 [ages 11-14] curriculum for ICT would be more appropriately taught in Key Stage 2 [ages 7-11]."

"It may be that aspects of the ICT curriculum for Key Stage 3 are well within the capabilities of primary children, such that, by the time they reach Key Stage 3 children should not only be capable of demonstrating the skills of ICT, they should also demonstrate that they can confidently apply those skills to advancing their learning across the curriculum," Rose claims.

Key Stage 3 students are taught to buld interactive websites, study elements of the Data Protection Act and even set up data logging systems - however, the report is unclear as to which elements of Key Stage 3 would be incorporated into the lessons of primary children.

Rose adds that IT must become a critical part of the primary curriculum. "A sound grasp of ICT is fundamental to engagement in society, and the foundations for this engagement must be laid in primary schools.

"Along with literacy and numeracy, the use of technology to develop skills for learning and life should be at the core of the primary curriculum."

The review is now open for comments until the end of February.