Ofsted slams ICT teaching as student numbers tumble

I believe that the problem is....

....that most schools teach the equivalent of the ECDL - i.e. how to use the software.

What should be being taught (IMHO) is how to program, database structures and normalisation, etc. In other words teach the underlying technology not the applications.

By jontym123 on 14 Dec 2011

Yes ...

Calling a course on how to use a computer "ICT" is like calling a driving lesson "ATT" (Automotive & Transportation Technology).
It raises expectations way above what you actually deliver.

By JohnAHind on 14 Dec 2011

What are schools doing?

Teach computer science (and call it that!), not basic Microsoft Office skills and call it by some meaningless acronym to aggrandise a mediocre subject.
The constant dumbing-down of exams in order for schools to ace performance tables has robbed our children of the chance to genuinely achieve.
And for heaven's sake teach BASIC, C and Java not Pascal and MS Office!

By cheysuli on 14 Dec 2011

Do you know what school's do?

I get a strong feeling that people are not aware of what is taught in ICT at schools. ICT and Computer Science ae very different subjects!

Computer Science has it's place but being able to use programming languages and understanding how computers is irrelevant for the vast majority of the population and workforce.

ICT lessons are about making students aware of the digital world. They ae taught about e-safety and laws such as copyright (essential skills and knowledge for today's 'digital natives'). They ae taught how to use a wide range of software correctly This does include everthing from Word through to spreadsheets, 'flat' databases, photo editing, web creation, DTP, etc. Most schools use either MS Office of OpenOffice (or both) because this is what industry wants. Many schools also try to use 'real-life' software such as Adobe Creative Suite.

Students are also taught sequencing skills such as game-making and app building, to make them aware of the concept of programming, even if they are not actually doing it.

Learning complex formulae such as vlookup and nested if statements is very challenging for all students. This is a key part of the curriculum and GCSE and at key stage three.

To teach programming requires the students to have high levels in both literacy and mathematic skills and concepts. This means it is a subject best suited to A level and beyond.

I welcome any of the PCPro staff to spend a few days in my school seeing what the students actually do, and seeing what they think of the subject. Few would say it is easy, irrelevant or boring!

By gregwhitehouse on 14 Dec 2011

My point exactly gregwhitehouse!

A course with the curriculum you describe should not be called "Technology":
"the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science." - (Dictionary.com)
"Digital Literacy" would be a better title for the course you describe, and it probably should not be optional (or arguably should be covered within other subjects).
Also perhaps there is a space for a proper "Technology" course between Digital Literacy and Computer Science with the same vocational/academic slant represented by the use of "Technology" or "Science" in other subjects?

By JohnAHind on 14 Dec 2011

As an ICT teacher, I am seeing the subject getting a bit of a battering at the moment. Its mostly justified - at A-level ICT students spend the majority of their time taking screenshots and annotating to prove they have met certain criteria, demonstrated skills - rather then actually using a computer. This clearly needs to change.
What irritates me is that people are complaining that ICT teachers are not sufficiently skilled to teach Computing/Computer Science - its not "all just computers" - I'm not a programmer,network engineer or technician - I'm an ICT teacher and guess what? I can teach ICT. If schools, local authorities or the government want to train us all up, there would be a huge queue of ICT teachers looking to expand their skill set. Its no good just castigating ICT teachers for not being able to teach a range of programming languages on top of word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, DTP, web design, graphics, animation, video-editing, safe use of the Internet, effective search engine use plus many more topics.

By jackyrbody on 14 Dec 2011

Call me old fashioned....

Quote: "To teach programming requires the students to have high levels in both literacy and mathematic skills and concepts."

That's what was expected of us by the fourth form in secondary education when I was at school.

And it was for 'O' levels, not 'A' levels.

By jontym123 on 14 Dec 2011

Thak you gregwhitehouse

I keep saying this every time there is an ICT story...
When is PC Pro ever going to actually look at what happens in schools?

I've said it before & this is a repeat of the same tabloid BS.
And don't try with that "we're only reporting..." stuff, do some research! For example:
What ICT exam? The subject requires coursework, there is no final exam.

Why a 64% drop in students taking the option? I know exactly why & it's nothing to do with the subject. However, no-one at PC Pro will care to ask. How do I know? Because they clearly didn't when writing this story. Otherwise, they purposefully left the reason out.

"Weakness in the curriculum"? That is effectively set by the exam board, the schools follow the requirements set out - so why are Ofsted blaming the schools for this?
- PC Pro, any idea? No? Didn't think to ask?

And for those of you calling for programming to be taught, I've answered that before. If the teaching of MS Office is so bad, how do you expect those same teachers to explain BASIC, C, C++ and Java? Yes, it will be the same teachers, for the same reasons as they are trying to teach ICT now - no-one qualified wants to work in a school:
- For the money
- With teenagers
- Are able to teach (not as easy as it would seem).
Add to that, there would be very few kids opting for programming so either the class sizes would be too small or, more likely, the numbers made up of kids that didn't want to take that subject - oh, that would be fun. If anyone wants to know how much fun, look up 'Inclusion policy for UK schools'

By greemble on 14 Dec 2011

My college has just dropped Computer Science due to lack of interest. It's a real shame as there are several students younger than me who were looking forward to it - and actually know a fair amount about programming. Perhaps CS should be offered as an alternative to compulsory modern languages - I do the IB and can't stand them.

By seikogb on 14 Dec 2011

programming does not require experts in maths and literacy

To do basic (not BASIC) programming requires at its heart simply to understand logic flow:

e.g.
if...else

Simple branching is all that is required at the beginning. We don't need to teach algorithms, OO, relational database design etc etc.

The aim should be a gentle introduction to actually writing a program. This will give students confidence to then go and explore in their own time more sophisticated things.

ps. I'm a programmer now, but even until after university I had never programmed because I thought it was all really really complicated. In fact, it doesn't have to be, at least at the beginning.

By longn on 14 Dec 2011

ps.

I doubt many are arguing we should teach C, C++ and Java ! These are definitely not the simplest languages by any means.

Just pick a toy language / or we could always make one.

By longn on 14 Dec 2011

Disappointed!

Brilliant comments by greemble and gregwhitehouse.

I would just like to add a few points as an ICT teacher.
Firstly schools are only looking at results because they want to score well in league tables. As a result, most ICT subjects are not examination based and kids are only taught how to pass coursework. This reduces the quality in teaching because we are only focused on teaching what is required to pass. I am teaching a 100 hour course in 70 because ICT is deemed as a subject that can yield results in my school.
Since 1990 when schools have been compared for who achieves 5 GCSEs A*-C, there has never been a national regression in results. in 1990 the rate of students achieving 5 GCSEs was 38%. Today it is 78%. However in 2011 only 41% of students passed with both English and Maths GCSEs. The numbers are made up with subjects like ICT. It makes the subject boring everyone is only focused on achieving results at a cost of the quality of teaching.

Since I have started teaching, I have always tried to push new ideas and concepts in ICT as it is an ever changing environment. Unfortunately I have found in schools that I have worked in that probably between 40-50% of teachers that I have worked with have little or no knowledge of ICT and I'm talking about the basic use of software office applications. I have come across reluctance to accept change from teachers who are not comfortable and are not willing to change with the technology scene.

As greemble mentioned, many skilled teachers are put off by the thought of teaching due to poor wages and working with teenagers.
We have a problem in society as a whole not just in teaching and especially not just in ICT which is that we are not dealing with poor behaviour. Everyone is passing on the blame.

By ali_mulla on 14 Dec 2011

@gregwhitehouse

So you are confirming then that ICT is light-weight office admin and copyright?? Really?
And how is that in any way useful to anyone? Since Windows Operation wasn't on that list, I'd say the topic needs revising or scrapping all together!

By cheysuli on 15 Dec 2011

Across the board

Experiencing students coming into my workplace for a little time frequently, and I deal with them directly when they do, I see a large discrepancy in what schools view as ICT education. Alot of what I have heard has simply shocked me, this is supposedly a-level standard after which students are supposed to be equiped to make amajor decision usually regarding the only degree most will ever do. nonetheless I am fortunate enough to know one or two exceptionally creative teachers (not at a-level however) and I am glad to see some of the comments from those here. Ali_mulla appears to be clarifying quite a bit. Simple fact that some children will be lucky to have good school/teachers in this area but most will not. As a whole can we ever get our whole education system right, sadly I think not.

By jonnytheshirt on 15 Dec 2011

Robbie

As a former science teacher, thankfully no longer, I'm amazed that Ofsted are blaming the teachers when the curriculum is set by examination boards therefore lessons are geared towards their syllabi.
I would agree, however, that the subject has been dumbed down as, for example, my son took GCSE in, I believe, 1997 when he was the only student from sixty odd to receive an A*. A few years on, more than sixty pupils achieved an A* in the same school and with the same staff. The mind boggles.

By robbiemca on 15 Dec 2011

Robbie

As a former science teacher, thankfully no longer, I'm amazed that Ofsted are blaming the teachers when the curriculum is set by examination boards therefore lessons are geared towards their syllabi.
I would agree, however, that the subject has been dumbed down as, for example, my son took GCSE in, I believe, 1997 when he was the only student from sixty odd to receive an A*. A few years on, more than sixty pupils achieved an A* in the same school and with the same staff. The mind boggles.

By robbiemca on 15 Dec 2011

Learning itself

As a college lecturer teaching various ICT subjects. We see so many young students unable to use Spreadsheets etc

I hear "I can use a computer" so often but what does that mean?

It means they can switch it on, run an application and do very very basic tasks. They are not able to actually save a file correctly or input data correctly. They are not able to follow simple instructions.

The problem lies with the fact students see a computer as a games console, a facebook machine.

Students only want to do their usual everyday tasks such as playing games or chatting or using facebook.

Students are not interested in computing, IT or anything remotely difficult...even when enrolled on that particular course. It is a struggle to get them a pass but lecturers are under such a threat of losing their jobs that it is a MUST they attain a pass...so they do attain a pass!

Programming is a no go for children as they want to use the machine, not programme something that others have done so many times...they do not want to re-invent the wheel...they want to use the wheel to create something fun...like an application for facebook!

Student mind: computer = facebook.

Business needs: applications, designers, programmers, gamers, advanced spreadsheets.

The truth hurts!!!

By markgillan on 15 Dec 2011

@robbiemca

I agree that subjects have got easier over the past 15 years but not to the extent that you claim. Grades will also improve as teachers will gain more experience in teaching that subject to that paerticular syllabus. Its no wonder in your son's school's case that grades improved with the same teachers - they had a few more years experience so would obviously be more skilled.

By jackyrbody on 15 Dec 2011

Teaching in schools

We must face the fact business wants workers who can operate a computer, the majority of jobs using a computer do NOT require programming skills.

Programming for the majority is similar to re-inventing the wheel until it gets to the stage of creative programming and this is not for the majority.

The problem in schools is lack of training for the poor teachers who find it difficult to keep up with technology themselves.

Also, the fact children need to see computers as more than just ...

Computers=Facebook

or

Computers=Games

We need to teach kids spreadsheets but advanced spreadsheets to challenge them. We need to teach kids how to use an operating system, hardware, defrag etc etc ... but also how to spell, how to input correctly, how to be careful on a machine.

We need to teach kids the exact content they receive at the moment, such as legal impact, social impact and the important issues facing computing in the real world.

Programming should be a small part of everything associated with computers and computing, but applications are important because the majority NEED applications when they leave school and also need applications for any studying / development, so don't belittle applications ... use them more and for a reason.

Most kids come out of school not knowing the basics of even applications. Maybe the way in which teachers are forced to teach is wrong...maybe we need the teachers to tell the bosses how it should be taught to have learner engagement as opposed to to just passing exams.

By markgillan on 15 Dec 2011

@cheysuli

I see you're ignoring the explanations given. Yes, Windows operations are also included, gregwhitehouse's list was not extensive.

You've made it quote clear what you'd like to see the kids being taught, but as I've said before, that cannot happen for the reasons given in quite a number of posts.

Which school do you teach in, by the way?

By greemble on 15 Dec 2011

ICT Teaching

Well all I can say is if you have ever seen the 'ICT' curriculum and spoken to teachers you'll see clearly what the problem is. I've had two son's go through school, normally showing the teachers what to do! To say that they are twenty years out of date would be generous to some, who still think that 'ICT' is purely for office applications!

By Deano161 on 15 Dec 2011

A-changing

Been teaching computers at prep school level since the early 80s and the Apple II. This used to be entirely programming, using the surprisingly powerful Logo and of course BASIC. They could write cricket games, quizzes and so on. This is usually now too hard a sell for kids. They do not perceive it as necessary since machines do nice things like boot up and allow aliens to be slaughtered with a click. All else seems thought to be of peripheral interest only. This is not going to change. The skills required to use Office etc are also of marginal interest only. The child which wants to use Game Maker is a rare beast. The time spent on computers would probably be better used on Latin which requires some similar skills. Like washing machines, computers are now quite easy to use.

By leyden4 on 15 Dec 2011

@leyden

"The time spent on computers would probably be better used on Latin which requires some similar skills. Like washing machines, computers are now quite easy to use."

Oh really? So is spelling and grammar, so is mathematics once someone has shown you how to. I thought that's what teaching meant.

Showing someone that doesn't know something new and hopefully they will learn it.

By nik_endeavour on 15 Dec 2011

Hi all,

To start, thanks for all the comments on this story and others on the subject.

A few points. To @gregwhitehouse and other ICT teachers, I want to make it very clear that none of this is directed at you. Some ICT teachers clearly lack computing skills, but we've heard fantastic examples of interesting classwork from our readers - parents and teachers and students - via email and comments. No-one thinks *all* ICT teachers lack IT skills, but clearly some of them do. If we could have more teachers like all of you, I think the problem would be solved...

Second, @greemble, I'm afraid we don't have the resources to survey every school - not even Ofsted does. However, we are going to report on what the official education body thinks of ICT in schools. I think it's relevant. And there are ICT exams - PC Pro has sat one before: http://bit.ly/rLE8CS.

Secondly, regarding the drop in GCSE student numbers, Ofsted doesn't have an answer to such a significant fall - would love to hear what you think the reason is.

We cover this subject a lot because we think it's important - if you want to share your own experiences teaching the subject, please do keep commenting or drop me a line at nicole@pcpro.co.uk.

By Nicole_Kobie on 15 Dec 2011

Don't blame the schools - it is the exam boards who need to change

How typical that Chief Inspector Miriam Rosen, and of course the Press, miss the blindingly obvious fact that the examinations and specifications from most EXAM BOARDS are the problem. And as is well reported the pedantic and often innaccurate Mark Schemes which do not not seek to reward pupils for good use of ICT - but seek to penalise them if they simply don't describe their work in the approved manner. there are coursework examinwers who refuse to accept that a working solution is a correct solution if it differs from their blinkered view of what is right; and that is despite the fact that, for example, they only require some data to be Normalised - if they have remembered to put it in the Mark Scheme. the first step must be to GET RID OF THE EXAM BOARDS FINANCIAL MOTIVATION and introduce examinations to test the useful skills that other comments mention. Then those skills will be the focus of lessons.

By martinrwebb on 15 Dec 2011

Don't overreact - only 20% of schools not good enough

Which means that 80% are doing OK. And of the schools that are doing OK is this one in Blackheath that teaches kids to program mobile phone apps as part of the ICT course:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16191146

As for nested IF statements being too challenging, that's crazy - kids use nested IF statements to decide what to do all day long. Maybe they just aren't being shown they already use them?

OK, syntax may be difficult for some of today's grammatically challenged kids which schools stopped correcting so thoroughly in the seventies, but kids learn the syntax of behaviour and language in different groups; access the same part of the brain and give them something interesting to use it on and I'll show you a good teacher.

By SwissMac on 15 Dec 2011

Don't overreact - only 20% of schools not good enough

Which means that 80% are doing OK. And of the schools that are doing OK is this one in Blackheath that teaches kids to program mobile phone apps as part of the ICT course:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16191146

As for nested IF statements being too challenging, that's crazy - kids use nested IF statements to decide what to do all day long. Maybe they just aren't being shown they already use them?

OK, syntax may be difficult for some of today's grammatically challenged kids which schools stopped correcting so thoroughly in the seventies, but kids learn the syntax of behaviour and language in different groups; access the same part of the brain and give them something interesting to use it on and I'll show you a good teacher.

By SwissMac on 15 Dec 2011

Thank you Nicole

At least there is one journalist at PC Pro willing to look for some background.

Yes, the ASA board still has some exams, but I suspect few schools still use them, especially after the fiasco you've linked to.

Why the drop in students?
Simply because the restructuring of the course in 2004/5 by (especially) the OCR board which allows the students to gain a pass (worth 1 GCSE) by completing Unit 1 (compulsory unit) together with e.g. Unit 21 which is a 'half' unit.

This allows schools to get the kids to complete these units in Year Nine then they can choose their GCSE options having already gained a pass in ICT.
Result, many kids will take that 1 pass, then opt for other subjects for the rest of their GCSEs.
It's not because they're bored with ICT, it's because many want to gain GCSEs in a wider variety of subjects.
Rough example: 4 GCSEs gained in 4 different subjects sounds much better than 4 GCSEs in 1 subject.


As for interviewing every school - no, all is not an expectation, but can it be so hard to get a reaction/reasoning/explanation from 5 or 6? Just looking on here at some of the teachers' comments to 'what the official body thinks' shows either how wrong the body is or how misquoted/misguided/taken out of context Ofsted's thoughts appear to be.

By greemble on 15 Dec 2011

Its ICT but not as we know it

As has already been stated ICT is really just office skills and basic common sense applied to the internet. It has little to do with IT. They may as well teach kids how to answer a phone a transfer calls or set up a conference call.
There is two ways forward for teach subjects like IT, schools could firstly opt for industry qualifications such as CISCO, VMware or MS. Then local groups of schools could club together and hold week long or day courses in their chosen subjects where a proper trainer took the lessons, this would be backed up by some CBT training and study followed by an exam.

This would not fit in with normal school activity but may work better at A level.
The reason that many techies don't work as teachers is nothing to do with pay as teachesr are often better paid than helpdesk or first line support or indeed the IT technicians in schools. No it the ridiculous requirement for teachers to have degrees which many in IT never bothered with as degree courses have never really worked for IT people.

By Lorribot on 15 Dec 2011

Poor skills in schools don't help after

If you are are a teacher in ICT it would be useful if actually understood business ICT requirements. Obviously this is not the case with one arrogant contributor who seems to dwell in a place far removed from reality. ICT and computer science is badly taught in many schools, I have first hand experience of the effects of bad teaching in schools and the wasted time correcting or teaching the basics which many so called school teachers seem ill equipped to do. The government has a policy to weed out those teachers not performing, a policy which is long overdue.
Teachers need to have their skills updated to keep up with the modern world, ITC is not static but evolving. History, English, Maths etc are subjects that remain realatively constant IE.2+2=4 will not evolve or change. Refresher training for these type subjects should be minimal.
ITC and Computer Sciences need more thought more resources and better understanding to prepare teachers and their students.
The bottom line is why bother to employ a UK school leaver when an imigrant is usually better qualified? I see this issue every day.

By ben4teach on 15 Dec 2011

57 65 6C 6C 64 6F 6E 65

You should all be proud of yourselves, your passionate about your subject.
Change is afoot... and programming will figure in it either way.
If you haven't tried 'Kodu' with your KS3 kids as an introduction to programming - check it out.
Good luck & Happy new year.

By 4TOWIE4 on 15 Dec 2011

It isn't all our fault...

I'm a HoD in ICT. At our school we teach both ICT and Computing - people need to remember that they are completely different courses. One thing that people have not commented on is the way lots of the work is now assessed. GCSE ICT requires students to do "controlled assessment" - 40-60 hours worth of time exam-style conditions. Lots of schools/students have chosen to do OCR Nationals or BTEC. Reasonably straightforward to pass, but requires much more at higher levels. Interestingly, we used to teach GCSE ICT (AQA Spec B) until 18 months ago when the spec had finished. I didn't like the new specs for GCSE, many of which were not approved until very late. Students on the OCR course we cover have much better database SKILLS than they ever did on the old GCSE course (3 table relational with lots of validation, but using ACCESS). I've had pupils get an A* who really didn't understand relational databases but could write well - it was more a test of writing ability than technical skills. You could have a good technical student who couldn't write and they did badly.

One main problem is that the foundations of the spec is produced by OFQUAL/QCDA and the exam boards interpret their requirements - the specification still has to be approved by the regulators. If the bar is set low by them, then that is what they need to do. The other is that ICT has been seen as "easy" for a number of years as schools have used it to bump up their headline figures; the old GNVQ magically got students 4 x equivalent GCSE passes. As league tables rule everything in Secondary, head teachers jumped on this as a way of improving their overall results. Computing = hard = get low results = not good for the school. Welcome to the new face of education in the modern world.

ICT is compulsory in schools, computing isn't. A school can be rated inadequate if ALL the KS4 pupils (Y10/11) do not follow the National Curriculum. Believe it or not, most KS4 courses do not meet these requirements.

Computing At School are attempting to make inroads into getting Computing back on the menu. One board, OCR now offers it and others I understand are looking at it as well.

Perhaps if those "on high" got their act together, then ICT wouldn't be in the mess it is! We've looked at things like Microsoft qualifications in the past, but the financial cost/way it worked didn't work for us.

By xa0iba on 15 Dec 2011

Programming v Modrn languages

@ seikogb
If you find modern languages difficult / boring then you should stay well away from programming. You can, in theory, get an A* in modern languages with mistakes in accuracy. You wont find such leniency in programming, even the slightest grammar / spelling mistake will ensure that your programme does not compile.

By daycartes1 on 16 Dec 2011

@ben4teach perhaps you could elaborate on the mistakes us 'so called teachers' make that you have to waste time correcting?

Try not to insult every single teacher because you have experienced students with poor skills. If the people you employ are poorly qualified, surely this means they have low grades or not many qualifications, which means they have not met the required standards? By definition, these people will not be the most capable workers!

I am not sure how this is the fault of the teachers.

By gregwhitehouse on 16 Dec 2011

Seems to me.....

....that , in general terms, the ICT courses are related to application use and understanding and that Computing courses, if available, are more focused on the technology per se.

So drop the ICT approach and adopt the ECDL and apply more resources to Computing courses for those pupils that really do want to understand that computers do not equal Facebook/Twitter/Games (delete as required)

Employers already know about the ECDL; they probably don't know/don't trust the ICT stuff anyway.

By jontym123 on 17 Dec 2011