For me, the very best news of the week came from David Willetts, the science minister, announcing a new IT curriculum which would focus on how to produce software – not just how to use it. See FT – Willetts announces new school IT curriculum.
We’ve already seen a resurgence in interest in STEM subjects. Mind you from a very low base. What we now need is for more kids to realise how interesting (and potentially remunerative) it is to actually write programmes and produce software. Unlike ‘in my day’, it is now quite possible to produce an App for the iPad using just the kit you have at home and, indeed, in a matter of days, rather than years. If we can get more youngsters doing that, developing a lasting interest and then going on to work in the sector or, we hope, form their own companies, what a great boost to the economy that could be.
But why it has taken so long for that message to get through is beyond me. Eskills, and most employers, have been complaining about the school’s IT curriculum for as long as I can remember. Teaching kids IT literacy on out-of-date kit in school actually puts people off. Most youngsters have known how to use computers from a very young age anyway.
So, ‘about time’ but still ‘Top Marks’.