[LINK] UK to scrap boring IT lessons

Richard Chirgwin rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au
Sat Jan 14 11:28:27 AEDT 2012


On 14/01/12 10:20 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
> On 11/01/12 23:11, Brenda Aynsley wrote:
>
>> ... 'open source curriculum'?
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [Oz-teachers] UK to scrap boring IT lessons
>> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:49:00 +1030
>> From: Paul Shirren<shirro at shirro.com>
>>
>> UK Education Secretary Michael Gove announces UK schools to scrap boring
>> IT lessons ...  have 11-year-olds able to
>> write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch  ...
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/11/michael-gove-boring-it-lessons
> The UK Government seem to think that they can save money on teachers and
> educational materials by sitting the students down in front of a
> computer and have them use MIT tools for free.
>
> What this might teach the students, as well as their teachers and
> parents, is that the UK is not making the required investment in education.
>
>
I think the criticism of the curriculum - bored students getting Word 
and Excel lessons given by bored teachers - fits many peoples' 
experience. Certainly it's the same in NSW below Year 10. Oh, and 
teaching kids the living hell that is PowerPoint.

There is zero "real" IT education up to that point.

My opinion, Tom, is that attaching a symbolic significance to the size 
of the budget -- "look, we care, we offer more wasted billions than the 
other party" -- is the simplistic thinking that's turned "IT education" 
into the drivel that Gove is complaining about.

The money is wasted if its only output is desktop applications, "how to 
videoconference" to prove the value of a videowall, and the like.

RC




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