The report has urged the government to increase computer education through buying IT materials, to ensure students can gain the full potential of new technologies.

The report found the main issue was lack of skilled teachers.

The Department for Education said more pupils have begun choosing the subject.

A spokesperson said to the BBC: “We want to ensure our future workforce has the skills we need to drive the future productivity and economy of this country and that is why the government made computing a compulsory part of the national curriculum.

“Computer science GCSE entries continue to rise more quickly than any other subject.

“We recently saw an increase in entries to Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths for the English Baccalaureate) and the number of girls taking Stem subjects at A-levels has increased by over 17% since 2010.

“Since 2012, the department has pledged £5million to the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science programme, which has built a national network of nearly 400 computer science specialists schools.”

Written by Leah Alger

The post The Royal Society urges the government to increase computer education appeared first on DevOps Online North America.

According to the British Computing Society, the number of children studying for a computing qualification could halve by 2020.

A new ICT course has taken over the old ICT course, with more rigorous computer science at GCSE level, which teaches ‘little more than how to use Microsoft Office’, according to critics.

Figures from Ofqual have fallen slightly, showing exam entries rising to 67,800 this year from 61,220 in 2016; with 58,600 students still taking the exam.

‘Disaster for the future nation’

“If we don’t act now by 2020 we are likely to see the number of students studying computing at GCSE halve, when it should be doubling. If that happens, it will be a disaster for our children, and the future of the nation,” says Bill Mitchell from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Professional IT bodies believe this could be a ‘disaster for the economy’, with the British Computing Society noting that when ICT disappears, the computer science exam will fail to fill the gap.

“The current GCSE in computer science has replaced the opportunities for creativity that existed in ICT with set programming tasks that have very few solutions,” added Drew Buddie, the Head of Computing at a London school.

Drew Buddie also noted that ICT has always been misrepresented, as it’s more creative than critics assume and girls in particular aren’t interested.

Written from source by Leah Alger

Source: BBC

The post Experts warn ICT studies will halve by 2020 appeared first on DevOps Online North America.