ICT teaching in schools is ‘out of date’ – report
PUPILS are being taught outdated ICT qualifications with outdated equipment in schools and colleges in Wales.
Some qualifications are decades behind the latest digital developments and the subject is often delivered by non-specialists, a damning report from the independent regulator says.
Assessments are often irrelevant, with written evidence and screenshots the most common way of assessing young people’s digital skills.
That’s the conclusion reached by regulator Qualifications Wales after a wide-ranging review including speaking to 1,000 learners as well as teachers and employers.
Much of the content used in ICT is out of date, lack of money means some schools and colleges can’t afford the latest equipment, and non-specialists teaching the subject struggle to keep up with changes in technology, the report says.
One teacher admitted to being “one page ahead” of pupils in the subject, telling the review: “I’m not an ICT specialist so I’m learning as I go along and I’m struggling really. I think that it’s unfair for the students that I’m a page ahead of them in the book and they’re asking me questions that I don’t know.”
Another teacher in a secondary school warned: “A lot of the people coming through now are very, very much not specialists and they are teaching materials that are at the fringe of their understanding. If you go to most schools, it’s nonspecialists teaching ICT.”
The regulator, which oversees all but degree qualifications, recommends a complete overhaul and redesign of ICT qualifications in Wales – adding that even the name is outmoded.
It says ICT qualifications have not kept pace with the fast-moving digital sector and recommends new GCSE and A-level digital technology qualifications.
The report – Delivering Digital – is the culmination of an 18-month review including 150 interviews including with almost 60 employers and taking the views of more than 1,000 learners as well as teachers.
One student complained: “By the time you complete a three-year course, which has spent three years being created, approved and modelled, what you’re taught is out of date, and not just a little bit out of date but half a decade behind. The speed at which ICT moves means that it’s really tough.”
A teacher said: “The big problem is that stuff is out of date. In Wales we’re still running the older version of the vocational and technical qualifications and they’re out of date.”
Another said: “The assessment is very heavy in the evidence collection side of things. Loads of screenshots showing basic things, a lot of tick boxes. It’s very off-putting for learners... I feel I lose credibility doing this.”
A student told the review: “I would prefer to not have to waste my time screenshotting everything and use that time to go deeper into the subject.”
Employers told the review that the terms IT and ICT are becoming outdated in the digital industry. Some suggested that more appropriate terms such as “digital” should be used in modern qualifications to reflect the current terminology used in the sector.
One employer warned: “If I’ve interviewed someone with qualifications and I’ve got someone who comes in who has got no qualifications but shows a passion for the technology, they would get it over the person who has just done the exams for the sake of getting a job.”