Government needs inspiring IT teachers to address chronic lack of specialists

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This has been welcomed by business and academia however challenges remain.  A report from the Royal Society, which is the UK's national academy for science, highlights some challenges.

The curriculum itself

"Action is needed not only on the curriculum itself, nevertheless also to recruit and train many more inspiring teachers to reinvigorate pupils' enthusiasm for computing," says Professor Steve Furber, fellow of the Royal Society. 

"Thirty years ago I helped to design the BBC Micro, the first computer created to educate and inspire children of the potential of computer science. But today, when computers have become integral to every part of our lives, we see young people turned off by computing in schools.  We need a new generation of teachers to take up the challenge of enthusing future generations of young people,"

In its latest report, Shut down or Restart? The way forward for Computing in UK schools, the Royal Society analyses recent declines in numbers of young people studying computing at schools and the reasons for the declines.  

The report revealed a 60% decline in the numbers achieving A-level Computing since 2003, a 34% decline at ICT A Level over the same period, and a 57% decline in ICT GCSE.  It said a chronic lack of specialist teachers who can teach beyond basic digital literacy is a major contributor to these falling numbers.  

The report suggests that this might explain the finding that students' ICT capability often outstrips their teacher's subject knowledge. It recommends setting targets for the numbers of computer science and information innovation specialist teachers, with bursaries provided to attract more suitably qualified graduates.

What the industry needs

Streater says IT teaching should be geared towards what the industry needs. For instance competence in service management, cloud computing and big data requires a good foundation in computer science.

Open University teaches thousands of teaching students every year. Its online resources for teachers, just as Vital, include portals that give a general understanding of the use of innovation, and teach how to use IT as part of other subject teaching, as so then as specialist computer science teaching.