Y7 have had their IT classes cut altogether - is this mad?

[Pinealike]

Things may change again next year, but DC has just showed me the new timetable, which includes no ICT/computer/anything at all. This seems utterly insane - if these kids don't grow up coding, they really are going to be left behind.

Any others had this experience?

Are they going all 'total curriculum'?
ICT syllabus is covered under other subjects at Dd's school which is for example means that word processing is covered during English, powerpointresentations during a history project, photo manipulation during art, that kind of thing. Then if students want to study in more depth such as programming they will do so from year 9 onwards as part of GCSE, BTEC etc.
Mind you, this works at dd's school because they all have school issued iPads.

coding or learning how to cut and paste? The tiny tastes of coding they get in optional IcT yrs 7-9 really isn't the same as mastering the skills of coding.

So far they've done Scratch, Kodu (sp?) and a bit of Java.

I agree that the old-fashioned ICT of learning office skills is a bit ridiculous, like a class on how to make a telephone call, as it's stuff which is easy for most younger people to learn themselves as they go.

Coding, on the other hand - it's the difference between learning how an internal combustion engine works -v- learning how to hail a taxi. I think it is necessary.

I guess you'll have to make that case to the school.
I don't agree it's essential, but maybe you can convince them. You could volunteer to run an after school programming club, for instance. I don't think anything less than a proper GCSE in computing will really give them coding skills, and even then those skills quickly atrophy if not continued.
(We are a household of programmers & ex-programmers, btw).

I'm slightly heartened that you don't think it essential. Are you planning to teach yours?

(I couldn't run a coding club for toffee. DC already knows a heck of a lot more about computers than I do.)

A class on how to have a telephone conversation might actually be quite useful.

Ha! Yes. Rather than grunting and texting. Or going on the landline and saying nothing at all.

lol @ unrealHW.
Mine won't be taught much by us, argh.
Yr9-DS1 wants to be a gamer so wants to program, will take computing GCSE.
yr7-DD hates IcT, reluctantly admits she learns useful stuff in there.
Other boys still developing...

Will be interesting to see how they manage to fit in all the new computing elements that become part of new curriculum through cross curricular. Some elements would fit, others less so.
And will mean they will need a lot of computing competent staff willing and able to do it all.

There's not much ict in the new computing curriculum. That's expected to be done across the board instead.

Not everyone needs to know coding. One suspects Doctors, Barristers and most Teachers and Architects, for example, will not need these skills. Not knowing will not hugely disadvantage the majority but, of course, if you want a job that requires coding skills, it is best to start early. If your children are desperate to learn coding, then approach the school to see how they intend to teach it. We do have a shortage of coders but not everyone will have an interest in it.

I'm afraid most teachers now WILL need to know about coding - they're expected to teach it, from key stage 1 upwards.

Many on the courses I've been to this year have never done any coding whatsoever and even just the terminology used in the new curriculum is unfamiliar to them, but come September they will be expected to know enough to teach it effectively.

To be fair the skills taught when learning coding, and other aspects of the new curriculum, are actually very transferable to other areas and other subjects.

Primary schools will certainly cover Scratch and Kodu and possibly more depending on the interests of the staff.

It may be that it rotates termly with another subject?

For example in my school, pupils start off with "Dance" on their September timetable. Then after Christmas they receive a new timetable and instead on dance their have ICT.

At my DCs, they alternate dance with music. (That's another thing - I think music, and preferably learning an instrument, far more important than bloody interpretive dance.)

I'd be amazed if DC primary has covered Scratch or Kodu or is likely to in the next 3 years. Will ask DC.

html is a good way to start, they get instant results. DH gave the older DC their own websites with a custom built interface. Tried to encourage html & own content. DC only had mild interest. Gaming has brought out much more interest in coding for them.

Since school IT is a total waste of time I wouldn't worry.

There was a very good thread on here listing free resources to teach coding at home.

Since school IT is a total waste of time I wouldn't worry.

There was a very good thread on here listing free resources to teach coding at home.

Not all school based ICT is poor. Like everything it very much depends n the curriculum being followed and the teachers who are teaching it.

As of September ICT becomes Computing again and will be in a very different format than it currently is.

Does anybody know what the provision is for able coders in secondary.My DS (10)has done everything mentioned in primary already(coding dad). Really worried he's just going to repeat everything at secondary.

Under the new curriculum it should continue and progress further though again it will depend on the teachers.

The good thing with coding, even with something like scratch, is that you can keep on improving and progressing and gettig better and better and more and more complex. I doubt he has already achieved everything you can achieve on this coding programs he has started with. There is room for scope.

Later there are GCSE and A Level computer science or computing to consider.

If you google the new computing curriculum 2014 you can see what it all should include.

Why is coding so necessary? I work in IT and have an IT degree and the number of people I interact with at work who actually code is very small. It's useful to know the basic principles and understand the complexities of coding I grant you, but the most useful things I know on that front I've learned in industry since leaving uni.

What makes IT hard isn't knowing how to write code, it's the context in which it's written (not denigrating for a moment good algorithm design or good coding principles, but that's not usually the source of most problems in IT).

I imagine school is only going to cover mickey mouse coding at best, and nothing about the challenges of maintaining someone else's code or working with an off the shelf package for example. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.

Thanks, everyone.

As whereisshe says, tbe IT industry is very complicated, coding is one aspect of a vast skills set.

DH writes code, he maintains (swears) at other peoples code. He integrates complicated systems, hacks Unix kernels and keeps a roof over my head by sorting out computer problems that no one else wants anything to do with.

He's to old to have done IT at school, his computing was postgrad after doing a science degree