Computer Science in the news again

[hayfeverseason]

So frustrating to see this BBC news story about difficulties recruiting students to GCSE Computer Science courses.

In the meantime, I'm not even sure the small school where I'm a parent and governor are going to be able to offer it to students who really do want to do it, because we can't recruit a teacher.

If and when we do manage to recruit one they will have a mountain to climb to build the basic ICT confidence of students who haven't been getting even the basics of MS Office at home.

Meanwhile the ones that are keen to get going with CS GCSE courses have been teaching themselves from online resources, or learning from their parents, or from professionals at out-of-school coding clubs and so are already streets ahead, but lacking in structural knowledge needed for the exam course. They need specialist computer science teachers, with real enthusiasm for the subject, not ICT-converts.

It's such a mess.

Indeed. Plus the numbers of girls wanting to take it are so small :(

At my son's school, they don't currently offer any IT related teaching at all. When he first started, they did a single lesson weekly working towards the ECDL but after the first year they stopped doing it. I still find it hard to accept that in this day and age, where nearly everyone uses computers of one form or another, where there is a shortage of computer programmers and where IT programmers earn huge amounts of money, that the schools aren't actually teaching it. But, it's OK, they're still teaching Greek and Latin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not the case at my dc's school. Dd2 has just picked options and told me that not everyone who chose computer science could do it due to space (and they had a lot of classes)

I think though that one reason why people don't want to do it for a subject is actually doing other science subjects doesn't rule out being an IT programmer, whereas doing Computer Science does rule out some things that are science related-dh works in IT programming and I think 90% of his firm have no formal qualifications in Computer stuff, but do have science/maths degrees, and are very good at their job.

I was worried when I saw the title of this thread but now I'm pleased that DD has chosen CS GCSE. I didn't realise how lucky she was to have the chance

DSs' school offers computer science but selects who can do it based on maths ability. DS1 loves it but is lucky to have a very good teacher. That's the issue, though, for a lot of schools as STEM teachers are in short supply.
Also, as PP says, computer science at GCSE isn't a pre-requisite for a computer science degree or a job in IT - maths skills are more important.

I think that some PP have missed the point of the story - as soon as the GCSE in IT was thrown away and with the lack of vocational qualifications available for the current year 9s a lot of professional bodies (as well as teachers!) have warned that the switch to CS only (with the exception of digital literacy, which is a very small strand in the NC) basic skills will be lost and a large number of students for whom IT was the most suitable/interesting for them would not chose to study CS.

We are seeing year 7 students for whom their IT experience is on tablets, able to post on FB, twitter and edit a movie on an Ipad but are unable to use 2 keys on the keyboard at the same time (they use caps lock to include a capital letter). They don't know the basics of word processing, never mind any spreadsheet skills...(this is in the real world, rather than MN land)

When we had the ability to offer both subjects at KS4 then we had healthy numbers and we were able to advise students on which path they should take, but since the withdrawal of IT qualifications we have seen the numbers drop significantly as a large number of students don't want CS, whereas they they would have enjoyed IT and succeeded at it.

Gove (another hater!) seemed to think that because students are able to post on facebook they can use IT efficiently and successfully; cue in a couple of years we will have a major skills shortage that will affect every sector at every level.

Of course, the lack of specialist teachers is also having a major impact and this means a large number of schools can not offer CS, just as other STEM subjects are suffering; but throwing away a part of the curriculum is not the answer

I'm a specialist and I'm being made redundant. Schools are in an utter mess at the moment.