Last week V3 revealed that the Department for Education had signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-September with the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) to co-ordinate the development of the new IT programme of study (PoS).
Conversations so far on the new PoS have taken place behind closed doors, with the bodies appearing to have little intention to consult teachers and IT stakeholders from around the country before the draft PoS was put together.
Now BCS director Bill Mitchell, writing on Monday on the Computing At School (CAS) website in a members forum, has asked for the input of those working in the education sector.
However, those interested in doing so only have until 8 October to leave their responses in the CAS discussion forum.
"This does not give you long but we are working to a very compressed timetable," Mitchell said.
In the post, Mitchell added the BCS and the RAEng wants to open up the process of forming a new, improved IT PoS to all interested parties, and said there would be a further chance for feedback in future.
"We are conscious of the need to take into account the widest possible set of views at the earliest opportunity and therefore seek your help and guidance," said Mitchell.
"This is very much a preliminary opportunity for input - there will be a second opportunity to comment on a full draft PoS in November, and a third opportunity in the spring of 2013."
While Mitchell has argued there are lots of opportunities for education professionals to input into the new PoS, there is only this brief opportunity for them to input before the draft PoS is completed.
This approach has been criticised from some education reformers, who are keen to base the draft on a large national consultation.
In this first stage of consultation, Mitchell has particularly asked education professionals for feedback on what they believe should happen to IT students at key stage four (KS4), the year students begin their GCSEs.
There has long been a questions over how to ensure both the specialised IT and Computer Science GCSEs fit the national curriculum requirements laid out in the more general IT programme of study.
There's also been a question over what should happen to the students who opt not to take an IT-related GCSE at all.
"The Secretary of State has said that ICT will be statutory at KS4. But suppose a student is doing a GCSE in Computer Science, say, or IT. Does that somewhat-specialised GCSE fulfil the statutory requirement?" said Mitchell.
"Should he or she be forced to take a token course just to fulfil the letter of the law? This is the situation at present at KS4, and it has directly contributed to pass criticisms of ICT."
Mitchell confirmed in the post that the PoS will remain named as ICT.
"There is no wiggle room here; changing it requires primary legislation," said Mitchell
In terms of what the curriculum should include, Mitchell shared thinking that has arisen so far from discussions BCS and RAEng have had with a number of education bodies.
These are chiefly that pupils should be taught both the fundamental principles of how computation works, and how to use digital systems.
Also that pupils should be able to learn how to confidently critically evaluate and apply IT, even new and unfamiliar types, and understand the fundamental principles of computer science, including algorithms, data representation, and communication protocols.
"ICT in the classroom should be suffused with a sense of excitement, creativity, and ambition. If not, something is wrong," said Mitchell.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Rosalie Marshall
Quelle/Source: V3.co.uk, 03.10.2012
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