ICT qualifications petition

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

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Hi all,

A friend's friend has a petition going over on change.org to try and get the ICT GCSE and A-Level redeveloped alongside other qualifications for 2017. They are only after 1000 signatures and I figured that this would be a great place to get some support.

Please sign it and post to keep it bumped up.

LINKY
 
sorry but it seems like a pointless GCSE - sure it is good to teach kids basic IT skills but they don't need a GCSE subject to do that
 
Just out of curiosity why is it only after 1000 signatures? For a " reply " from anyone in the government who could actually do something about this they would need to reach 10,000 signatures. For the topic to " be considered " for debate he will need 100,000 signatures so it is bit of a moot point aiming for 1000 is it not?

Though i wholeheartedly agree that the ICT GCSE does need to be looked at and offer young students the option of learning more than how to write a letter in word as you can almost certainly guarantee in this day and age most young people could do that without needing to be shown. We should focus on more modern applications of systems.
 
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dowie said:
sorry but it seems like a pointless GCSE - sure it is good to teach kids basic IT skills but they don't need a GCSE subject to do that
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Have you actually done ICT GCSE or A Level? The current curriculum has got **** all to do with ICT. It's all basically business studies...
 
I got an A in GCSE IT and I can tell you that I've learnt more from lurking OCUK forums than from the qualification.

Sure it's nice to have but the relevance is questionable and anybody with an interest in IT would be better of researching it themselves imo
 
thebennyboy said:
Have you actually done ICT GCSE or A Level? The current curriculum has got **** all to do with ICT. It's all basically business studies...
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What would you expect it to be? The way ICT is taught is to show how to use computer applications in real world scenarios. So of course there is an element of business in there although it does depend on which specific course and modules you are doing.
Luke_Bowman said:
I got an A in GCSE IT and I can tell you that I've learnt more from lurking OCUK forums than from the qualification.

Sure it's nice to have but the relevance is questionable and anybody with an interest in IT would be better of researching it themselves imo
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Depends what you wanted to learn to be honest. ICT will give you a range of skills in how to use computers mainly looking at software packages and designing products - not how to build them.
There's always computer science for those who want aa deeper experience of Computing.
 
Alpherah said:
isn't that the point in the petition? to change it from its useless state to something of educational benefit?
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What content would you want to see in an ICT GCSE and how would it be assessed? Bearing in mind the new GCSEs are 20% coursework maximum.

Also who would you see it appealing to? What would the profile of the student be that takes it?
 
thebennyboy said:
Have you actually done ICT GCSE or A Level? The current curriculum has got **** all to do with ICT. It's all basically business studies...
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I think that's the problem they need to address then rather than canning the entire course.

Luckily I didn't do ICT at GCSE or A-level because my school taught the wrong course for GCSE and A level they all received grades 2 or 3 lower than they were predicted.

MW
 
thebennyboy said:
Have you actually done ICT GCSE or A Level? The current curriculum has got **** all to do with ICT. It's all basically business studies...
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It's been a good few years since I worked as the IT bod in a school but couldn't agree more, this is up in Scotland by the way but I doubt things are much different in the rest of the UK. Couldn't agree more, zero practical skills endowed on students, teachers genuinely prevented from spending any serious amount of time on proper coding where kids can spend time making something they want to rather than a set of pre-determined mini-applications etc.
 
skaif said:
Depends what you wanted to learn to be honest.
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That was my point in the 'researching it yourself'. Although a GCSE course does provide a foundation; the range of sub-subjects within IT and so vast that I think people are better off researching it themselves.

I was never, ever taught anything practical in school regarding IT and I think opening up a PC and tinkering about is one of the most beneficial things for people to do.

However you could argue that, so long as student can use Microsoft Office software and navigate windows semi-efficiently, that's all that the majority of people will do in their entire lives.
 
Perhaps they just need an additional GCSE qualification. I disagree at A-level as computer science exists there, i'm sorry but if you choose to do ICT over Computer Science then what do you expect.

If it was my idea, i would suggest a Computer Science starter course, not too in-depth to A-level, but an introduction to the architecture of the components of a computer, introduction to programming languages, networking, the life-cycles of software development etc. Putting a computer together doesn't need to be taught here, as anyone could do that from watching a youtube video. Frankly if you couldn't put a computer together then you shouldn't be entertaining this course.

And then for those who have no interest in the computer science field, can continue to take the GCSE ICT qualification. After all, it's no good having a society who are computer illiterate.
 
Luke_Bowman said:
I got an A in GCSE IT and I can tell you that I've learnt more from lurking OCUK forums than from the qualification.

Sure it's nice to have but the relevance is questionable and anybody with an interest in IT would be better of researching it themselves imo
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So what you're suggesting is how to use OCUK forums should be taught in schools?

I can vouch for that :p
 
As part of my job I have to go to schools to promote STEM Subjects. Had my first trip to a school about a month ago and I was shocked at the amount of people that said they wanted to do Computer Science, and then doubly shocked by the amount of girls that said that.

At uni there was probably about 10 girls on my Computer Science course, I had more girls tell me they wanted to do Comp Sci at 1 school than were in my year at University. Of course they could change their minds by the time they actually come to applying for Uni but it's a good sign. What I found out is that you can now take Computer Science as a GCSE, which is brilliant. They learn some very basic stuff about how hardware interacts with software and they get to program a little.

I think if Computer Science GCSE becomes more and more popular the need for IT GCSE becomes almost obsolete, of course they're two fundamentally different subjects however at GCSE level they cover some similar ground. IT as a GCSE is not really necessary these days as most children have access to computers before they even get to doing their GCSEs.
 
Mason- said:
I think if Computer Science GCSE becomes more and more popular the need for ICT GCSE becomes almost obsolete, of course they're two fundamentally different subjects however at GCSE level they cover some similar ground. ICT as a GCSE is not really necessary these days as most children have access to computers before they even get to doing their GCSEs.
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Fixed :p

Do they cover similar ground though? I remember that my ICT GCSE consisted of making a website with FrontPage (ugh) and other nonsense.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Fixed :p

Do they cover similar ground though? I remember that my ICT GCSE consisted of making a website with FrontPage (ugh) and other nonsense.
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I don't know the curriculum of GCSE Comp Sci so I can't say really. But at GCSE Level how in depth can you go with ICT or CS? The good thing that has come out of it is that there are more and more people interested in CS, particularly girls. Where I work there are 500 engineers of varying disciplines, 12 are female.
 
you don't need to complete a GCSE to do that - kids can learn to use a word processor and spreadsheet well before they turn 16
 
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