I.T. lessons in PowerPoint to be scrapped

cool stuff for new generations, the only computer based topic we had at school was basically how to touch/speed type.
 
html? id have been lucky, we spent a year making a travel brochure in publisher, which counted for 100% of the coursework, 30% of the course
 
Brilliant, the amount of "discussions" I had with my teachers at school about what we were learning being a load of crap kept me in their bad books :o
 
Finally kids won't still be learning about mail merge and other crap for years.

Maybe goodbye to Comic Sans bloody everywhere?
 
Thought this was good news when I heard it on the radio this morning. I remember my GCSE in ICT, my excel project was about 70 pages of print screens showing formula etc, the subject is thoroughly boring. Making a takeaway menu in publisher etc and then 'forging' feedback letters etc.
 
NathanE said:
You can't just learn CompSci over night (or even over a summer break) and be qualified to teach it. So the majority of existing ICT teachers will have to be made redundant.
Click to expand...

You can't make a whole load of teachers redundant and hire new teachers for the same job position. Existing teachers will have to be given training.

The other thing I'd say is that more advanced computing may be of use to some, but for the majority, skills with Microsoft Office are likely to be more use in later life.
 
simulatorman said:
Turn them all into English/Maths teachers then we might see some benefit. ;)
Click to expand...

Or in the case of my school until last year, History, Geography and Food Tech :o

qqg3 said:
Agree but I think its want the system needs.

Heck, even 5 years ago when I was in highschool the teacher asked for help in IT because I knew more than him :D
Click to expand...

Something like this has definitely needed to happen, as of next year IT isn't even a core subject and the uptake forecast for the next academic year doesn't look good at all.

I wasn't able to to IT at GCSE as the course was full, and unfortunately didn't have the choice to do Computing for A-Level so ended up doing IT which was basically just Access and Excel work which to this day has been no use at all :(.

Let's hope this shake up revitalises the subject and gets the students interested in it again, as at the moment the stuff the children are taught in year 6 at primary school is pretty much being regurgitated for the most part in high school.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of ICT is poorly taught by teachers who have been thrust into the job due to a need of the school.

Then come the weak courses, allowing schools to meet government targets for 5A*-Cs... "Race to the bottom". Vocational courses, designed with an industry moaning about school leavers not being able to do mail merges and spreadsheets and use databases.

The truth actually is, a lot of good schools already deliver a very strong ICT curriculum. They teach 'programming' (Gove mentioned Scratch...), sequences, animation, about hardware alongside the recognised curriculum.

Equally, a good teacher does not teach how to use Word or Excel or PowerPoint - but demonstrates how these programs (or similar) are a means to an end. Designing for an audience and purpose, selecting the right tool for the job and so on.

It's a real shame that some (most?) pupils clearly are being shown where to find a particular tool is in a DTP program is, rather than why they should use and what it is used for. I think as much as anything schools are a victim of having to meet targets that are more easily achievable with clever selection of courses...

I look forward to whatever comes next - and hope my subject finally gains some weight.

Signed,

An ICT Teacher (on a break).
 
Beasty said:
Thought this was good news when I heard it on the radio this morning. I remember my GCSE in ICT, my excel project was about 70 pages of print screens showing formula etc, the subject is thoroughly boring. Making a takeaway menu in publisher etc and then 'forging' feedback letters etc.
Click to expand...

This is 100% correct, I did ICT GCSE about 3 years ago, it was horrible, put me off any sort of computer based subject for A level:(
 
Great news. IT lessons were always aimed at the lowest common denominator.

I used to spend lessons on 'how to type' programming asteroids in the Word macro IDE :D
 
Sounds like an excellent idea. Though it certainly gives me a certain amount of confusion over the near future as to what PGCE course to apply for later this year!
 
Good idea and can't say I'm surprised.

As computers become more common place in homes it was only a matter of time before "typing" and things like powerpoint become the norm. Thus teaching it in IT is irrelevant and it makes way for students to learn things that they don't know.

As said above... A lot of teachers will need retraining! :p
 
Nexus said:
The other thing I'd say is that more advanced computing may be of use to some, but for the majority, skills with Microsoft Office are likely to be more use in later life.
Click to expand...

Most kids know their way around Office better than their parents do these days and know more than enough to do the majority of office jobs. They use the same "I'll click on this to see what it does" ability to learn that they use to infest any computer they touch with trojans and all sorts if it isn't kept in check lol.

If every kid leaving school knew how to make a basic website or a smartphone app or some other type of code based thing then that would be great. Many would never use it again but enough would.

This is compared to every kid who left school when I did (2004) who knew how to send an email, write some if statements in excel, format a document and add in that funky word art at the top of their coursework in a rainbow of colours.
 
Last edited:
Good, teaching those poor kids on how to use PowerPoint is cringeworthy stuff.


Thats like trying to teach a 12 year old how to walk or use the toilet.
 
DBT85 said:
format a document and add in that funky word art at the top of their coursework in a rainbow of colours.
Click to expand...

and know that Comic Sans should be the font of choice for every situation, no matter how serious :).

GCSE exams have become an absolute joke as well, with the exam board being chosen to make the teachers' lives as easy as possible.

Even when I was doing my GCSEs at the end of the 90s the exam papers were challenging (was shown a past paper of the time) which included a bit of writing, not so much essays as such but the need for coherant sentences.

I looked at an exam paper from 2008 and every question was multiple choice, the last one on the paper, normally the hardest from past experience, was a screen shot of IE pointing to the 'Back' button and the student was asked what its function was :o
 
Spunkey said:
Great news. IT lessons were always aimed at the lowest common denominator.
Click to expand...

I seem to remember said lowest common denominator was the PE teacher drafted in to teach us IT, thoroughly out of his depth. I'm not sure whether to feel bad for the guy, or angry that he didn't bother to learn anything about computers before teaching about them.

Education reform is difficult though, so I won't get too excited just yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom