Does it actually matter whether or not children study IT-related subjects at school?
Despite years of attention and investment, not only are fewer students taking A-level and GCSE computing exams every year, but the subject is also not being taught well enough to encourage further take-up, according to schools inspector Ofsted.
Should we care? Most of the employers Computing talked to did not seem to be particularly bothered. Seemingly every August, around the date of the exam results being announced, we have called for government and industry to act to reverse the decline in student numbers. Maybe we should not have bothered.
Those students who contact us with their views typically point to two concerns. First, they struggle to find jobs that use their qualifications, saying that employers always ask for people with experience, not exam results. Second, they see the growth in offshore outsourcing and fear that IT will be a precarious profession.
But a common theme to nearly all the comments we receive is that the heart of the problem stems from the fact that IT is so poorly perceived in this country.
IT professionals do not believe that boardrooms value their contribution and many tell us that they actively discourage their children from following in their career footsteps as a result.
We hear Gordon Brown proclaim that science and technology are the future of the country, but see little action and even less success in changing attitudes.
And the IT industry itself does not always help, continuing to envelop itself in jargon and meaningless geek speak.
Yet it goes without saying that children are more IT literate and technology savvy than ever before - so we must be doing something very wrong indeed.
The decline in student numbers may not be a concern in itself, but as an indicator of a wider trend, it remains a disturbing shadow over the future of UK IT. If such negative perceptions persist, the prospects for the IT profession in a generation’s time will be bleak.
