IT teaching improving but student numbers slump

Fewer children are studying IT

The number of children studying IT-related subjects at school is continuing to fall alarmingly, despite improvements in the quality of teaching, according to a report by schools’ inspector Ofsted.

Between 2004 and 2007, 25 per cent fewer students took A-level ICT courses, while the computer studies A-level saw a 32 per cent drop.

The fall in the number of girls studying computer studies is even greater – down 45 per cent.

“Fewer girls than ever are studying for formal qualifications in the subject in the sixth form and the number continues to decline. Less than one quarter of IT graduates are women. This has serious implications for the IT industry, where just one in five workers is female,” says Ofsted’s The importance of ICT report.

The quality of IT teaching in schools has improved, but teachers are still lacking in some important areas, said Ofsted.

“The evidence from the visits to primary schools suggests a picture of improvement, with rising achievement and standards… In the secondary schools, students’ achievement was good or better in 41 of the 92 schools visited, satisfactory in another 41 schools and inadequate in 10,” says the report.

“Although students used ICT well to present their work, communicate their ideas and, increasingly, to manipulate and use a variety of digital media, standards in using spreadsheets, databases and programming remained low. Furthermore, teachers gave too much emphasis to teaching students to use particular software applications rather than helping them to acquire genuinely transferable skills.”

Ofsted said that schools have invested heavily in IT and the gains it has seen were due to the commitment of school leaders to improving IT provision.

But the courses on offer at GCSE level are not challenging students enough, and are contributing to the decline in A-level numbers.

“This is especially serious given that students say they enjoy ICT and recognise its contribution to their personal development and future economic wellbeing,” says the report.