Merlin John Online

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s welcome review of ICT as a subject “will have a massive impact on the way ICT is taught and thought about in schools over the next decade”, according to Futurelab’s Keri Facer who urges interested parties to respond to the QCA consultation. The QCA is reviewing GCSE ICT along with English and maths, as are the corresponding curriculum bodies in Northern Ireland and Wales.

The pragmatic development of ICT across the curriculum has lead to concerns about a lack of focus and confidence around ICT qualifications, and a sidelining of qualifications suitable for going into the ICT industry. It’s one of the reasons for the development of interesting new alternative qualifications like DigitalCre8or, supported by the British Computer Society, through which students are accredited for their creative use of digital media in the areas where they best employed – in subject classrooms.

Keri Facer’s blog
http://flux.futurelab.org.uk/2008/08/27/qca-ict-gcses/

QCA consultation
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_18259.aspx

Digital Cre8or
www.bcs.org/cre8or