IT in Schools

john.ridge | December 9, 2008

Trying to teach IT "as a career" as it is done currently is turning many students off pursuing it any further.

I've been asked, "What are some of the obstacles to more young people undertaking a career in IT?" Two things which immediately spring to my mind are; the way IT is taught in schools and the career information made available to school leavers.

These are major stumbling blocks; not only because they fail to excite new interest, but even worse, because they deter students with a natural interest in IT from considering it as a career.

While there are many factors affecting why enough young people are not entering our industry, in my view, how IT is taught in secondary schools, and the quality of career information available and given to students, are two of the main ones. These are not easy issues to solve, and I think there is much confusion about what should be taught, and what should not be taught in school in the area of IT as a career.

I will cover these topics separately, and they are generalisations – there are exceptions to the rule, and in some schools these things are done well. However, that is also a part of the problem – there is not a consistency of standard across the board!! I commend those schools (and the individuals involved) where these issues are handled appropriately, and the purpose of this discussion is not to be critical and find fault, but to try to arrive at solutions or possible solutions to improve the current situation and be much more consistent.

Trying to teach IT "as a career" as it is done currently is turning many students off pursuing it any further. The problems are many – the teachers in the main do not have the IT skills or experience, the students are generally probably more computer literate than the teachers, and while there may be a teacher in the school who has some basic IT qualification (such as a Certificate III from TAFE, which will not get anyone a job in IT), most teachers who are teaching computer related courses do not. The courses themselves are very basic, do not extend the students and they often get bored. They are also too limited considering the breadth of the Industry and only cover the more technical aspects of it, thus giving or re-inforcing the "geek" image.

I think every student needs to have computer literacy and this is where a lot of confusion begins. Everyone these days requires computer skills, and therefore needs to be taught basic computer literacy using programmes such as the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), which covers things such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation skills etc. For students to leave secondary school without having proficient IT skills will impact on the rest of their life – at University or in work.

IT literacy should be incorporated into the teaching of every subject, so that word processing is taught in English, spreadsheets within Maths, etc and things like presentation skills should be taught in many different subjects as part of the students doing required presentations. Database concepts and skills could also form a part of the Maths curriculum.

Teachers should be required to do a course such as the Graduate Certificate course at Charles Sturt University in the Teaching of IT – see www.ictteachers.info. The course can be done by distance learning but covers the concepts of including IT skills into other courses.

IT Literacy should be considered as the fourth plank along with the three Rs – Reading wRiting, and aRithmetic. It should be mandatory, and no child should be allowed to leave school without it – to do so is as inhibiting as being illiterate in the other areas.

In regards to Careers advice and Careers Advisors, I think IT would be one of if not the hardest profession to give students advice about. There are numerous anecdotal examples of student who have sought such advice and been directed into other careers.

IT is a very broad industry with a very wide range of possible options, which again causes a problem. I have been in it all my working life but I think I would struggle to give students quality advice on every possible career option!!

I do not think there is a wealth of material around however this has been recognised as being an issue and has started to be addressed by a number of different organisations. For example, the Australian Computer Society has developed and is continuing to develop a comprehensive ICT Careers Portal – which is able to be accessed via their web site – www.acs.org.au.

Recent research done in NSW and Victoria indicated the top three reasons why students do not pursue a career in IT are their parents, their teachers and their careers advisors.

I'd be interested to hear from any recent school leavers to know if their experiences confirm this.

John Ridge has been involved in the IT industry for over 40 years, both in Australia and overseas. In 1989 he established his own company which he ran for 13 years focused on providing training and facilities management services to its clients. From 1997 – 2005, he was involved with the Australian Computer Society in a number of capacities, including as President during 2000 – 2001. John represented the ACS internationally on the South East Asian Computer Confederation (SEARCC), and on both the NSW IT&T ITAB (Information and Telecommunications Industry and Training Advisory Board) and the national IT&T ITAB, established NICTA (National ICT Alliance). In January 2005 he was appointed as the Executive Director of the ACS Foundation.

www.acs.org.au; www.acsfoundation.com.au

_________________________

0 Comments

gleuben

December 10, 2008 at 12:03 am

As a student who just
As a student who just finished their HSC this year, I can fully confirm this. When I went to see my career advisor, IT was never even suggested to me as a career option, even though I have a strong interest in technology. I think that this is the main problem – lack of awareness. Had I known that IT was an option, I would have been able to discuss it with my parents, and possibly put it down on my preferences. However, due to me not being aware of the option, I applied for different courses. This is quite tragic, I believe, as many other students, who would have been very successful in IT, are pushed into different areas in which they do not fit. I think that the solution to this, is to target this problem at its root – the career advisor. If they are conscious of IT as a valid career, they will be more inclined to recommend it to interested students.
gleuben

December 10, 2008 at 12:08 am

P.S… and my dad is in the
P.S… and my dad is in the IT industry!!
sally.rose

December 16, 2008 at 3:17 am

Too Harsh?…maybe not.

I've been inviting computer studies teachers to login and respond to your suggestions. I'm hearing a lot of people tell me they are "not really into" that sort of thing. If teachers are not comfortable with web 2.0 applications, they are not going to be able to engage their students. Do I hear any objections to that argument?
amanda.buggy

December 16, 2008 at 4:08 am

As an IT professional and a mother…

I fully agree with this blog.

I am IT literate, always have been, and I guess that is why I have worked in IT for 10 years using pretty much what I consider "common sense" for the most part.

As a mother I assume that my children will be computer literate, just as they can read and write, if not before they start school, then at least by the time they start high school.

There are now computers is childcare centres for the children to use, and this is how it should be. In my humble opinion anyway.
SamD

December 16, 2008 at 7:52 pm

The role of Senior High School Courses

I'm the author of NSW HSC texts for both the Software Design and Development (SDD) and Information Processing and Technology (IPT) courses. I was a mathematics/computing teacher – I no longer teach, rather I operate a small business primarily writing software/database applications for schools and small business.

In the 20 years or so that I have been involved in (NSW) IT education (including IT literacy and also as a distinct "Computing" discipline) the area has undergone enormous change when compared to most other teaching disciplines. In NSW, IT literacy IS now a mandatory component of ALL student's education. It is true that different teachers/schools implement "IT literacy" with different levels of proficiency, however there is no doubt that on the whole students today do experience WP, SS, DB, presentation software, etc. in a wide variety of subject areas. I don't see IT literacy as having a substantial impact on students IT career choices. These are basic skills required for all professions. Indeed anecdotal evidence (also the substantial drop in student numbers for our 2 HSC computing courses) indicates many students (and parents) do not see a need to study Computing subjects as IT literacy has already been established. Therefore "IT literacy" may actually be discouraging students from selecting Computing subjects in the senior years of schooling, and hence experience/awareness of the broad range of IT career options is lessened.

In NSW both the SDD and IPT courses have experienced a significant decline in student numbers over recent years – from memory, in 2000, IPT had some 13000 candidates which is now down to 5000 or so, and SDD has dropped from around 3000 to about 1500 or so. This is a major concern to all NSW IT teachers. Some possible reasons include the dot com bubble, the integration of IT lteracy accross the curriculum and perhaps more signifcantly the reality that using computers is now an integral part of most student's day-to-day life – "I already know how to use a computer so why take a computing course?" In the past students chose computing courses because obtaining such skills was seen as critical by both students and in particular parents. During the 1990s most schools had far more students wishing to study Computing than could be staffed – I was at a Senior High School during much of this period and we had over one third of the school studying the old NSW HSC Computing Studies course.

In terms of attracting students to IT careers I feel the senior computing courses (SDD and IPT in NSW) do have the potential to play a signifcant role. Currently I am unware of any IT related University courses that list SDD or IPT as either a prerequisite or even as desirable. (Why is this? Many reasons/theories come to mind, but I wont elaborate here) The point is that this does not encourage students who maybe considering IT careers to choose IT HSC subjects. Rather they choose an extra science (or some other course). Clearly IT teachers, rather than other teachers, including careers advisors, are better placed to encourage students towards IT careeers – I could give numerous examples of students I have taught who now work in a variety of IT areas (I like to think that I had some effect on their decision). Perhaps industry (and Universities) can become more actively involved in encouraging senior school IT education (I have many ideas, but I wont bore you here). John – I think you overstate the role of careers advisors. I don't wish undermine their importance, however in my experience few students make career decisions based on advice from careers advisors. Rather careers advisors more often point students along paths they have already selected (the choice for/against an IT career has already been made).

I applaude this initiative and look forward to some practical outcomes emerging!

Sam
Dorotea Baljevic

December 16, 2008 at 11:55 pm

Starts at the beginning
I have just completed my final year of my IT degree at university and have always been inclined towards this industry. I have been fortunate enough to have been given a wide variety of options and experience in many fields/industries at a young age. This has allowed me to find out what I excel in and what I am passionate about. I was exposed to computers and the IT industry in primary school and was able to develop basic skills that some were taught half way through their secondary education. This unique/rare progression I had towards IT might be where the problem lies for others.

Unfortunately I see that the reasons many students don’t choose the computing electives (SDD/IPT) for years 11 and 12 is that they haven’t had much experience with it and consequently don’t understand the full scope of what IT has to offer which leads to lacking interest.

If IT or computing studies was treated as essential knowledge by incorporating it in the general curriculum with English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography we may see an increase in interest and consequently enrollment numbers in IT. Its already deemed an essential skill in almost any business, so why not in our schools?

I do believe there needs to be care in the manner in which it is taught in and what content is taught. Focusing on the programming side can deter some students and being a person in IT I know that it is a limited view of what else is available in this industry.

Introducing education of IT earlier could be pivotal in its promotion, but there also needs to be the additional support for the child/student to pursue a career in IT. I know for a fact that parents and careers advisors can be a great influence in many decisions of a childs life. Making them aware of IT and its possibilities can be as important, if not more, than providing it to the new generation.
smoky

December 17, 2008 at 9:52 am

IT in Schools

I have to agree with SamD on most points he raised.

As a teacher at a Senior Campus of IT subjects, I can see the students are not really interested in gaining top marks in these subject areas, as first and foremost, they have been with computers ever since they were born, hence the digital native terminology, and with the IT Literacy push this has diminished the thirst for knowledge in the IT area by the time they reach HSC level.

I think the Education Department and the Universities should get their acts together and sit at a round table and come up with a match between studying IT at school and Degrees that reflect what they study in the senior years at school. Also, there needs to visits from IT professionals to schools to talk with students in year 10 about career choices after school, all this helping to at least give students knowledge of what can be achieved after school, wich may give a small revival in students choosing computing at senior levels.

I think all comments made in this forum have some merrit and after this topic is at it's end all should be collected and ideas taken to another level – get the Education Dept and the Universities together to map out a solution to this shortage of IT Professionals…in other words, solutions to gaining numbers on seats in all computing courses at senior level.

I know I worry each year as to what I'll have to teach the following year, and some of the numbers have to do with the knowledge of lack of knowledge the teachers at the junior levels have. The college systems have this hanging over their heads each year, so we are behind the eight ball so to speak more so than the comprehensive high schools (7-12).

I hope there is an outcome to this debate/blog/forum, as it is timely and badly needed, we have had low numbers for quite some time now, and its great that this has now become part of an agenda, lets just hope it has legs and will lead to a solution in the long (better if short) term.
Julian.Wee

December 19, 2008 at 4:30 am

Agreed 10X

Smoky et al. I simply agree with your points. Nothing to add. It's time to progress them, so let's "crisp up" an action plan post forum closure.

During the last Soccer world bup, one of the team coaches was interviewed on TV. He was asked why Soccer was such a phenomenal success? To which he responded "The secret is you have to start them (players) knee-high".

Industry players will engage more with education and education bodies. Sometimes the simple hinderance is not knowing what and how to contribute. So I would encourage Universities, TAFEs, schools etc to think about what are some of the best ways for industry professionals to contribute, and come tell us! I'm often asked why I'm involved with particular insitution(s), the simple answer is because they asked. Contributions may be about advisory boards, it may be guest lectures, it may be running project management "projects", and on it goes. Remember, what the industry doens't put in, it doesn't get in return.
MikeM

January 16, 2009 at 12:38 pm

Is information technology a career?

My daughter-in-law trained as an IT teacher in New Zealand but, with degrees in Information Systems and Economics, could not bring herself to teach that, in the absence of any national curriculum, IT was about using MS Office or becoming a Cisco Certified something-or-other.

It is a professional field that I have been in and out of for many years.

Its essence is really all about systems. The best brief example I can quote is that of legendary Dutch computer scientist Edsger W Dikstra:

From here:

Years ago a railway company was erected and one of its directors -probably the commercial bloke- discovered that the initial investments could be reduced significantly if only fifty percent of the cars would be equipped with a toilet, and, therefore, so was decided.

Shortly after the company had started its operations, however, complaints about the toilets came pouring in. An investigation was carried out and revealed that the obvious thing had happened: despite its youth the company was already suffering from internal communication problems, for the director's decision on the toilets had not been transmitted to the shunting yard, where all cars were treated as equivalent, and, as a result, sometimes trains were composed with hardly any toilets at all.

In order to solve the problem, a bit of information was associated with each car, telling whether it was a car with or without a toilet, and the shunting yard was instructed to compose trains with the numbers of cars of both types as equal as possible. It was a complication for the shunting yard, but, once it had been solved, the people responsible for the shunting procedures were quite proud that they could manage it.

When the new shunting procedures had been made effective, however, complaints about the toilets continued. A new investigation was carried out and then it transpired that, although in each train about half the cars had indeed toilets, sometimes trains were composed with nearly all toilets in one half of the train. In order to remedy the situation, new instructions were issued, prescribing that cars with and cars without toilets should alternate. This was a more severe complication for the shunting people, but after some initial grumbling, eventually they managed.

Complaints, however, continued and the reason turned out to be that, as the cars with toilets had their toilet at one of their ends, the distance between two successive toilets in the train could still be nearly three car lengths, and for mothers with children in urgent need -and perhaps even luggage piled up in the corridors- this still could lead to disasters. As a result, the cars with toilets got another bit of information attached to them, making them into directed objects, and the new instructions were, that in each train the cars with toilets should have the same orientation. This time, the new instructions for the shunting yard were received with less than enthusiasm, for the number of turntables was hardly sufficient; to be quite fair to the shunting people we must even admit that according to all reasonable standards, the number of turntables was insufficient, and it was only by virtue of the most cunning ingenuity, that they could just manage.

With all toilets equally spaced along the train the company felt confident that now everything was alright, but passengers continued to complain: although no passenger was more than a car length away from the nearest toilet, passengers (in urgent need) did not know in which direction to start their stumbling itinerary along the corridor! To solve this problem, arrows saying "TOILET" were fixed in all corridors, thereby also making the other half of the cars into directed objects that should be properly oriented by the shunting procedures.

When the new instruction reached the shunting yard, they created an atmosphere ranging from despair to revolt: it just couldn't be done! At that critical moment a man whose name has been forgotten and shall never be traced, made the following observation. When each car with a toilet was coupled, from now until eternity, at its toileted end with a car without a toilet, from then onwards the shunting yard, instead of dealing with N directed cars of two types, could deal with N/2 identical units that, to all intents and purposes, could be regarded as symmetrical. And this observation solved all shunting problems at the modest price of, firstly sticking to trains with an even number of cars only -the few additional cars needed for that could be paid out of the initial savings effected by the commercial bloke!- and, secondly, slightly cheating with regard to the equal spacing of the toilets. But, after all, who cares about the last three feet?

Although at the time that this story took place, mankind was not blessed yet with automatic computers, our anonymous man who found this solution deserves to be called the world's first competent programmer.

I have told the above story to different audiences. Programmers, as a rule, are delighted by it, and managers, invariably, get more and more annoyed as the story progresses; true mathematicians, however, fail to see the point.

That is what systems problems are really about.

MikeM is roadkill in the wake of the capitalist juggernaut but his voice continues to protest that he is not an individual.
SamD

January 20, 2009 at 1:04 am

“IT was about using MS

"IT was about using MS Office or becoming a Cisco Certified something-or-other."

MikeM, this is certainly not true of either the IPT or the SDD NSW HSC courses – both have a strong and significant focus on complete systems.

Sam
MikeM

January 29, 2009 at 12:32 pm

Sam, Thanks for your

Sam,

Thanks for your response. And I am glad to hear that. However, how successful are these courses in interesting young people in becoming IT professionals? Career guidance is obviously an issue, as John pointed out in the first post in this thread, but imparting some excitement about the field is surely part of what matters.

IT people are their own worst enemies in encouraging recruitment – not surprisingly as the field tends especially to attract introverts, if the Myers-Briggs personality type test is anything to go by.

To adapt a jibe from a field with a similar reputation:

Q: How do you tell an extroverted computer programmer?

A: He looks at your shoes when he speaks to you, instead of his own.

Yet as some of the most obnoxious IT sales executives I have met can attest, there is plenty of room for extroverts as well.

Take any experienced IT professional, give him (they are more often male than not, but let's not get into that) a room full of high school graduates and five minutes. Tell them what Information Technology is about.

The best evocation I have ever heard was in a lecture by the late Professor Richard Bellman. He said, and I quote from memory:

Chess, music and mathematics – and I might add, computer programming – are the easiest disciplines in the world. There are child prodigies in all of them. But find me a child prodigy who can get hospital patients meals to their bedsides while they are still hot.

Okay, so part of information technology is easy. Part is very hard. What is a hard examples

The Computer Science Department Internet Research Lab web site at UCLA features an essay written by biologist J.B.S.Haldane in 1928 that tackles the pressing question of why elephants cannot turn somersaults. Haldane arrives at some very serious conclusions from considering this:

On Being the Right Size

The most obvious differences between different animals are differences of size, but for some reason the zoologists have paid singularly little attention to them. In a large textbook of zoology before me I find no indication that the eagle is larger than the sparrow, or the hippopotamus bigger than the hare, though some grudging admissions are made in the case of the mouse and the whale. But yet it is easy to show that a hare could not be as large as a hippopotamus, or a whale as small as a herring. For every type of animal there is a most convenient size […]

I mentioned Dijkstra's systems problem about toilets in my previous post.

Over its arguably 60-year history the computer science-information technology-systems theory complex of pure and applied science, technology, skills and practices has accumulated a rich cultural heritage of truths and myths about successes and disasters, about what it has achieved in the past and what more it might achieve one day. And it can really be great fun.

The Smithsonian Institute even has on exhibition the first ever discovered computer bug:

But I don't blame the teachers. They do the best they can. I blame the profession – not because it has allowed itself to fall into disrepute, but because it never managed to get into repute in the first place.

MikeM used to be a systems programmer.
foggy

February 12, 2009 at 7:10 pm

IT

Hi SallyRose,

i would like to say here that many find the IT career lucrative.i certainly would not expect them to take up professions such as teachers, lawyers, bankers, engineers,doctors, scientists, police personnel,pilots to name a few;after embarking on a IT career.IT has so many ramifications.but if a doctor or lawyer wishes to study IT whats to stop him?i say, many children from high school days opt for a profession say a doctor or an engineer.if these children take up a basic++ course in IT with a special leaning(of the IT field which would best serve their profession) to the choice of profession i am sure they will be great assets for their professions.this practice could be encouraged even after school/college days among already set professionals.they would understand not only what is needed by their own profession; of IT but also how to get it through IT very, very, very, very specifically.

IT in Schools

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