Building the future of computing in schools

My office at The Open University is just down the road from Bletchley Park, the war-time code-breaking centre which now houses the National Museum of Computing. Seventy years ago in this quiet countryside setting, the "father of modern computing" Alan Turing helped to crack the Enigma code and set in motion developments which have brought us the technology we use today.

In the past few weeks, aided by The Guardian's Digital Literacy campaign, there has been increasing debate about how the ICT curriculum should be overhauled. On 11 January Michael Gove announced that while ICT would remain compulsory at all key stages, no English school would be forced to follow the existing Programme of Study for ICT from September 2012. In this unusual and politically adept speech, Gove not only responded swiftly to the growing criticism of the teaching of ICT in schools but also managed to shift the responsibility and risk in addressing that challenge onto the very groups that were calling for change.

Thinking about the future of ICT in education, I believe we should cast our eyes back seven decades to when Turing was operating. His work in computing was of vital import to the whole country – and I'd argue that computing is of equal importance now.

Gove noted that there is a lack of suitably-qualified graduates, particularly in the lucrative gaming industry. We need to develop the programmers of the future who are going to bring the skills that high-tech companies need.

However, computer science is a specialist subject and as such inevitably a minority interest. The greater challenge is to ensure that all pupils develop their digital literacy; an understanding of and competence in engaging with new technology throughout their lives.

New technology has permeated every aspect of our lives. Whether you are a scientist, historian, musician or athlete, new technology has changed your discipline, it has changed the things you can do and the ways in which you can do them.

While the subjects taught in school are different to their out of school equivalents (just watch what happens when a school science experiment doesn't give the expected results if you don't believe me) the school subject should reflect the real world discipline. As the real world disciplines change, so too should the respective school subjects.

This means that ICT should be embedded within every subject in school, as well as being a subject in its own right.

This is a massive challenge. If we are to truly change how we use technology in schools, every single teacher will need to understand how it impacts on their discipline and can enhance their repertoire of teaching strategies.

Mr Gove quite rightly says teachers need to be confident using technological tools for their own and pupils' benefit. The good news is that there are lots of brilliant teachers who are already doing this.

Gove also highlighted the importance of teachers sharing their expertise and explicitly mentioned the work that the DfE are doing with the Open University's Vital Professional Development Programme to support teachers and raise standards. Vital provides free events and resources via its website. Find out how Mr Thorne teaches phonics, learn about using Google maps in maths or history, or share advice on how to use your interactive whiteboard interactively! Or if you are a computing specialist then join one of the regular free Vital TeachShares (video conference sessions) run by Computing at Schools (CAS).

In the current financial climate, schools will not be able to fund all of the ICT resources or professional development that they need, and ultimately difficult choices are going to have to be made about priorities.

Fundamentally this raises questions about your educational vision and the rationales for using ICT in education. I believe that this wider debate is even more critical than the one about the ICT curriculum.

Do you agree that ICT is essential in schools and if so what rationales ought to underpin our use of ICT, and hence where we focus our limited resources?

You can share your views by filling in a quick questionnaire (it only takes nine minutes on average but nonetheless may challenge your thinking). If you want to contribute to the narrower debate about the ICT curriculum then you can do that too here or respond to the DfE consultation itself.

I wonder what Alan Turing would have thought...

Dr Peter Twining is a senior lecturer at the Open University and the Director of Vital, a £9.4million DfE funded programme that is supporting practitioners in enhancing their teaching of IT/Computing as specialist subjects and the use of ICT across the curriculum. Peter's passion is schome (not school - not home - schome - the education system for the information age). You can follow him on twitter @PeterT.

The DfE consultation on the ICT National Curriculum is now live here.

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Guardian Teacher Network seminars

The Guardian Teacher Network has designed a range of interactive, inspiring and affordable seminars - for a full list and further information please click here.

Doing more with less: creative ways to use ICT across the curriculum on a tight budget
Wednesday 7 March 2012, 09:45 - 15:15

Funds for ICT are tighter than ever. This seminar shares cheap and free applications and open source tools and explores low cost alternatives to technical support, as well as explaining how to do even more with the technology you and your pupils already have.

ICT skills for teachers - beyond the basics
Wednesday 21 March 2012

Many teachers are comfortable using familiar applications like word processors, presentation software and web browsers with their pupils but don't always have the confidence to introduce less familiar tools.
This workshop offers teachers a time-efficient way to familiarise themselves with easy-to-use, free tools which will take your ICT skills to a new and highly creative level.