[Year 12 IT Apps] IT field

[Michael Walker]

>>> "andrew barry" <jagguy999 at gmail.com> 16/02/2008 2:36 pm >>>
>there is only 1 part-time job in IT available in the whole state of Vic.

>why is it like this?

>do schools not value IT and not many opportunities exist?

I assume from your post you are talking about teaching jobs, not technicians as Robyn from Camberwell High posted about requiring a technician there and Canterbury Girls Sec Coll are looking for someone too. As an aside these are both genuine positions not people reapplying for their contract - most of you will know what I mean by that and why it's relevant!

If this assumption is correct, I would suggest you dive into the edulists archives and read all the postings regarding IT classes running and not running towards the end of last year which should explain why there may not be as many IT teaching jobs available as you might expect.

In a nutshell from the top of my head:
* VELS incorporating ICT as a cross curricular domain is being used as a reason for cutting IT classes because "other subject teachers can teach them". Some schools redeploy IT teachers as some sort of coach/mentor but I suspect many don't = lost positions.
* VCE IT is on the nose with students as the perception is that it gets marked down for their ENTER score unlike say various Mathematics subjects. Also, it's not a prerequisite for anything at uni unlike Maths or English. So classes get smaller and eventually unviable which is what happened here. Negative feedback spiral some might say.
* Careers Coordinators are suggesting it as an "easy" topic for students who may struggle in other subjects, thus putting off the more academic students.
* The subject isn't as sexy or interesting as say Art or Drama or Psych or the Science ones so again it loses out. This one is a little subjective but the nerd^H^H^H^H more science / maths / IT oriented students that may choose IT are more likely to choose Biol or Chem or Maths Methods or Specialist leaving less of a likelihood of choosing IT for the reasons listed above.

I think that was the main gist of what was said last year. If I've got it wrong or left something out, I'm sure someone will jump in to correct me and defend the honour of the subject...:)

Hopefully you've got another area you can teach as well as IT otherwise you might be a little stuck...

Michael Walker
CGSC tech and future IT teacher (fortunately also Maths)



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