[Year 12 SofDev] junior school IT to increase skill development in VCE

[Ian Fernee]

Dear all,
Sorry for the cross thread but I am currently in the process of reviewing our junior school IT programme for 2015 and beyond with the vision of developing skills for senior school. Currently we do not offer a formal IT course at 7 and 8 and the subject is an elective through to year 12. We do offer some subjects at junior school that use a computer lab and address some interdisciplinary IT skills to a point but I feel that IT specific skills and knowledge is being left behind. There is also an intent to address the declining IT numbers as reviewed in the following article about subject choices in VCE http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/expertise/it-crowd-shrinking-as-vce-enrolments-plummet-20140907-10dizx.html

The questions I have are:

1) What types of skills are being taught at 7 and 8?
2) What programs are being used to support this skill development or seen as essential in developing an IT literacy?
3) Do schools with strong programming curriculum at the junior levels see an increase in VCE numbers?

Thanks

Ian Fernee
Head of IT Faculty
St. Patrick's College Ballarat
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