[Year 12 IPM] IT structure in lower sceondary levels

[Reid, Cam C]

Rob
I would also be interested in the results. For 2.5 years we have had 1 semester of IT at Year 7, no classes at Year 8, 1 elective at Year 9 and 2 electives at Year 10 the impact has already been significant. When the change was mooted it was felt that certain areas would teach the skills to the students to overcome the lack of IT classes and that these should be reported on in their half yearly reports. This didn't happen. A common complaint was lack of access to the IT facility; in some cases it was a "cop out". In other cases the staff members taking the classes at junior levels did not have the skills to teach the students; some were willing to learn others didn't have time. 
 
The result is that while students can use computers along with the basic software, we are seeing a lack of consistency in the way tasks are produced ie the formats and conventions that we used to instil in them at the junior level. Now, it is possible for a student do a compulsory semester of IT in Semester 1 in Year 7 and not do it again until VCE if at all. In Maths, for example, the students are sadly lacking in spreadsheet skills in Year 10 which has ramifications for VCE next year. These skills are important to their success in VCE. It should also be noted that IT/SOSE area were given the task of teaching the students multimedia skills, thus even at Year 7, students do not get exposure to the wide range of software and the associated skills, that they used to.
 
If it is to work the following needs to be considered (in no particular order)::
a.  There must be a commitment by all areas (KLAs/CPAs) to teach the students a common set of skills. 
b.  There needs to be some way of measuring the success or otherwise of  this decision
c.  There needs to be a strong Curriculum Coordinator or group who would monitor this closely to ensure that it is happening, not just a review at the end of the year.
d.  Skills need to be reported on whether or not it relates to the subject area; this can be used as a carrot/stick
e.  Staff need to be inserviced in the skills that will be taught to students to ensure all areas have a common understanding of what they are.
f. Access to IT resources must be available to ensure these skills can be taught. While a lab is preferable we suggested the use of self learning  tasks provided via Schoolkit in our pods (for some areas) to allow students to cycle through the tasks as part of their introductory skill building excercises. It also would have also given students a common grounding until a lab could be accessed. This offer was not taken up by any area.
 
We are currently putting together a proposal for the Curriculum Committee in light of VELS to reinstate a core IT subject at Years 7 & 8 to teach the students the skills/compentencies that they need across all areas. We intend working with each area  to complement what they are doing in the classroom. This would work very well in the Year 7 semester of IT due to the fact that Year 7 teachers in our College generally teach multiple subjects to the same group of students.
 
I hope this helps in your deliberations, I will be interested in the feedback of others who have gone down the same track,
 
Regards
Cameron Reid
Mooroopna Secondary College
 


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