Andy Connell shares a few thoughts about the 2017 annual ITTE Conference, and reflects on the recent news that the number of students opting to study computing has fallen.

What a great ITTE conference last week. Reflecting back it seemed to me that  two key  themes emerged across the presentations and the conversations. 

One was the the clear message that we have  to prepare children for a changing, global, competitive world full of unknowns.  A kind of flowchart says…

Pupils need to be secure and safe in using emerging and future technologies, therefore…

Teachers need to be confident uses of technology to support learning and teaching, therefore…

Teacher educators need to be tech savvy and know how to support beginning teachers in the pedagogy of technology.

Their future in our hands? Picture by Geralt CC0 https://pixabay.com/en/users/geralt-9301/

https://pixabay.com/en/hand-keep-globe-earth-continents-1030565/The second was that the reported fall in those studying computing was sad yet was totally predictable.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40322796  It happened in the 80s and then the new Computing curriculum took us back there.  The subject expert group told the DfE it would happen, when they changed the proposed curriculum that the experts had agreed on. . Read this if you want  an idea how we ended up where we are.  https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/  Alternatively, buy me a beer, because I was there when it happened. Let’s hope the Welsh avoid the  mistakes made in England, as the Scotts and Irish seem to have.

What we need is to make sure we get those tech savvy educators, and ITTE is uniquely placed to help that happen. We also need to change policy on ICT and Computing in England and again ITTE is in a strong position to do that. So, follow the strap line…. ITTE, influencing policy and practice.