No Wonder We Switch Kids Off Coding - When We Teach Them To How Send Emails and Create PowerPoints!

Introduction

One thing I know ... sending an email and creating a PowerPoint slide desk is boring, but creating a Python program to simulate a set of traffic lights at a junction is interesting!

I also know that knowing that a BMP file is larger than a JPEG file is so boring, but analysing the linkage between COPD and smoking using open source data in Edinburgh is much more interesting (and useful!).

So, which is better ... running home and saying ...

"Mum ... do you know that a BMP is larger than a JPEG, as I learnt that from computer science, today?"

or

"Mum ... if you don't put that cigarette out now, you have a high chance of getting COPD when you're 65 ... we learn that from computer science, today?"

Lacking interest?

I've been saying for a while that the N5 and Higher curriculum in Scotland is a rather unfocused subject, which tries to do much, and ends up with a boring range of subjects. It feels like it was designed by a committee, and tries to be a little like computer science at university, but never really achieves much in making itself an important choice for those who are going into Higher Education.

In the end it just seems like ICT (yuk!) mixed with a Bring-Your-Own-Coding (BYOC), and it really doesn't work. There are great coding evangelists - such as Charley Love - and great work in some schools, but others are just removing it from their selections, or have a poor implementation of coding skills. It is difficult to know what the real output is, as there's little in the way of common standards.

Once thing I know is that a whole lot of people are already switched off coding before that even get to the N5 and Higher stage. Yesterday I received this related to a first year secondary assessment in Computing Science in Scotland:

and I was kinda shocked. Honestly ... we are teaching our kids how to log into a system with the right username and password, and ask them to create a document and save? And then to use a graphic package to complete a solution? Well, I think most of our kids could run rings round us for those things. Really if you really want to switch someone off coding, just get them to create a Word document and save it. That sounds like 20th Century ICT!

I also heard the creation of PowerPoint slides was then taught in Computing Science in Year 2 of Secondary. I have emboldened the "Science" bit, as I have never really thought that creating a PowerPoint slide desk was actually anything to do with science.

So, N5 and Higher Computer Science in Scotland has ended-up not achieving what it intended to do, and has generally switched kids off coding. It has generally not shrugged off its "ICT by another name" badge, and gets demoted to being a special interest/hobby subject, where part of it is still focused on trival knowledge and skills.

If we look at N4 (Year 3), there is a drop of over 16.3% from 2015 to 2016 [here][Core data]:

Why? Not because there aren't enough jobs around ... but - and I don't have the full evidence on this - schools can't find enough teachers to teach and schools are also removing it from their provision. At N5 it is not much better, as we move from the old subjects to the new ones and with only a 3% increase [here], and where Music increases by 50% and even Cake craft increases by 11%:

I've created online Web-based material for N5 and Higher Computing Science, and often the subjects it covers are boring, and filled with trivial knowledge. The way the subject has been created is a vast improvement over the old one, but that wasn't difficult, as it was tired and completely out-of-date. It has, though, fallen back into its old ways, and is switching kids off (shown by poor relative position of the subject). Coding should be a core skills for our future generation, with Google training over 250,000 India students on App development, whereas we seem to be partially assessing them on ICT skills.

So here is the ranking of the subjects, and Computing Science doesn't even make the Top 10 (N4 - 14th, N5 - 13th and Higher - 16th) [here]:

Conclusion

This is such an interesting time in Computer Science just now ... lots of great topics ... Cyber Security ... Penetration Testing ... Security Analyst ... Software Engineer ... Cloud Engineer ... Data Scientist ... but we just switch kids off .. but getting them to send email and create PowerPoint slides. If we are building the next generation of skills, I've yet to see it ... coding skills should be embedded into the curriculum, as it will become as generic a skill as using Excel.

Get kids into coding ... and give them generic skills ... and forget trying to teach them things that are boring and dull:

Coding is cool ... Office 365 is boring!

If you think it is any better in England ... then it's worse: