A local resident and teacher contacted me recently on the issue of the government scrapping ICT GCSE and A Levels in favour of a Computer Science qualification.

I spoke out against this move and got in contact with Lib Dem Education spokesperson, John Pugh MP, who has looked into the government’s proposals with a fine tooth comb.

This is the government’s recent response to a petition I supported calling for GCSE and A Level ICT to be reinstated:

“The government is committed to strengthening the teaching of computing and computer science, to build the high-level technology skills that are critical for the UK’s long-term economic future.

Rigorous new computer science GCSE and A levels, backed by industry experts, provide a strong foundation for further academic and vocational study and for employment. Students will develop the computational thinking skills needed for today’s economy – including coding, cyber security, networking and data storage. There are also a number of high-quality technical and professional options for students at Key Stage 4 and opportunities for further specialism at Key Stage 5 that provide progression to higher education and employment.

It is right that schools continue to focus on the digital knowledge that will best prepare young people for further study and employment. Ministers have therefore, taken the decision not to approve two GCSEs and A levels in a related area of study.

This builds on our changes to the national curriculum where we have replaced the outdated ICT programme of study with a new computing programme of study. The new computing curriculum has been designed to facilitate innovation and creativity from both teachers and pupils and emphasise the importance of learning about the fundamentals of computer science.

The computing curriculum states that all pupils, across all key stages of the national curriculum, should be taught to develop their capability, creativity and knowledge in computer science, digital media and information technology. Teachers are best placed to meet the individual needs of their students and create lessons that cover the range of computing knowledge and skills throughout a pupil’s time at school.”

– Department for Education

This response utterly fails to address the issue of how exactly the current ICT qualification is “outdated” and fails to answer what the implications of this purely ideological move will be on teachers and students alike. More than four times as many teenage girls take ICT compared to Computer Science (as of 2014) and the government does not know just how many girls it will put off from technological careers because they weren’t given the option of taking ICT.

I will contact John Pugh tomorrow and consider what we can do in order to change the Conservatives’ mindset.