Computer scientist in plea to Welsh Government

A leading Welsh computer scientist is calling for the Welsh Government to leap ahead of the rest of the UK and identify computing as a core component of the National Curriculum.
Dr Tom Crick, a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), is bringing together key stakeholders to discuss a strategy for computing education in Wales at a conference at Swansea University this Friday.
The aim of this one-day conference, entitled Computing at School: Enhancing the STEM Curriculum for a Digital Wales, is to provide teachers, examination boards, higher education academics, education policymakers and industry with a forum to highlight and discuss the important issues surrounding computing education policy within Wales.
Dr Crick said: “The strategic importance of the provision of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, as well as their contribution to the Welsh and wider UK economy has been frequently discussed, but there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding with where computing and related disciplines sit within the STEM portfolio.
“Computing is a rigorous, intellectually demanding and exciting discipline that gives children the ability to shape the digital world they live in, as well as being a practical and applied science much valued by industry and commerce.
“Computing, the Internet, massive distributed databases, large-scale computer modelling and deep numerate analysis are fundamental STEM underpinnings to many areas of science, innovation and business.
“However, the current incarnation of ICT as currently taught at schools is producing a generation of passive technology consumers who only have a superficial understanding of applications rather than any deeper comprehension of the underpinning foundations.
“Furthermore, it is disengaging students who mistakenly believe that this is what computing as an academic discipline (or potential career) is actually about.”
Dr Crick continued: “While ‘digital literacy’ is important for all, a clear distinction needs to be made between that and the rigorous subject discipline of computing; analogous with confusing numeracy and mathematics.”
The Swansea conference, hosted by Computing at School (CAS) in conjunction with the £6m Convergence area Technocamps project, will feature a keynote speech from Jeff Cuthbert, the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Skills, as well as talks from Microsoft, NHS Wales, e-skills UK and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The day will provide practical workshop sessions for computing teachers, as well as panel sessions on wider policy and curriculum issues.
Dr Crick said: “The Welsh Government must recognise this as a top priority for the future, for both educational and economic reasons. There needs to be policy and curriculum changes, as well as increased support and continuing professional development for teachers.”
The event will take place before the backdrop of a growing buzz about high performance computing in Wales.
Work is now underway on the HPC Wales high performance computing project.
The £40 million project - which will provide a world-class supercomputing network, a research and innovation institute and a skills academy - has been in the news lately for its links with Fujitsu, Microsoft and Intel.
Its aim is to give businesses and universities involved in commercially focused research across Wales access to the most advanced and evolving computing technology available.

Weblinks:
http://caswales2011.eventbrite.com
http://www.computingatschool.org.uk
http://www.technocamps.com
http://www.hpcwales.co.uk
For further information about the conference, please contact Siân Jones, Technocamps Communications Manager: 01792 606652 or sian.jones@technocamps.com.
Computing at School (CAS) is a membership association which aims to promote and support Computing and related disciplines in UK schools, formally supported by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. Its memberships is diverse, including teachers at over 500 schools across the UK, examination boards, industry, universities, professional societies, as well as parents and governors. CAS seeks to work at many levels, including directly supporting Computing/ICT teachers, as well advocacy at a national policy level. For further information regarding CAS and its activities, please see http://www.computingatschool.org.uk or contact Dr Tom Crick, leader in Wales of CAS.
Technocamps is a £6m Convergence project led by Swansea University in partnership with the Universities of Bangor, Aberystwyth and Glamorgan.
Technocamps will provide daily and weekly sessions to pupils aged 11-19 on a range of exciting Computing topics, including robotics, games development, animation, digital forensics, software development and much more. Backed by £3.9m from the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government, it will deliver a series of outreach programmes to schools and colleges, inspiring young people to study Computing-based topics underpinning and aligned with the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and pursue a career in one of the strategic areas that drive economic growth and create wealth. For further information, please see http://www.technocamps.com.