The UK's GCSE results came out this week and, on the whole, it's been positive news for the IT industry, with a 38 per cent year-on-year rise in students aged 14-16 taking the ICT exam - 73,847 exams sat this year compared to 53,197 last year.
It proves that, despite having to study a curriculum that Education Secretary Michael Gove himself called "boring" as he vowed to change it in early 2012, children are still willing to learn about ICT, and are thinking about its possibilities for their future careers.
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"With 90 per cent of jobs in the future predicted to require some form of digital and computing knowledge, there is mounting pressure on the government from business groups to ensure students leave school armed with relevant digital skills for the workplace and to help grow the UK's tech sector," Oracle Academy EMEA director Jane Richardson told Computing earlier today.
"However, there is still some way to go in aligning the curriculum with needs of these employers. It is vital that the education system uses this positive news as a jumping off point and looks to develop ICT courses through partnerships with companies like Oracle Academy, to identify the skills children will need in the future and deliver a curriculum that will advance children's skills."
Oracle Academy is keen to offer resources and training to educational institutions to help them teach, but what about the exam boards?
Earlier this month, examination board EdExcel released draft sample course and exam materials for the new "Computer Science" GCSE, which will start being taught in a few weeks.
As an IT professional, are you up to the new GCSE standard? Find out as Computing presents a condensed version of an EdExcel GCSE paper.
