Use ICT to Attract and Train ICT Teachers

The Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communications Technology (ACDICT), have expressed concern at the lack of ICT trained teachers in Australian schools ("ICT teaching deficit is severe", 12 June 2014). ACDICT point out that only  52% of those teaching IT in years 11-12 have an IT qualification. They suggest mentoring of teachers and events where ICT graduates talk to school students. This wrong-headed approach has been tried in the past with limited success. A few enthusiastic people spend a lot of their time visiting a few schools and motivate a handful of students.

The better way to communicate with students about ICT is by using the Internet and the way to teach ICT teachers is online. In this way hundreds of thousands of students can be reached. This can be done by providing online computing courses, such as Monash University's "Creative Coding".

Teachers can be provided with online training ans support for blended team teaching. That is rather than each teacher working out what to do on their own, the teachers can work together online, to support their students. The students can use online resources and then discuss what they have learned face-to-face in the classroom.