ICT Skills: Year 6

Understanding Framework Skills

BackgroundWhy has the framework been developed?The Education Reform Act of 1988 set out the requirements for a balancedand broadly based curriculum which:‘prepares… pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities andexperiences of adult life.’There is, however, strong consensus in schools that the current subject Orderscannot alone adequately fulfil this requirement since many place an emphasison detailed subject knowledge rather than skills development. Whilst it isimportant to retain a common entitlement, there is also a need to offerdifferent pathways through learning in order to suit the aptitudes andinterests of learners and to meet the requirements of employers and others.These requirements are outlined in the summary report of the Future SkillsWales 2003 Generic Skills Survey that states:‘Of the employers reporting skills gaps, lack of IT skills is the mostcommon problem, followed by communication skills… showinginitiative, problem solving and ability to learn.’(Future Skills Wales 2003 Generic Skills Survey Summary Report –see www.futureskillswales.com)In the publication, Excellent Schools, Estyn had already recognised thissituation and stated that:‘Schools will need to devote attention to developing attitudes tolearning – affecting the disposition of learners and developing theirlearning skills – as well as to delivering formal instruction.’(Excellent Schools: A vision for schools in Wales in 21st century, Estyn,2002).

The importance of developing ICT

Section 3 Developing ICT across the curriculum
As with those for communication and number, the framework for ICT leads on from much of the
work done on developing ICT across the curriculum in the past few years. It sets out six stages of
progression in ICT capability and brings together skills from the national curriculum ICT Order and
the IT Key Skills requirements.
The framework has two strands:
• creating and presenting information and ideas
• finding and developing information and ideas.
The first strand maps capability in using ICT to communicate ideas, thoughts and intentions,
selecting appropriate ways of giving information with the intended recipient or audience in mind.
The second strand is about searching for information for specific purposes, and bringing together or
processing that information in different forms to develop new information, which could be used to
inform judgements and help make decisions.
The main indicators of progression in ICT capability in the two strands are:
• a developing sense of purpose and audience for the work
• increasing competence and sophistication in the use of software functions
• the gradual change from using given ICT resources to choosing and selecting resources to suit the
task and purpose.

ICT Skills

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Year 6

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Understanding Framework Skills

The importance of developing ICT