The IT trade body ScotlandIS, which has over 200 members across all business sectors, has called on the country’s policymakers to call a halt to teaching computing in schools.

Polly Purvis, executive director, said that young people were being turned away from an interest in computing because the schools’ curriculum is seriously out of date.

And she warned that unless things change Scotland’s £5 billion information and communication technology (ICT) sector will lose out on a continuous supply of highly-skilled people.

Purvis spoke on behalf of a wide-ranging ScotlandIS membership that includes Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the Wood Group.

She highlighted social networking as a business tool, instant messaging replacing email for many young people, and blogs often more powerful than the press.

Yet, ICT study in schools hardly went beyond word processing and spread sheet activity. “It is not surprising that young people are underwhelmed,” she said.

“What is being taught is not what they are experiencing on the web and doesn’t match their knowledge of technology interfaces they use – their phones, games, consoles and the internet.”

Computing was such a fast moving subject area and should be left to the further and higher education level.

“We don’t teach law or medicine at school so let’s treat computing in the same way,” she said.

Only then will “commercially savvy” young people be equipped with a globally competitive hi-tech toolkit, and overcome “the complex convergence of business and technology where Scotland falls down.”

Purvis added this didn’t mean that some of the principles shouldn’t be taught at school level: “Problem solving, logic and analytical thinking are all building blocks need to be embedded in the curriculum from the earliest stages and a good grounding in mathematics and physics is more relevant than out-of-date programming,” she said.

“Notwithstanding the recession, underlying trends suggest such skills will continue to be in short supply. And in an increasingly competitive world market we cannot afford to be complacent about our skills base.”

Scotland was rightly proud of its world class computing and informatics research. “We really do punch well above our weight but we must re-engage our young people in the excitement that is computing.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Curriculum for Excellence, the new approach to teaching and learning which is being adopted in Scotland’s schools, is aimed at producing informed, skilled, adaptable and enterprising citizens of the future.

Young people today are immersed in technology and the tools that help them create websites, blogs, videos and podcasts. The Government would be failing them if we just stand by and ignore these developments. It is important that we should equip young people with the skills to embrace and use all the tools of modern life. Learning Teaching Scotland receives £6million a year from the Government for work on ICT projects.”

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