Pupil and Parent Guarantees, and ICT

#GBL10 The consultation about pupil and parent guarantees is under way. This consultation seeks views on the full text of the pupil and parent guarantees and whether the requirements for pupils, parents, schools and local authorities are clear and understandable, whether all the ‘musts' and ‘shoulds' detailed in the guarantees are correct and whether the responsibilities and entitlements for schools, pupils and parents are correctly balanced.

I've looked through the Pupil and Parent Guarantees document, and what strikes me is how minimalist are the requirements for ICT education. Yes, it's there, as an entitlement and an expectation, which is good. However, it's there in the context of a life skill (Functional Skill). What a pity that there seems to be no setting down of an expectation that ICT lessons should be exciting, and ICT education more than just the basics one needs to get by in life.

I suppose you could say the same thing about any subject. So I looked through the document, and nowhere is the mention of that all-important 'e' word: 'exciting'. Derek Robertson, at the Mirandamod at the Games-Based Learning Conference yesterday expressed it really well, albeit in a different context:

We should be making schools the kind of places where learners want to be.

Exactly.