I attended a Westminster Legal Forum event about libel reform today, and someone asked whether bloggers were “real” journalists (or something like that). That sort of question implies that bloggers are somehow inferior to genuine journalists. I have to say, however, that when it comes to reporting on education policy, “proper” journalists do not always acquit themselves well in terms of accurate reporting. This was especially true in January 2012 in response to Michael Gove’s speech at BETT.

BETT opens as ICT is scrapped

School ICT lessons to be scrapped

School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme

Dull ICT lessons to be scrapped and children taught how to develop apps

How did they come to THAT conclusion?Those were just some of the headlines festooning the web around the time of Michael Gove’s speech at BETT. (Michael Gove, for the benefit of non-UK readers, is England's Secretary of State for Education.) But this is what he actually said:

ICT will remain compulsory at all key stages, and will still be taught at every stage of the curriculum. The existing Programme of Study will remain on the web for reference. But no English school will be forced to follow it any more.

I’m not really sure how anyone can hear the words “ICT will remain compulsory” and think it means “ICT to be scrapped”. That’s not exactly an example of good journalism.

The longer term future of ICT in the curriculum is being discussed, and you can enter your views in a consultation.