Information technology capability: is our definition wide of the mark?

The introduction of a National Curriculum for UK schools in the late 1980s was accompanied by a definition of pupil If capability. That definition places a strong emphasis on pupils' ability to use IT tools and information sources to analyse, process and present information. This definition has proved to be durable in that it has, in essence, remained intact even though the National Curriculum as a whole has been modified. The practical consequence of this definition is that classroom activity has focused on teaching pupils how to use particular IT tools to carry out particular tasks. IT activities for trainee teachers and for teachers on in-service courses have followed a similar pattern. In this paper it is argued that a change of emphasis is needed. Teaching pupils to focus on the particular produces learning that is ''brittle''. In other words, it is not the type of learning that will prove to be durable in a rapidly changing domain even though that is exactly what is needed given the general characteristics of IT. The paper proposes a revised definition of Ii capability which is designed to foster learning that has a focus on pupils' own ability to identify situations where IT can be effectively deployed and, significantly, on their ability to adopt learning strategies that enable them to acquire the practical skills that could lead to the realisation of possibilities.