Janine’s blog

I’ve just finished reading a short article in Directions in Education (Australian Council for Eudcational Leaders), Vol 15, No 11 which makes the point that the issue of girls’ partipcation in IT is complex and is not just a gender issues. There are parallel issues in involvement in Science, as noted in a May 2006 AAP article discussing Margaret Spellings’ comments - highly skilled, high wage jobs of the future ought to include females. It goes on to suggest small practical steps that can be taken at classroom level, citing examples from the “Taking Bigger Bytes” article in the Age - (available at cost). The message here is akin to “think globally, act locally” for the environmental movement. It urges teachers to consider working on group projects that have real life meaning to the girls and the net result may be that firls will get IT and love IT.  It strikes me that the examples given are all on the “soft side” of IT and I am not so sure that that is where the “highly ksilled high wage jobs of the future” might be. Nevertheless, food for thought.