Uninspiring curricula and a negative perception of IT are conspiring to turn students away from the subject and threaten the UK’s ability to compete in the global economy, e-Skills UK has warned.

The sector skills council is calling for a radical shake-up of IT education to sustain the interest in the subject into higher education and through to the workplace.

While the rise in A-level maths students is good news for the IT industry, the technology curriculum needs to be rethought, said Margaret Sambell, director of strategy at e-Skills UK.

“We believe that a radical review of the technology curriculum in schools is essential, bringing together the views of employers and academics to create an inspiring curriculum that is attractive to students, and is valued for progression to university and to employment,” she said.

“The development of the new Diploma in IT, to be introduced next month, is a significant step forward, and we would like to see similar university and employer involvement in revised curricula for the IT-related GCSEs and A-levels.

“We are very pleased to note the increase in the number of students sitting A-level maths, which is highly valued by both universities and employers for students proposing to enter IT-related degrees or careers.”

Recent research by e-Skills shows that a lack of interest in pursuing IT-related education and careers is because of “the significantly negative effect of the ICT GCSE curriculum” and misperceptions and lack of knowledge about the sector.

The findings indicated that young people assume that if they work in IT, they will be preoccupied with computers instead of people, that their work will be dull and repetitive and that they will not be well paid.

This year, the number of A-level students sitting the computing course was 5,070, down five per from 5,610 in 2007, while ICT student numbers fell eight per cent to 12,275 from 13,360. And the number of GCSE students taking the full ICT course fell 14 per cent to 85,600, from 99,655 in 2007.

The figures for applied computing bucked the trend slightly at A-level, as entries to the Applied Computing Single Award rose 13 per cent on 2007 to hit 13,618. But Applied Computing Double Award entries fell 14 per cent to 2,609.

“The continued decline in the number of students choosing IT-related A-levels and GCSEs highlights a serious issue for the UK,” said Sambell.

“To compete in the technology-intensive globalised economy, we need an inspiring curriculum in schools that attracts increasing numbers of talented students into technology-related degrees and careers.

“Our research across 1,000 young people shows that the ICT GCSE curriculum is having a significant, negative effect on students' interest in pursuing IT-related subjects at A-level and beyond. It also shows that young people typically have little understanding of technology careers and make decisions based on misperceptions.”