Significant numbers of pupils will not receive their compulsory lessons in technology, despite new regulations coming into effect this autumn. A survey of 800 state secondaries by the Secondary Heads Association shows that 14 per cent of comprehensives and nearly a quarter of grammar schools believe they will be unable to offer technology to all Year 10 pupils (14- to 15-year-olds) in the autumn.
Pupils will also miss out on computer lessons with one fifth of secondary schools failing to guarantee that the same age group will study information technology.
The new curriculum orders for Key Stage 4, covering Years 10 and 11, demand that all students study both technology and information technology. But schools have complained that they lack the necessary resources, expertise and time.
Independent schools are even less willing to disrupt their timetable for technology, says the survey, with only 16 per cent promising to introduce the subject.
The same survey shows continued anger that English coursework has been reduced in importance. More than half the comprehensive schools (55 per cent), 41 per cent of grammar schools and 35 per cent of private schools expressed concern.
Three-quarters of comprehensives and more than half of grammars and independents wished to see English coursework increased.
