UK minister says children 'bored' by IT classes

Gove wants to shift the focus from learning how to use programs like Microsoft Word to a more creative approach, encouraging pupils to write their own software.

He wants to scrap the current curriculum from September, the start of the new school year, and instead let schools decide what to teach, drawing on resources developed by experts.

"Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations," Gove will say.

"By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in university courses and be writing their own apps for smartphones."

Gove believes that pupils are not properly prepared for the world of work by the current technology curriculum.

He also wants to revive the legacy of Alan Turing, the British mathematician seen as the father of computer science who notably worked on cracking the German Enigma code during World War Two.

One of Gove's advisors is computer games and fantasy entrepreneur Ian Livingstone, who told BBC radio that the lessons currently being taught in schools were "completely irrelevant."

"It's a travesty given our heritage as the most creative nation in the world," Livingstone said.

"Children are being forced to learn how to use applications rather than to make them. They are becoming slaves to the user interface and are totally bored by it."

Google chairman Eric Schmidt last year said Britain was "throwing away your great computer heritage" by failing to teach programming in schools.

(c) 2012 AFP