경쟁력 있는 정보화 국가 대비를 위한 IT교육의 국제비교: 한국과 영국의 비교

A Study on Comparison between Korean and British IT Education and Preparation for Entry into the Competition Market

&nbsp;&nbsp;This study focuses on tracing the differences between Korean and British IT (Information Technology) education and then suggests a promising method for Korea to stay at the forefront of IT. IT education in Britain involves step-by-step lessons, starting from primary to secondary education, which gives students a good motivation to learn IT skills. Whereas in Korea the curriculum does not maintain a close relationship between different year groups.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;British students should learn IT from the five-year-old until the age of fourteen as one of compulsory subjects and they are given opportunities to carry on up to university entrance examination(called &quot;A-levels&quot;) as an optional subject. But Korean students begin their IT education at the age of twelve merely as another school subject till the year 8, and IT subjects are also negligently treated because a lot of head masters dismiss IT as simply word processing and internet use, and subsequently are not included in the national examination for university entrance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The next issue lies in the difference of the quality of IT teachers. In Britain, all IT teachers should have full and confident IT knowledge and skills, while in Korea the majority of IT teacher posts have been filled with those with majors in other fields when the demand for their subjects had been suddenly decreased due to the change of society paradigm with the advent of the information era.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;In conclusion, it suggests that for Korea to remain a leader in the world of IT competition, education in schools should not only keep close linkage with step-by-step teaching but also be conducted by fully qualified teachers.