ICT - Current and Emerging
Trends
EXITE Professional Development Day
IBM Innovations Centre
Lena Arena
Vocational Education in Schools Directorate

Current Statistics
• The proportion of Australian households
with access to a computer at home
increased from 44% in 1998 to 61% in
2002.
• The percentage of Australian households
with access to the Internet at home has
increased strongly, rising from 16% in
1998 to 46% in 2002.

Current Statistics
• 89% of households use computers for
personal or private purposes
• 41% of households use computers for
work or business related purposes
• 36% of households use computers for
educational or study purposes

Industry statistics
• The number of Australian businesses using
information technology (IT) has grown, rising
from 49% at the end of June 1994 to 83% by
June 2003.
• The proportion of businesses with a web
presence has grown rapidly, rising from 6% in
June 1998 to 23% in June 2003.
• The proportion of businesses with Internet
access has also risen from 29% in June 1998 to
71% in June 2003.

Industry Statistics
• At June 2002
– an estimated 62% of the 135,377 farms in
Australia with an estimated value of
agricultural operations of $5,000 or more, had
access to a computer
– 48% had access to an Internet connection.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Stage 6 ICT Syllabuses
• Software Design and Development
• Information Processes and Technology
• Information Technology Curriculum
Framework 1999 (VET)

Syllabus Outcomes
• Software Design and Development
– practical implementation of designs
– skills in teamwork
– practical experience in building software
solutions
– methodical approach in developing projects
– ethical and legal issues
– new and emerging technologies

Syllabus Outcomes
• Information Processes and Technology
– analysis and development of information systems
rather than focusing on skills in operating hardware
and software
– principles that underlie information processing rather
than current trends
– social and ethical issues
– project work develops technical, communication and
management skills
– team projects allow students to develop interpersonal
and communication skills in addition to technical skills

Syllabus Outcomes
• Information Technology Curriculum Framework
– credit towards the NSW HSC and national vocational
qualifications under the Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF).
– based on national training packages
– assesses student achievement and reporting against
units of competency
– delivery by schools, TAFE and other Registered
Training Organisations
– mandatory work placement
• Qualifications drawn from the ICA99 Training
Package are seen by industry as providing
foundation skills

Trends in the HSC
Student enrolment in Software Design and
Development in the 2003 HSC
•Male: 3210
•Female: 346
•Females: 9.5% of candidature compared
to 13% in 2002

Trends in the HSC
Student enrolment in Information Processes
and Technology in the 2003 HSC
•Male: 6115
•Female: 2900
•Females: 32% of candidature compared to
36% in 2002

Trends in the HSC
Student enrolments VET Information
Technology in the 2003 HSC
• Males: 3667
• Females: 1612
• Females: 31% of candidature compared to
32% in 2002

Recent developments in curriculum
• Year 6 Computer Skills Test – mandatory
from 2003 for all government school
students in Year 6
• Year 10 Computing Skills Assessment –
mandatory from 2006 as part of the
School Certificate

Trends in ICT courses
• Figures from DEST show 20,268 students
started IT at university in 2003 down from
23,530 in 2002. A decrease of 14%.
• Just 4663 women started IT study at
higher education in 2003, 20% lower than
2002.

Industry trends
• In 2002, 85% of all ICT workers were
men, which is a considerably higher
proportion than that of all employed
persons (56%).
• The proportion of ICT workers who were
women changed little between 1998
(16%) and 2002 (15%).

Why are women under-represented?
• Cultural factors and sex-role stereotyping
• Way IT subjects are delivered at school
• Misunderstanding of what a career in IT
has to offer
• Limited number of role models and
mentors for females
• Sex-role stereotyping in computer games

Why are women under-represented?
• Limited use of computers by girls outside
school relative to boys
• Girls rating themselves lower than boys on
computing ability
• Girl’s perception of IT careers as solitary
and with limited in-person contact

What can teachers do?
• Introduce students to a wide variety of
computing applications in order to develop an
appreciation of the possible uses of computers
• Dispel inaccurate images of computers and IT
careers through direct experience with positive
role models
• Make explicit to students the connections
between ICT subject content and the world of
work

What can teachers do?
• Integrate computer use across the curriculum to
invite more girls into technology through a broad
range of subjects
• Communicate to students the information that
all jobs in the future will involve the use of more
and more ICT
• Challenge and critique stereotypes about gender
and ICT

Quotes
•“Businesses want to access not just
technical competence, but individuals with
competencies that can contribute to the
organisation’s strategic success and growth”
Tasmanian Arts, Communication, Information Technology, Printing, Recreation
Industry Training Advisory Board VET Plan 2002-220, p.4

Quotes
• “The emergence of new technology, new
processes and the rapid evolution of new
products and services requires new
approaches to learning and skill
development, with much more emphasis
on ‘just in time’ and ongoing training.”
Priorities outlined in IT&T Directions for Australia,
Strategic Plan 2002

Quotes
• “An ICT qualification opens doors to
virtually all industries and there are highly
creative, team-focussed and technical
careers to suit almost everyone.”
Victorian Information and Communication Technology Minister,
Marsha Thomson

Quotes
\"Many women... feel that technology is squeezing out our
human spirit and has not contributed to a better quality of
life, and that's the collective reason we need more women
in the technology industries. They provide what is currently
missing from the brain pool: diverse viewpoints in the design
and application of that technology to our society.“
Prof. Sheryle Moon, Australian WomenSpeak Conference,
26-28 August 2001

Current trends in ICT
• ICT has led to changes in work practices
• A gradual merging of home and work
environment occurring across all
industries.
• The demand for ICT skills has risen
strongly over the past decade.

Current trends in ICT
• Australia's ICT market is expected to
increase by four per cent from 2003 to
2004. CEOs, CIOs and IT heads will start
funding a technology refresh.
• Multi-skilled candidates will be in high
demand as employers look to recruit
people who have a combination of
technical skills and business acumen.

Current trends in ICT
• Around 22% of computing professionals
are women and this has changed little
over the last five years.

Careers in ICT
• IT Business Specialists
– IT Account Manager
– IT Business Analyst
– IT Consultant
– IT Trainer
– IT Writer/Documentor
• IT Management
– IT Development Manager
– IT Manager - Service, Product, Test, Operations
– IT Project Manager, Team Leader

Careers in ICT
• IT Operations
– IT Database Administrator
– IT Help Desk
– IT Network Administrator
– IT Operator
– IT Support
• IT Systems Administrator
• IT Other Occupations
• IT Systems Analysis and Design
• IT Systems Development
• IT Technical/Engineer
Source: Australian JobSearch Website

Skill demands
• Skills likely to be in demand for non-
specialist IT workers:
– Accessing and using the Internet
– Web design and maintenance
– Conducting financial transactions using the
Internet
– Maintaining web based information systems
– Database and spreadsheet management

The future?
• Skill sets in demand by industry will continue to
be dynamic and unpredictable
• Required skills on demand
• Increased demand for underpinning skills for
computer competence
• ICT is changing the way in which all business is
conducted and organisations are structured
• “Growing need to maintain skill currency…focus
on lifelong learning.”

The future?
•The speed at which new products are emerging,
and the time it takes for them to be adopted by
consumers (ie the ‘product lifecycle’) is declining.
•The Internet took only seven years to achieve the
same level of worldwide penetration that took the
telephone about 50 years to achieve.
•80% of the systems, processes, services and
products that today’s five-year-olds will
experience, and use as adults, have yet to be
thought of.

The future?
• Communications based on the Internet
will facilitate telecommuting, tele-
shopping and tele-learning.
• The Internet allows users to create
‘virtual’ or ‘cyber’ communities, members
living in different countries.
• Sensor technology will make the Internet
interactive for communication with other
people, machines and services.

The future?
• New technologies for simultaneously
translating the written and spoken word
will reduce language barriers in
communications, trade and education.
• More universities will make education
available ‘on-line’, allowing students to
choose to ‘attend’ the institution of their
choice, regardless of geography.

Finally…
• “In times of change, it
is the learners who
inherit the future.
Those who have
finished learning find
themselves equipped
to live in a world that
no longer exists.”
Eric Hoffer, Futurist