By the end of Key Stage 4, all pupils should develop efficient and effective ICT-based solutions to a range of problems, both for themselves and for others to use. Pupils should become discerning in their choice of ICT tools and information sources and be able to act on feedback when critically evaluating and developing ICT solutions. They should use ICT in a safe, responsible and secure way.
The interrelated knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils need in ICT increasingly relate to the design and implementation of systems to solve problems.
- Knowledge: Pupils should be aware of the range of ICT systems for communication and data handling, as well as automation processes, and know the correct terminology, such as search terms. They should know how personal information can be abused and what safeguards can be implemented to help prevent such abuse. They should also know about the moral, social, legal and ethical issues related to the use of ICT, and be able to apply these in their solutions, for example in listing all secondary sources used.
- Skills: Pupils need to take forward the ICT skills they have already acquired to help them design, implement, test and evaluate ICT systems that address identified user needs. They should also be able to incorporate into their designs appropriate validation checks, a range of automated features, such as sequenced coded instructions or templates, and subsystems to extend and develop functionality.
- Understanding: Pupils need to understand concepts that help them to research, plan, design, implement and evaluate an information system through a number of stages in which user feedback and testing are incorporated. These stages include comprehensively identifying user needs and determining the input–process–output characteristics of their solutions and the need for efficiency and safety. Pupils should understand how to make detailed comparisons of different approaches to the problem and judge which is the most appropriate; for example, comparing web technologies against database structures or programming against a spreadsheet. Pupils should also understand how to evaluate their system's performance against the specified requirements and identify modifications where appropriate.
