When it comes to teaching technology in schools, things have changed little over the past two decades.
Educational experts have long complained that exam boards still rely too heavily on ensuring pupils learn skills such as basic word processing, spreadsheets and databases.
This is despite their lives and interests now revolving around the likes of smartphones and tablets leading to calls for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) lessons to focus on coding and app creation instead.
Abdul Chohan, a director at Essa Academy in Bolton, said: "We have found that a number of students code outside school and have already got apps on the App Store.
"Children today need to experience ICT skills that are in tune with their world. We are preparing them for a future that does not exist."
However, as pupils return to their schools across the UK this week, things could be about to change.
Back in January, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that he was scrapping the existing ICT curriculum.
Teachers will now be able to set their own lesson plans and work with universities, businesses and other outside bodies to devise new courses and exams that take in such skills for the future.
Mr Gove had said: "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. By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in university courses and be writing their own apps for smartphones."
The change has come, in part, as a response to last year's Livingstone-Hope review report. It called on the Government to ensure computer science was enshrined in the national curriculum and that it met the needs of creative industry employers who could go on to spur UK economic growth.
The report's co-author Ian Livingstone, one of the UK's leading games industry figures, told Yahoo! UK News he was hopeful that technology education was getting back on track.
He said: "I am very encouraged by the number of enthusiastic teachers who now wish to introduce computer science into their schools.
"ICT teaching was deadly dull, teaching children how to use technology but giving them no insight on how to create technology. It was akin to teaching them how to read but not to write.
"Teaching computer science as the fourth science could be transformational for the UK."
During their review, Livingstone-Hope found just one in five ICT teachers described themselves as 'good' at creating or modifying basic computer programs.
But while Mr Livingstone agreed with concerns that a two-tier could see only schools with enough money and expertise changing their ICT offering in the short-term, he added local businesses should be encouraged to collaborate with schools, advising on career opportunities, so those leaving school gain the skills needed for the community to thrive.
He added: "We can't afford not to do this any longer. If schools stick to the old ICT curriculum then their pupils will not learn the essential skills needed for the digital age.
"Too often schools that don't or won't innovate fail to realise the new career opportunities for their pupils. Schools will be under pressure from parents to change. They are required to publish what they teach online, so parents seeing their children just being taught office skills when children in other schools are creating technology will call for change."
Mr Livingstone said 500 secondary schools have already signed up for the Computing At Schools network, an organisation devoted to teaching computer science in collaboration with the BCS, the Charted Institute for IT.
David Clarke MBE, CEO of the BCS, said: "We believe ICT and computer science should form part of a broad and balanced curriculum. We believe that schools should be free to organise this curriculum to best meet the needs of their learners.
"If we do this successfully we will be able to give children the opportunity not only to be proficient in the use of technology but to also be creative and innovative through computing and have the opportunity to be the entrepreneurs and innovators of the future.
"There are challenges ahead including the shortage of teachers with expert computer science knowledge. However, we feel that our experience and resources mean that we are ideally placed to provide teachers with what they need to teach both digital skills and computer science."
But in a bid to spread the message, it is also being taken out of the classroom. UK innovation organisation Nesta is currently working with the Scouts to bring digital skills to its 400,000 members in Britain.
Organisations such as Young Rewired State run events to encourage the next generation of coders including a series of sessions during the summer holidays at centres around the country.
And the Raspberry Pi simple mini computer has been designed primarily for young people to help them understand the technology that lies behind computing, encourage the design of programs and software in the same way the BBC Micro did in the 1980s.
Tom Kenyon, education director for Nesta, said: "We hope that the imminent changes to the national curriculum will inspire a new generation of 'digital makers' who are able to use technology to shape the world we live in.
"There is an urgency to make sure young people have the key digital skills required to keep the UK globally competitive now and well into the future."
