Our schools teach children to read printed books and write with a pen and paper — yet most of their working lives will depend on digital literacy as much as the old-fashioned kind.

For the next two years, teachers have the freedom to decide how to teach Information and Communication Technology, following a shock announcement by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

He scrapped the current ICT curriculum from September, describing it as “demotivating and dull” and saying it would be replaced in 2014 by a “flexible curriculum in computer science and programming.”.

He wants children to learn to create technology, rather than just consuming it.

He 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 using an MIT tool called Scratch.

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

During the two-year gap while the new curriculum is developed, ICT remains compulsory, with schools still required to teach it to pupils at all key stages, but teachers having flexibility to decide what to teach.

A fierce debate has ensued about the new framework for learning, designed to equip students for IT jobs and ensure the UK’s future competitiveness, rather than teach office skills.

The move is supported by Ian Livingstone, co-founder of the Games Workshop, who argued the British video gaming and visual effects industry was losing its edge, in part because the curriculum focused on office skills rather than programming.

Other experts, including the British Computer Society and ICT professional association Naace, agreed the old curriculum was dull and unsatisfactory.

Some respondents to a 2008 e-Skills study said that GCSE ICT was “so harmful, boring and/or irrelevant it should simply be scrapped”.

Now the way is open for private industry to help fill the gap. Companies such as Microsoft and Google and Cambridge University are working with technology education organisations such as the British Computer Society to produce free materials for schools. More are expected to follow.

US company Computer Xplorers has been offering to teach coding, programming and animation to children as young as three since 1984.

Founded by mothers Karen Marshall and Mary Rogers as Computertots, it expanded rapidly through franchising, and is now owned by US franchise giant Iced.

Several Oxfordshire schools already offer Computer Xplorers after-school clubs managed by Cotswolds franchisee Fran Greenaway and now a major expansion is planned, spearheaded by Deborah Trujillo-Philippopoulos, a mother-of-two from Wendlebury, near Bicester.

She said: “Many adults think skills like computer programming are terribly complex and difficult but they really don't have to be. That is why it is important to introduce children to age-appropriate software where they can find their feet, explore the possibilities and stretch themselves at an early age.

“Building a computer game can be just as much fun as playing one — and you learn a whole lot of transferable skills in the process.”

Before having children — a seven-month-old baby and a five-year-old — Ms Trujillo-Philippopoulos ran her own event-management business. She thought long and hard before taking the franchise.

“I was looking for something where I could work from home and I wanted something that was dealing with children and people-oriented, getting me out of the house. I was attracted by the feeling that I could make a difference to children's lives.”

As well as investing her own money, she has hired a nanny.

“That means it has to work,” she said.

“We invested in it heavily by paying the franchise fee. You have to pay the instructors as well, so it is a lot of cost until money comes in from the classes.”

She is the 17th UK franchisee, and met several colleagues to see how the classes work. “I was impressed by how the kids seemed to be having fun, asking questions and it was nice to see what they were doing on the computer.

“The important thing is that it is not a piece of software where you just let them get on with it. There is a whole curriculum and the role of the instructor is to facilitate that. “Children can choose different options and make their own designs, while working as a team.”

She added: “Most schools already teach ICT but they concentrate on core skills: how to use office software and keyboarding. Those aren't the fun things. Children love to build their own video games and learn to programme.

“They can do news-making, story-telling or how to programme a robot, or launch a rocket. It's all linked into National Curriculum targets in science, maths, literacy, etc.”

She is currently talking to Oxfordshire schools about the scheme and recruiting instructors for after-school clubs, pre-schools and special school days.