Microsoft says schools are not making the most of the technology skills that teenagers are picking up and teaching themselves at home.

A survey by the company found 82% of 16-18-year-olds in education used Facebook daily but this use of technology is not matched in school.

Just one in five students use social networking sites to work together on studies and a massive 71% of teenagers say they’ve learnt more about information technology outside of school than in ICT classes.

Steve Beswick, Microsoft’s director of education, says students need to leave school or college with “appropriate skills” in information technology to benefit and compete in the jobs market.

He told the BETT Show for educational technology in London that the extensive use of technology outside of education shows the potential that young people have to develop the required skills.

Beswick urged schools to look at how young people use popular websites, such as Facebook, to understand how ICT could be taught in a way that engages teenagers.

He also claimed that the skills used for social networking could be applied to other tasks and online communities could be set up to share ideas on subjects.

Cloud computing was also discussed at the show, with Beswick arguing the case for providers offering online services and support that would remove the need for schools to have their own servers and software.

This ties in with Microsoft’s unveiling of an educational version of Office 365 suite this week. The service will give US schools access to hosted Office services and a licensed version of Office software.

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