Teaching practices aside, the idea of scouting for young talent could go a long way to preventing the most dire ICT skills shortage Australia has ever seen.

As the report rightly alludes, many young people may be shying away from a career in IT because it's not as attractive as medicine or merchant banking - all the more reason for the entire industry, not just the government, to better market the virtues of a tech career.

Furthermore, encouraging school leavers and higher-education students to participate in work experience programs should, at the very least, open the gates to a steady stream of more suitable prospects.

I know at least two very talented software developers who left full-time study to pursue their own contract programming interests.

Not to mention the significant number of techies lured overseas by large, fleet-footed, Internet companies.