by With a general election underway there seems to be at least one consensus emerging from both main political parties – something needs to be done about the digital skills of young people.
Demand for IT competence is increasing across all industries and businesses as the digital economy touches the real world. But secondary school pupils currently get around an hour of computer lessons a week and can drop the subject at 14.
There are many voices demanding compulsory IT classes. A recent House of Lords committee report recommends a wide-ranging overhaul of the curriculum to prepare students for a digital future and introduce a basic digital literacy qualification.
The government’s response has not gone that far but acknowledges that there are barriers to teaching digital skills in the current computing curriculum, including the teaching time available. It appears to be leaning towards a greater focus on digital skills in key stage 3 and says it is “working with schools and other experts on this important subject”.
Labor, meanwhile, says teaching digital skills and navigating online platforms is “out of step with young people’s lives”.
It points to “huge gaps” in the technical skills needed in certain sectors such as green technology, life sciences, digital and creative industries, where there are large numbers of unfilled vacancies. If elected, he promises a “full, expert-led review of curriculum and assessment” which will seek to deliver innovative reform and “embed digital, speech and life skills” in children’s learning.
Signs of a tightening of the status quo will be welcomed by many, especially industry, businesses and public services that are crying out for recruits with basic digital skills, as well as more specialized IT skills, solving complex problems. and communication ability.
“Kids should be touch typing and learning their times tables and practicing handwriting”
Becky Patel, head of education and learning, TechSheCan
The lack of digital skills among a generation of young people known as “digital natives” is strange. But research shows that their ubiquitous use of iPads and smartphones is essentially passive. A study by the London School of Economics, for example, found that only a minority of young people were engaged in creative digital opportunities, such as producing their own content.
In the many conversations Becky Patel has had with school children about what they want to do, no one has ever said: “Becky, I want to be a software engineer.”
“They don’t know that’s a thing,” says Patel, head of education and learning at TechSheCan, which campaigns for women and girls to be equally involved in creating and developing new technology businesses, products and services. “They name jobs that people wear uniforms for or their parents do. Young people rarely ask how digital technology really works, who made their devices and what jobs are behind it.”
Patel wants to see computing compulsory all the way through school and to raise its status to match maths and writing.
“Kids should be touch typing and learning their times tables and practicing handwriting,” she says.
According to Katherine Bond, PwC’s head of technology degree apprenticeships, the computing taught in schools has not kept up with advances in the real world.
“It’s hard for the curriculum to keep up with the pace of technological development,” she says. “For example, cyber security as a subject is missing but that is a huge growth area in technology, and we have apprenticeships that are specific to that. We know that there would be a lot more young people who would be interested in it, but they don’t have as much understanding of it because they’ve never touched it at school before.”
GCSE computer science has those shortcomings, St Paul’s Girls’ School in west London does not offer it. Instead, the school has designed its own qualification in computer science and creative technologies that stretches and motivates students and is externally moderated.
Sarah Fletcher, headmaster of St Paul’s for Girls, wants a major rethink of the whole secondary school assessment regime and says: “We have a fundamental duty to look at what’s happening in the digital world. When you look across the country at key stage 3 information technology (IT) and key stage 4 computing and computing, very few children are doing it. In our system, students can stop doing anything related to technology at age 14. How is that okay?”
Beyond the school curriculum, further education and specialist colleges in London are working hard to tackle the technology skills gap and help teenagers understand the different opportunities available to them.
A new technical college in Lambeth, part of South Bank Colleges, for example, is encouraging young people with a professional and technical curriculum in an excellent working environment.
The Ada National College for Digital Skills (named after Ada Lovelace, the 19th century mathematician considered to be the first computer programmer) was established in 2016 with the remit of bridging the digital skills gap and educating the first another generation of diverse digital talent.
Teenagers study computing alongside A-levels, with input from industry partners including Deloitte, Bank of America, King and Salesforce.
Its new campus in Victoria serves around 300 sixth-year students and learners on digital degree apprenticeship programmes.
“Technology is everywhere: healthcare, banking, green energy, education. With AI technology, it really applies to all areas,” said Ada’s sixth-year principal, Tina Götschi. “We want to change the situation regarding digital skills education; it’s a great field to get into and you don’t need to have a background in computing to go on to study or do an apprenticeship in a digital field.”
One of the myths about technology that Götschi is keen to dispel is that it’s all about coding. “Not everyone is coding all the time,” she says. “Obviously all our students learn to code but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be software developers. Some will do technology consulting or go into cyber or creative fields like games. There are so many opportunities for great careers.”
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