Young people considering a career in the tech sector need some exposure to coding and other IT skills teaching in school.
The recovery is under way. Green shoots have blossomed and people are getting back to work. Traditional industries have started to recruit again, the multi-national tech sector is showing renewed confidence in Ireland as a quality location, and start-ups are scouting for talent to get off the ground. This is echoed by the World Economic Forum which tells us we are at the beginning of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, and technology is clearly the driver. No one goes to work without rubbing shoulders with technology; every job is effectively a digital job. Is our education system ready for this?
We know that Ireland needs 44,500 additional computing professionals by 2018 (ICT Skills Action Plan, DJEI). Initiatives by stakeholders like Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Computer Society have helped to attract more students to 3rd level computing courses, but many students drop out soon after starting. So what are we doing wrong?
Maybe our efforts to attract students to ICT courses are drawing in the wrong students? Without any formal exposure to ICT in secondary school, students’ understanding of technology is as consumers, not creators or developers. Students love their technology are very tech-aware and confident in its use, but it’s like magic, without explanation of what makes it tick, and of the underlying code instructing their charmed devices to entertain them. Therefore, when we dangle courses and careers in technology in front of students, many bite and enrol in programmes which disappoint them. Girls don’t bite at all, perhaps unaware that Computing is more than coding and that communication, creativity and design are equally important elements of the discipline. These students miss the comfortable environment of the familiar Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. The demands hit home with the realisation that all things worthwhile require moving out of the comfort zone and embracing new challenges.
Contrast this with a student considering one of the other professions. If a student opts for nursing, they have a fair idea of what they will study in college, and the subjects will be familiar. Likewise for law, architecture, accountancy. Why can’t we give students a flavour of what a college course and possible career in technology might be like so that the right students fill those extra 3rd level places that the government is pledging to meet our significant need for Computing Professionals in the next few years?
Today’s youth are often hailed as ‘Digital Natives’, suggesting that they can instinctively master all digital technologies and devices, and yes, using Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, gaming and voraciously consuming online content are digital lifestyle skills that seem to come easier to young people. Yet can we say that young people inherently possess the digital workplace skills needed to realise their full potential as learners, employees, entrepreneurs and active citizens?
The European Commission forecasts that 90% of jobs will require at least basic digital skills by 2020, but this fallacy of the “Digital Native” means that essential, transversal skills such as problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking, required by every young person, regardless of career or life path, are being omitted from school offerings.
These are essential life skills, akin to reading and writing, but equally critical are computing skills, computational thinking, coding, data analysis, cloud computing etc. and these must be experienced by students in school.
Don’t blame schools and teachers, constrained by curriculum, exams and a slow reform cycle. What we can do is to encourage, celebrate and reward the champion teachers in primary and secondary schools who embrace technology and provide their students with an innovative style of education. The Irish Computer Society is the representative body for IT Professionals, and acknowledges curriculum overload and the onus on schools to solve every social problem, from road safety to global warming. It has created an integrated syllabus for primary schools which enables teachers to teach the fundamentals of ICT, coding, media, communications and user skills, while they are teaching the prescribed curriculum. This programme, CLISTE, provides a scheme of work, ready to go lesson plans and copious resources for teachers to make implementation easy.
Likewise at second level, the ICS Computing Curriculum provides Junior Cert short course content with teacher guidelines and student workbooks in Computational Thinking, Digital Media and Micro-Controllers. Initiatives like this can bring about change in an informal way, supporting teachers who are the drivers of reform and innovation. Their professional development needs must also be addressed, at both pre-service and in-service points, and through communities of practice, in which the professional bodies, NGO’s and industry can play a supporting role.
Should Computing be a Leaving Cert subject? Perhaps, but I would advise caution before adding such a crucial area to a system that is clearly under review. Technology is so fast-changing it could suffer from being appended to an examination system that doesn’t evolve quickly. A better approach might be to give space to and capitalise on initiatives to promote technology in school based projects. Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Computer Society and Engineers Ireland all engage thousands of students every year in projects like the BT Young Scientist, Tech Week and the Formula 1 in Schools Technology Challenge.
Mary's Musings 