Schools are failing our kids for the future

By 2020 there will be 1m more coding jobs than students. It goes without saying that this is a huge opportunity for our young people so why aren’t our kids learning to code?

In January 2012, Michael Gove announced that the government is to scrap the teaching of the GCSE ICT curriculum in schools, with plans to replace the subject with the “rigorous” teaching of computer science and programming subjects. Gove recognised that the current curriculum doesn’t prepare students to work at the forefront of technological change and admitted that it is off-putting, demotivating and dull.

Three of my four children dropped ICT pre GCSE (the fourth is in younger years). Each described how they were taught to use business software like Exel and Word, which they simply could not see the relevance of since it’s likely that they’ll be using new software on voice activated wearable devices by the time they’re in full time work. How we could possibly have got it so wrong begs the wider question – is our entire education system out of date?

At a time when I struggle to recruit good developers who earn less than £500/day, many of whom are self taught from other countries I’m left baffled.

Schools will not be forced to follow the old ICT curriculum any more, they will be encouraged to use the phenomenal resources available on the web. The tools are free, exciting and better than most of the current educational tools out there. So, why the deafening silence? Is it all talk and no action? Is the pace of educational change still rooted in the old world?

It is vital that teachers feel confident using technology, can adapt to innovation and keep up-to-date with children who have grown up in a digital world. We don’t need teachers to show our children how to use technology, rather how to develop it. Every student in every school should have the opportunity to code. The worry is that teachers don’t currently have the knowledge and skills even to teach the basics of coding.

Gove hoped that in the cash-strapped education sector, schools would not neglect making shrewd investments in technology & training. Our sheltered teachers need to touch and feel the pace of technological change in our businesses. If companies were to open their doors and ‘adopt a teacher’ in order to train them in the ‘real’ world many of our kids may have a chance to board the rocket to the future.