A Nation of Coders?

Our world is becoming increasingly digital. It is increasenly driven by data. It is increasenly becoming aware of cybersecurity. Things…
Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash

A Nation of Coders?

Our world is becoming increasingly digital. It is increasenly driven by data. It is increasenly becoming aware of cybersecurity. Things are moving to the Cloud. Things are moving towards software. So you would be thinking that nations would be investing heavly in creating a workforce of the future, and one which could code naturally. Why not get kids coding at the earliest stage possible, and let them code within the subjects. To me, it is like the calculator in the 1980s, and where many topics changed in their adoption of electronic methods. But for computer science at school?

Well, the lastest results are out for N5 topics in Scotland, and Computer Science shows one of the largest falls of all the topics:

A fall of 2.2% is not great for a topic which should be competing the other science subjects, and especially in the opportunties for gaining employment. Subjects such as: Dance, Classical Studies, Economics, Spanish, Practical Woodworking, and Sociology all show double digit rises, which may show worrying signs that pupils are selecting subjects not for future propects for careers.

But, surely it gets better at Higher level, and where some of the less academic subjects get dropped for ones that our more focused on a future career. Well, it gets worst, and where Computer Science drops to 18th position and shows an even greater drop in the number of pupils taking the subject:

Conclusion

We need to seriously look at our digital future …

For me, I’d say:

  • Set defined standard for coding at all levels of school.
  • Setup a shared GitHub for sharing of code.
  • Setup workbook based coding at an early stage.
  • Run coding and debug on Cloud-based systems.
  • Integrate coding into other topics, and use workbooks to bring subjects alive.
  • More industry integration, especially related to careers.
  • Stop allowing schools to pick their coding examples, coding languages and environments, and move to the Cloud with a focus on one or two coding languages on one Cloud environment to develop code.
  • Focus on key topics which are important for our future, and get them into Computer Science, such as Data Science and Cybersecurity, and don’t leave them as additional topics in an all ready crowded syllubus.
  • Get rid of labs with lots of Windows desktops, and get labs of embedded devices.
  • Get every child coding!