The teaching of digital skills in schools should be regarded as equally important as lessons in numeracy and literacy, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The study by the House of Lords digital skills committee calls for a radical rethink of education and says digital literacy should be treated as a third core subject. It also says the internet should be regarded as a utility on a par with water or electricity, in order to ensure unimpeded access for all.
The report says urgent action is required to support teachers who are currently not equipped to deliver the new computing curriculum, and insists no child should leave school without basic digital literacy.
An estimated 9.5 million people currently lack a minimum level of digital skills and the report warns the UK risks becoming “a branch economy, much less prosperous and influential” if it doesn’t pursue a digital agenda.
The cross-party committee also raises concerns about the lack of women in digital studies, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which it says is holding back UK competitiveness. Of 4,000 students doing computer science A-level, fewer than 100 were girls.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton, chair of the Lords digital skills committee and a former chair of Ofsted, warned that 35% of UK jobs were likely to be automated over the next 20 years, and said the report was a wake-up call to whoever forms the next government.
“While we welcome the introduction of the computing curriculum, we are concerned about the ability of teachers to deliver it – with more than half of our IT teachers not having a post-A level qualification relevant to IT.
“At the higher education level, there is an urgent need for industry input, so that graduates are learning job-relevant digital skills.”
The Labour peer added that it was unacceptable that in some areas as many as 20% of the population has never used the internet.
“Our overwhelming recommendation is that the incoming government creates a digital agenda, with the goal of securing the UK’s place as a leading digital economy within the next five years.”
She added: “We are at a make-or-break point for the future of the UK – for its economy, its workforce and its people. We have a choice as a country about whether we seize this opportunity or whether we fall behind.”
