Coding to be part of school syllabus
JAN O’Sullivan has called for coding to be added as a Leaving Cert subject.
The Minister for Education said the curriculum needs to reflect the critical thinking and creative thinking skills encouraged and developed in coding.
The subject is needed to meet the demand for technology workers, she said, and it will enable students to develop the skills to continue at third level.
EDUCATION Minister Jan O’Sullivan has called for a new subject in coding to be developed for the Leaving Cert.
As schools around the country take part in the Hour of Code during Computer Science Week, Ms O’Sullivan said the subject is needed to meet the demands for technology workers.
Speaking at the Call For Code competition held in Google HQ yesterday, she said: ‘I have asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to develop a programme for senior cycle where computer programming would be part of the curriculum for the Leaving Cert.
‘The kind of skills we want to nurture are logical thinking, creative thinking, thinking outside the box, gathering and reorganising information.
‘These are areas within the education system in general that we need to develop; we need to ensure young people have those opportunities and that’s why we’re working on reforming the curriculum and offering greater opportunities through the digital strategy and specifically in this area.
‘In the economy in general there is huge demand for ICT workers and for people who have the kind of thinking skills that are encouraged and developed in coding.’
This comes after multinationals such as Microsoft and sector experts such as Excited – the Digital learning movement – have called for coding to be a subject on the school curriculum. Last week Microsoft chief Cathriona Hallahan told the Mail Irish schools are ‘way behind’ when it comes to embedding technology in the school syllabus, and Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly warned multinational tech firms ‘will go elsewhere’ if our school curriculum does not equip children with adequate skills in computing.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny encouraged children to engage in extra-curricular coding activities, stating the school syllabus was already overburdened.
But in a pre-election pledge yesterday, Labour Minister O’Sullivan told the Mail: ‘I think coding is a very big part of young peoples’ lives, they’re doing it all the time outside of school, they’re engaging with technology in quite a deep way.’
‘I think schools have to recognise that we have more and more demand in the economy for people who have these qualifications, who are ICT experts.
‘The only way we are going to bring them up through the higher education system is if we give them the opportunities while they are in school.’
The minister said the computer programming subject would be optional.
Earlier this year the department announced a multi-million digital strategy for schools, but came under fire when the plans for a possible ICT course did not include a commitment to including coding or to see it as a stand alone subject.
Galway TD and founder of the Excited Movement Ciaran Cannon welcomed the announcement of the new subject last night, saying: ‘The NCCA is our engine for developing new subjects and the Minister has now charged them with beginning that process, it’s fantastic but we need to keep that momentum going now.’
A recent study has shown that more than half of Irish people think computer coding should be taught in primary and secondary schools.
An optional short course in coding has already been made available to secondary school students as part of the new Junior Cycle. Over 500 schools, youth clubs and businesses around the country have already signed up to take part in the Hour of Code this week.
Irish schools are ‘way behind’