Really good to see the ‘popular’ media actually talking about ICT education in schools and, indeed, the real need for our young people to get a passion for creating software. Alex Hope, who co-authored the New Gen report into the subject, wants Coding to be the new Latin. Roray Cellan Jones – the Tech correspondent from the BBC – said that this could be a ‘great slogan for the campaign’. Not quite so sure of that! Latin was a real turn off for me at school. But coding was something I took to like a duck to water.
Today, a whole range of companies from Microsoft to Google joined the campaign to change the way ICT was taught in schools. The emphasis should change from teaching people how to use ‘Office-type’ programmes – ‘pressing buttons’ - to actually engendering an interest in coding. So the result of the student’ studies is not a Powerpoint presentation with embedded video but an App. How great would that be!
Many other commentators have listed the ‘greats’ who were coders in their teens at school. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Mark Zuckerberg among many. Just think what this country might achieve if this campaign was successful.