E-SKILLS AT SCHOOL. ECDL The international standard for digital skills

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1 E-SKILLS AT SCHOOL ECDL The international standard for digital skills

2 INTRODUCTION Computing education today is in danger of becoming fixated on coding. This trend might leave young people without the skills they will need to progress in school, further studies, and work. The fallacy of digital natives, born with all the knowledge they need to use computers safely and effectively, risks creating a new digital divide and leaving many young people without vital skills for all areas of life....computing and digital literacy skills should be taught together Computing and Digital Literacy Call for a Holistic Approach, ECDL Foundation After extensive research, we ve released a new position paper, exploring digital education and suggesting a direction that equips all school students with all necessary digital skills, as well as reinforcing computer science in schools.

3 WHY IS A DIGITAL EDUCATION IMPORTANT? We live in the age of the digital native, or so many would have us believe. But what does the term really mean? Can someone truly pick up digital skills intuitively? Does this mean that there is no need to teach young people how to use computers? We don t think so. This idea of digital natives is a dangerous fallacy that risks leaving young people without the competences they need for the workplace, and risks leaving businesses without the skilled employees they need. In an age when ICT skills are essential in almost any job, studies have repeatedly shown that young people have serious gaps in their knowledge of workplace ICT. We think a digital education is crucial to avoid a new digital divide between those with digital skills and those without. 45% of Australian students surveyed were only rudimentary users of ICT Just 7% of year olds in a study in Austria had very good computer skills Source: Beyond natives and immigrants: exploring types of net generation students, 2010, G. Kennedy et al Source: OCG, Computer Skills Austria 2014

4 WHAT NEEDS TO BE PART OF A DIGITAL EDUCATION? If a digital education is vital, how should we teach it? Debates about coding in schools, what digital literacy means, and how we can teach computer science, are well under-way. We believe that fundamental digital literacy should be the foundation of a strong digital education. COMPUTER SCIENCE / COMPUTING DIGITAL LITERACY Coding/programming Algorithims Data structures Architecture Communication Word processing Spreadsheets Internet search Web browsing Digital literacy and computing are not mutually exclusive. Just like all school students are taught basic science and have the opportunity to go on to study at a more advanced level, we think that every pupil should have an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of basic computing, introducing the academic discipline. This should be done together with the basic ICT skills developed from the very beginning of a student s digital education.

5 E-SKILLS AT SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD United States United Kingdom Lithuania Hong Kong There are many examples of teaching coding around the world. UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) Schools in England teach computer science as a discipline from the primary school level. Coding forms part of the discipline, not a separate subject, and digital literacy skills are developed as part of the curriculum, providing the basis for other subjects. BBC Learning will distribute a BBC Micro:bit computer to every year old student in late The credit-card sized device has programmable buttons, LEDs, a Bluetooth connection and several sensors. HONG KONG Coding has been integrated into the curriculum in several schools, and is available as an after-school activity in some learning centres. UNITED STATES The Hour of Code campaign provides free beginners tutorials and educational resources to students and teachers in the US. The campaign was led by large tech companies, including Facebook, Google and Apple. LITHUANIA Starting in 2004, the Bebras coding competition for school students in Lithuania has grown to have more than 500,000 participants in 26 countries.

6 A UNIFIED APPROACH TO E-SKILLS AT SCHOOL WE NEED A COMPREHENSIVE DIGITAL EDUCATION FOR EVERY SCHOOL PUPIL. WHEN DIGITAL SKILLS ARE BECOMING EVER MORE CRUCIAL TO ALL AREAS OF LIFE, FROM WORK AND LEARNING, TO SOCIAL INCLUSION, THERE CAN BE NO EXCUSE FOR LEAVING ANYONE BEHIND. With that comprehensive education, we also need to make sure that it is joined-up: digital literacy should be a fundamental part of a digital education, alongside computing. The traditional elements of computer science should be made available to all students, giving them a chance to develop an interest in the discipline. ECDL Foundation is actively working to provide solutions for the classroom, and is present in many schools across Europe. We are actively engaged in exploring how to define the relevant essential skills and knowledge in the area of computing in a way that complements the acquisition of digital literacy. Progressive Digital Skills Development in Education Online Essentials Computer Essentials Word Processing Presentation Computing Online Collaboration IT Security Mulitmedia Web Editing Spreadsheets Image Editing Robotics Early School Years Final School Years

7 ABOUT ECDL FOUNDATION ECDL Foundation is an international organisation dedicated to raising digital competence standards in the workforce, education and society. Our certification programmes, delivered through an active network in more than 100 countries, enable individuals and organisations to assess, build and certify their competence in the use of computers and digital tools to the globally-recognised ECDL standard, known as ICDL worldwide. As a nonprofit social enterprise ECDL Foundation (ICDL Foundation) benefits from the unique support of experts from national computer societies and partners worldwide to develop vendor-independent standards which define the skills and knowledge required to use digital technology effectively. We work with education and training partners, local and regional authorities, national governments, international development organisations as well as public and private sector employers in all sectors, in the delivery of our programmes.

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