Move over geography and history – it’s all about coding right now.
Coding has replaced those two subjects in Australia’s new digital technologies curriculum, which was endorsed by education ministers on Friday.
According to The Australian, this ensures that 21st century computer coding will be taught in primary schools from Year 5, and programming will be taught from Year 7.
This is part of a slimmed-down national curriculum that was granted approval by Education Minister Christopher Pyne in one of his last acts before he was sworn in as Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science later this morning.
When the world is increasingly data-driven, the focus on coding and science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects in schools from a primary level seems obvious. Kids are learning to read on iPads these days, after all.
We need to prepare our future children for the jobs and economies of the future. After all, an increasingly amount of jobs will be taken over by robots within the next 20 years.
The Australian government will pump $12 million into four separate STEM initiatives: the development of innovative maths curriculum, the introduction of computer coding, a P-TECH-style school pilot site, and the funding of summer schools for STEM students from underrepresented groups.
Of course, this means that teachers get more instruction on STEM during initial teacher training.
Australia’s new curriculum mirrors the successful programs that were implemented in the United States, like “Hour of Code” and Code.org which were also supported by Google and Microsoft.The UK also introduced coding in their curriculum for primary schools last year.
What does this all mean for you? Well, if you’re in the market to improve your skill set, learning to code should be your next career move. You know, just so that you can keep up with the kids…
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