Lessons in coding for 40 secondary schools this year
STUDENTS at around 40 secondary schools across the country will start studying coding this year, the Education Minister is set to announce today.
Richard Bruton will this morning detail plans which will see pupils begin studies for Leaving Certificate Computer Science in September.
They will become the first to sit a Leaving Cert exam in the subject in 2020. Announcing the introduction of the subject, Minister Bruton will say: ‘There is a digital revolution taking place which is having a transformative effect on our economy, workplace, and lifestyle. In order to be the best in Europe, our education system must respond to these changes.’
Mr Bruton will say the new subject ‘will teach our young people flexible, solution-orientated thinking’, adding: ‘It will teach them to be creative, adaptable learners.’
Towards the end of 2016, it was announced that students would finally be able to study coding – or computer programming – for the Leaving Cert after an Irish Daily Mail campaign to get the subject taught in all classrooms.
It came amid warnings that Ireland faces 45,000 vacant jobs in the tech sector over the next six years due to a skills shortage.
Mr Bruton has previously pledged that coding would be introduced at primary level also. Its introduction as a Leaving Cert subject is part of the Government’s commitment to bring digital technology into teaching.
The course is set to focus on how programming and computational thinking can be applied to the solution of problems, and how computing technology impacts the world around us.
The Department of Education will publish a list of participating schools today.