Comments on: Another one bites the dust: How schools can improve the digital skills gender gap http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/industry/blog/education/2019/07/22/schools-digital-skills-gender-gap/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 09:52:21 +0000 hourly 1 By: Emma Oxley http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/industry/blog/education/2019/07/22/schools-digital-skills-gender-gap/comment-page-1/#comment-3084 Tue, 08 Oct 2019 09:52:21 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/industry/blog/?p=15009#comment-3084 In reply to Paul Bendall.

Couldn’t agree more, Paul.
Our Digital Skills programme is designed to nurture young people’s passion for computer science and prepare them with the fundamental skills they’ll need to succeed in the future of work. The resources on the site are freely available to all and there are lots of activities on there which can be used in after school clubs to generate energy and excitement around computer science. Highly recommend the Maker Champions courses on the Discover tab.
http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/athome/digitalskills/

]]> By: Paul Bendall http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/industry/blog/education/2019/07/22/schools-digital-skills-gender-gap/comment-page-1/#comment-3072 Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:59:24 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-gb/industry/blog/?p=15009#comment-3072 An insightful article that goes beyond the norm to explore why girls are not wanting to go down the Computer Science path. A clash of timetabling would not be something many would have thought of as a reason. But within your article is the suggestion of a bigger problem, Computer Science isn’t seen as important enough, with the digital skills gap growing (both boys and girls) we need to rethink how we promote & teach Computer Science. Maybe it needs to be seen as a mandatory course alongside English, Math and a Science? Rather than a second or dare I say third-tier optional course.

Do we have enough of the right people teaching Computer Science with passion and creativity? My experience of local schools and colleges is that they really struggle to even fill Computer Science and IT posts let alone trying to attract the high calibre individuals who are passionate and dynamic (yes I know this is a generalisation and exceptions exist.

As an industry we need to be doing more in schools, outside of school, with small local business along with government initiatives. After school clubs run by people, preferably, women, in the IT industry with access to modern working computers and software. People who are passionate, knowledgeable, dynamic have experience or training for teaching, training, facilitating. IT and Computer Science is fun, it teaches you a diverse range of skills not just coding, but things like team working, logical thinking, critical thinking, patients, leadership, problem solving, etc… We need to get out there and do as much as we can to share the experience

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