Digital education as a core part of the curriculum

To enhance Ireland’s skills and competences for the digital era, opportunities to learn basic digital skills must be provided from an early age. These include computing education, along with comprehensive knowledge and understanding of data-intensive technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). CS curricula are being introduced in education systems throughout the world, offering young people the opportunity to move away from being passive users of computers to becoming designers and to developing a deep understanding of how technology works.

While young people are often assumed to be ‘digital natives’ who can pick up computer skills with ease, our research indicates this is not the case. While students have a high level of access to smart technologies, teachers report that their technical use and understanding of computers is much lower, with

This research shows:

students struggling to even turn on a computer or use a mouse. To address this, teachers say that digital education needs to be introduced at an earlier age. The research also raises questions in relation to equity of access, with male-female ratio of 78:22 among students who studied CS for Leaving Certificate in 2022.

CS needs to be integrated across all levels in our formal education system. We need to articulate and implement a strategy for the integration of CS through the continuum from primary school to Senior Cycle. We need to make space in the curriculum to include foundational CS concepts in order to develop these key skills, and provide the resources to develop a curriculum that prepares students fully for the digital future.

While young people have good smart technology knowledge, their technical use and understanding of computers is much lower

Only 15.6% of Irish Schools offer Computer Science at Leaving Certificate level

Of this, only 22% of girls studied CS at Leaving Certificate level in 2022

One of the main barriers is the lack of qualified teachers with 34 recorded in August 2022 compared to over 3,000 PE teachers