Turnbull: Coding skills 'will be almost as important as literacy and numeracy'

Australia's Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has come out in favour of teaching kids of all ages to code.

In a blogged transcript of a speech delivered last weekend, Turnbull notes that the review of the national curriculum recommended digital technologies not be taught as a discrete subject, and industry discomfort with that recommendation.

He notes that the review's authors would not “... agree with many that machine language and logic should be, for primary school students, an essential enabling skill like literacy and numeracy.” But Turnbull argues “neither have those authors suggested that important IT skills such as coding could not be incorporated into other areas of the ‘back to basics’ primary school curriculum.”

Turnbull sees teaching coding is an economic imperative, because “We now have a significant gap between the technology-driven economy we have created and the skills that are not only required to meet the current demand but also to drive future growth.”

He therefore thinks adding coding to the curriculum is a worthwhile addition because “With the current rate of technology adoption in Australia, very few primary school aged children, even at five or six, have not learnt the basics of how to use their parents’ tablet or smartphone.”

“So instead of teaching students how to be passive consumers of technology or how to use Microsoft Word or other proprietary software,” he argues “our educators should be teaching students how to create, how to code.”

The Minister also feels that “Teaching students how to code - to use computers to create rather than just consume - from Foundation through to Year 8 could be appropriately incorporated into the mathematics syllabus.”

He also feels that teaching coding will assist the skills shortage – he's chatted with Freelancer.com CEO Matt Barrie and imbibed his arguments – and therefore offered the following opinion in his speech:

“ … we need to improve the pathways for students to study IT from Foundation through to Year 12 and onto university. IT, particularly coding and computational thinking, must be given a more prominent position in the curriculum. As I have commented, this could be achieved through the maths syllabus or as a stand alone subject, but regardless it is important that we move beyond outdated discussions that focus on tech literacy and instead expose primary school-aged children to tech creation through coding.

“As a nation, we could probably do with fewer lawyers. But we absolutely need more system engineers. We need more software developers. And we need more people that not only have advanced skills in the use of proprietary software such as Microsoft Excel, but also understand how computers work.”

Turnbull feels teacher training and programs aimed at increasing participation by women are also important, and concludes by saying “Just as most students of mathematics will not become engineers or actuaries and most students of English will never write a novel, so most children who learn how to code at school will not become software developers.”

“But the training in logic and the understanding of how machines think will enable them better to engage in any and every course of life and career they pursue.”

On matters technological, Turnbull's voice is said to be loud around the Cabinet table. With the curriculum review now moving into a phase during which new curricula will be written, it will be interesting to see if his views carry weight with his colleague, education minister Christopher Pyne.

Pyne has endorsed the curriculum review's approach of ensuring the new national curriculum focuses on core subjects. There's no indication of whether that core includes computational thinking of any sort. ®