Written evidence submitted by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (DIG0001)

The Institute promotes wider social and economic progress through the advancement of information technology science and practice. As the professional membership and accreditation body for IT, we serve over 72,000 members including practitioners, businesses, academics and students, in the UK and internationally.

We accredit the computing degree courses in ninety eight universities around the UK. We were also one of the key stakeholders the DfE worked with to write the new computing curriculum that is now statutory in state maintained primary and secondary schools. BCS also partner with the DfE to recruit and train computing teachers in England.

Computing At School

Computing At School (CAS) is part of BCS. CAS is a grassroots organisation focused on developing computer science as a proper, rigorous school subject.

CAS has 21,000+ members, with new members currently joining at a rate of over 300/month. Members include school teachers, university academics, parents, school governors, members of professional societies, and IT professionals. We are supported by Google, Microsoft, ARM, Morgan Stanley, Ensoft and a range of other IT employers in the UK.

1 Summary

The three most critical digital skills gaps

We desperately need more outstanding computing graduates from our world leading universities. We estimate there is demand from industry for at least twice as many high quality computing graduates than we presently produce.
We desperately need more outstanding apprenticeships in our world leading companies. We estimate we need to increase the present number by a factor of three at least.
We also desperately need many more outstanding computing teachers in our schools. We currently have a shortfall of 2000 computing teachers in secondary school compared to 2012 levels, less than 25% of computing teachers have a computing related degree, and 40% of computing teachers received no professional development from their school last year. Providing digital skills to the population as a whole requires all schools be good at teaching computing, hence providing development to computing teachers is a top priority.
Government is trying to fix these problems, but needs to find systemic ways of continuously improving both quality and quantity for the above if they hope to succeed, and needs to ensure it provides the right leadership to enable industry, universities and schools to collaborate effectively.

Computing in UK schools is leading the world, but needs long-term support

The UK is leading the world with respect to computing education in school. As of 2014, all state maintained primary and secondary schools must teach computing to all children. The House of Lords 2015 report [1] 'Make or Break: The UK’s Digital Future' said that delivery of the new computing curriculum must be a priority for the UK to have a successful digital future.
Many other nations are now eagerly trying to catch up with the UK, and are rapidly making plans to introduce computing in their own schools. We know this because most of them have been visiting the UK and asking us for advice on how best to go about it, including South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, Denmark and many others. BCS and CAS are seen as useful organisations to consult, because we helped write the statutory computing curriculum and are now partnering with DfE to provide professional development for computing teachers.
Government is doing a lot to help introduce computing education in schools. Progress so far in the first year of the new curriculum has been good, but support needs to be sustained if the UK is to stay ahead of the game. Right now many schools are successfully introducing computing and the DfE deserves credit for giving the leadership needed to make that happen. But many schools have not started to introduce computing and many are hoping they won’t have to if they just wait long enough, because they hope it’ll turn out to be just a passing fad.
Our great start with computing in schools has to be continuously nurtured or it will soon turn into a damp squib. Over the long term we have to keep up the support for teachers that is starting to have an impact in the classroom. That support has to be maintained and if necessary expanded for at least this parliament and the next before the new computing curriculum will be successfully embedded in schools. Let’s not make the same mistake of the 1980s when computer studies was half-heartedly tried in schools and then faded away to be replaced with an ICT curriculum that didn’t meet the long-term needs of children or the nation.
The remaining section headings below are taken verbatim from the headings in the consultation announcement: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/news-parliament-2015/digital-skills-inquiry-announced-15-16/

2 The extent to which there is a digital skills gap and whether the Government’s initiatives are appropriate and sufficient to fill the gap

When we consulted leading captains of industry they told us the UK is desperately short of:

professionals who can invent new digital technologies,
professionals who can build software applications that address societal and business needs,
professionals capable of protecting our information, our digital infrastructure and our intellectual property
professionals who can maintain IT services that span continents and are critical to business operations on a global scale

Our discussions with blue-chip companies suggest in many cases about half of their best IT professionals are recruited from the UK, and they are forced to recruit the rest from overseas. This impression is reinforced by the 2013 Government commissioned report [2] ‘Technology and skills in the digital industries’, which stated the UK will need ‘300,000 recruits at Professional, Manager and Associate Professional level to fulfil growth potential and replacement needs to 2020’. This shows the extent of the demand for high quality IT professionals at all levels in industry.
In February BIS commissioned [3] Sir Nigel Shadbolt to conduct an independent review of Computer science degree accreditation and graduate employability. BCS accredits 80% of university computing degree courses in the UK. We are cooperating closely with this review as we believe the UK needs to produce far more outstanding computing graduates than it currently does, and that our degree course accreditation can help to address this problem. It is important that Government, universities, industry and BCS work closely on this issue, and that reforms to accreditation get the backing of all these key stakeholders.
In August the Prime Minister announced that by 2020 the UK will have an additional 3m apprenticeships [4]. It is essential that IT apprenticeships are aligned with the new professional IT Technician Register, in order to ensure they are of genuinely high quality, aligned to the needs of industry, and actually deliver apprentices who have the right professional skills for a long term career.
In November BIS asked Lord Sainsbury to chair a review of technical and professional education for 16- to 19-year-olds [5]. This is essential to address the lack of people going into the IT profession through apprenticeships. We believe reform to these qualifications will be a strong driver in improving the quality of apprenticeships.
When we talk to employers they stress it is vital that all students/apprentices/IT professionals are equipped with a combination of knowledge, understanding and skills. That mix gives an IT professional the ability to rapidly learn new technical skills and successfully adapt whenever disruptive technology enters the workplace, which it does at an ever increasing rate. In other words the right mix ensures the workforce is ‘future proof’.
We hope Lord Sainsbury’s review will work with the profession to identify how best to ensure technical and professional education does ensure students obtain the right knowledge, understanding and skills they will need for a successful professional career. The recommendations of the review will then need to be implemented as rapidly as possible, and with the full cooperation of all the major stakeholders from education and industry, with the support of professional bodies who operate the professional standards around apprenticeships.
The situation in schools is addressed below, since it is raised as a separate item of the consultation.
In summary for this section. The Government is reviewing the situation for higher education, for further education, and is planning to introduce many more apprenticeships. The extent of their success from now on will depend on how well they collaborate with the key stakeholders in industry, education and professional bodies to make sure their reforms can work at scale and with sufficient quality to solve these problems.

3 Further measures by Government needed to improve digital literacy

It isn’t clear from the consultation what definition the Committee is using for the term ‘digital literacy’. It has a wide range of definitions and there is no widely accepted consensus on which one is the correct one.
The Royal Society report [6] ‘Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools’ defines digital literacy as the general ability to use computers, which is a set of skills rather than a body of knowledge. The new statutory computing curriculum in England defines computing as the combination of digital literacy (as in the above meaning), Information Technology and Computer Science. Others use digital literacy to mean the whole of computing. To be on the safe side we assume the Committee means computing when they refer to digital literacy in this section.
The Government is taking meaningful steps to introduce computing into the school curriculum. Over the long term this is the most important measure for ensuring every citizen understands how digital technology works, and can make informed decisions about how IT is allowed to change the world they live in, and that as many as possible can go on to become creators of digital technology.
To make sure computing in school is a success the Government must ensure we have enough well trained computing teachers (which we don’t at present, we are short by 2000 compared to 2012), that they receive adequate professional development (which around 40% of them report they do not have), and that schools are held to account to make sure they are making every sensible effort to introduce computing (which they are not as Ofsted is unwilling to inspect how well computing is being established in school).
Apart from continuing with existing support for teachers (see Section 5), the single most effective additional measure the Government could take to make sure schools introduce computing is to request Ofsted check that there are credible plans in place to embed computing into the curriculum over the long term whenever they inspect a school. Those plans should then be used to measure the progress of a school when it receives its next inspection.

4 How well the current education system addresses the digital skills gap

Universities are not able to produce enough high quality computing graduates to meet the needs of the country. From our discussions with employers we need to at least double the number of high quality graduates just to meet the current demand.
Universities will be able to increase the output of high quality graduates if the vast majority of students leaving school already have a basic understanding of the fundamental science and engineering principles that underpin computing. When that happens universities will be able to radically raise the standard of education they provide, because their first year undergraduates will start with a much high level of knowledge in computing than at present. That means over the long term our ability as a nation to produce higher quality computer science graduates is dependent on successfully embedding computing in school.
The same situation is true for apprenticeships. A high quality apprenticeship requires the apprentice to develop the right knowledge, understanding and skills to embark on a professional career. Clearly the more knowledge and understanding they gain whilst at school the further ahead they will be when they start on an apprenticeship.
It is therefore key for the success of university degree courses and apprenticeships that we have the best possible computing education in school.
In a variety of surveys of computing schoolteachers about 25% of them say they are very confident of teaching computing. That means 75% of teachers need further professional development if we are to have a serious chance of addressing the digital skills gap long term. There is also a shortfall of around 2000 computing teachers this year compared to the 2012 level. All of which demonstrates professional development for schoolteachers is urgently required, and we need to recruit many more computing teachers as rapidly as possible.

5 What is being done to equip teachers in the classroom

The main national initiative to provide professional development for computing schoolteachers is the DfE funded Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science (known as the NoE). This is run by CAS as part of BCS, and has around £1m of funding in the current financial year. Its future funding is not yet confirmed.
The NoE is highly successful, but is very limited in its capacity. It has support from nearly 80 universities as well as from employers, such as Microsoft, Google, BT, Ensoft and others. In the first nine weeks of autumn term in 2015 the NoE provided support to 2,100 teachers, who between them teach something like 205,000 pupils. Over the previous three years it provided over 38,000 instances of professional development to teachers in primary and secondary. On average teachers receiving CPD through the NoE report their confidence in teaching computing increases by 88% (based on a score out of 10). Surveys also show that support through the NoE is more highly valued than CPD currently available through other routes (such as through commercial providers). Our surveys also show that CPD from the NoE results in improved learning in the classroom when measured a term later.
With its current capacity the NoE will take well beyond 2020 to equip teachers with even a minimum level of knowledge in computing. We estimate there should be 40 funded university regional partners in the NoE rather than the current 10. That would require £4m a year of funding rather than the current £1m.
To provide professional recognition for teachers that are equipping themselves with the skills and knowledge needed to teach the new computing curriculum BCS has introduced the BCS Certificate in Computer Science Teaching (primary and secondary). This is a useful way of demonstrating to headteachers that the standard of computing teaching in their school is exemplary, which is necessary as most headteachers have no background in computing.

6 The adequacy of the current ICT provision in schools

We assume ICT refers to the physical hardware and networking that schools have access to. We have found this varies hugely across different areas of the country, and is often inadequate. Many teachers tell us their computers are so locked down by their outsourced IT administrator they are unable to use them to teach computer programming.
At the other extreme we see some examples of schools in wealthy areas awash with new computer tablets that don’t actually improve children’s education. Computers, tablets and superfast broadband only make a difference when teachers (not just computing teachers) understand how to use these so they add real value to education, rather than being a very expensive substitute for a textbook.
According to the 2015 OECD report ‘Students, Computers and Learning’[7]: ‘even countries which have invested heavily in information and communication technologies (ICT) for education have seen no noticeable improvement in their performances in PISA results for reading, mathematics or science’. We believe this is because as yet digital technology is still not able to substitute for excellent teaching. The single most important factor in improving education in school is still the quality of the teachers in our view.
We strongly hold that teaching can be enhanced through digital technology, but only when teachers adopt the right pedagogy. For example, biology lessons on evolution could be enhanced with interactive computer simulations that allow pupils to perform virtual experiments for themselves that would not have been practicable otherwise. Say for example exploring how environmental factors affect which genetic traits could enhance the survival chances of a species.

7 The work being done by universities and industry to ensure that the computing curriculum is relevant

Universities and business (such as Microsoft, Google, BT, Morgan Stanley, Ensoft as well as many others) collaborate with CAS to provide extensive free resources to schools. For example the

QuickStart Computing project [8] provided 40,000 copies of a computing CPD toolkit to schools (funded by DfE and Microsoft) last year.
The Google funded Tenderfoot Computing project is currently developing computing resources for Key Stage 3, to be provide to all secondary schools online for free.
The BT and DfE funded Barefoot Computing project has so far run over 950 computer science workshops reaching over 10,000 primary schoolteachers. The online Barefoot resources [9] have been viewed 380,000 since September 2014.
The BBC are providing 1m free Micro:Bit programmable devices to schools in the New Year, where the teaching resources were developed in close collaboration between Microsoft and CAS Master Teachers.
Support from the Raspberry Pi foundation is enabling CAS to provide SEN computer science resources to primary schools via the Barefoot Computing website.
Morgan Stanley funded a grassroots primary school website [10] to collate exemplary teaching resources in 2014.
Around 80 universities in the UK are backing the CAS Network of Teaching Excellence (NoE), including Imperial, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge and many others.
Ten universities in England (thanks to funding from the DfE through the NoE) provided professional development to 2,000 teachers over just the first 9 weeks of the autumn term this year. Over the last three years the NoE has provided over 38,000 instances of CPD to teachers, with the support of universities in many cases.
There are also many other organisations, such as National Science Learning Centres, Code Club, TeenTech, Barclays, STEMNET and others who provide high quality teaching and learning resources to schools.

These very valuable initiatives are only effective when they can deliver resources to schools and be supported over the long term through a national infrastructure designed to support teachers, which in this case is through the NoE. Presently the NoE is the only DfE funded national network to provide CPD support to computing teachers, and is the only national scale network with extensive support from government, industry and universities.

8 The extent to which there is a digital divide and whether digital exclusion exits in the current workforce.

The BBC March 2014 survey [11] ‘Media Literacy: Understanding digital capabilities Final Report’ stated 19% of over 15 year olds did not have basic online skills. That equates to around 9.5m people in the UK aged over 15. A recent 2015 report from Go ON [12] reports that 23% of people in the UK lack at least some basic digital skill.
The Digital Taskforce report [13] in 2013 defined 4 broad bands of digital skills in the UK workforce:

Digital Muggle: 2.2 million people (7% of the workforce). No digital skills – digital technology may as well be magic.
Digital Citizen: 10.8 million people (37% of the workforce). The ability to use digital technology purposefully and confidently to communicate, find information and purchase goods/services.
Digital Worker: 13.6 million people (46% of the workforce). The ability to evaluate, configure, and use complex digital systems. Elementary programming skills such as scripting are often required for these tasks.
Digital Maker: 2.9 million people (10% of the workforce). Skills to actually build digital technology (typically software development). The Digital Maker category is interpreted quite broadly to include, at the low end, for example, workers who regularly create complex Excel macros or data files for controlling 3D printers.

This data suggests there is a significant divide between Digital Citizens and Digital Workers, which may have a significant effect on the UK’s ability to remain competitive economically over the long term given that it is predicted 90% of jobs will require more advanced digital skills beyond 2020.

9 The financial impact of the lack of basic digital skills on the economy

According the Go On 2015 report12 ‘people in work who acquire digital skills achieve a rise in earnings of between 3% and 10%. Applying these estimates to the population without Basic Digital skills that are in employment, by 2025 it is estimated that these benefits would amount to increased net earnings of £358 million per year for individuals, equivalent to a £376 increase in net earnings per trained individual per year. In addition, the government is estimated to see £243 million per year in the form of higher income tax and national insurance (NI) receipts.’
The report goes on to say that in total the benefit to the economy of ensuring all adults have basic digital skills would equate to £3b per year. Those benefits would come from increased earnings, increased tax receipts, reduced costs to the NHS and reduced costs to government services.

10 The extent of any unconscious bias in the digital/IT sector

A 2014 survey [14] by The Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion, showed that:

34.1% of those surveyed had a bias in favour of non-disabled people over disabled people.
16% of those surveyed had a bias in favour of white people over black people.
2.6% of those surveyed had a bias in favour of men over women.

The same survey shows that 67% of the British public feel uncomfortable talking to people with disability and 36% believe disabled people are not as productive as everybody else.
BCS has introduced an Unconscious Bias programme for officer roles of the BCS Branches and Specialist Groups, with the aim of making our own teams aware of unconscious bias and putting our own house in order to successfully guide others. The programme is run regionally by a team of volunteer Unconscious Bias Ambassadors [15]. We believe this type of scheme should be widely adopted by other organisations.
This year UKCES reported [16] that only 26% of those working in the digital sector are female. This is more than likely correlated to the fact only 13% of computer science graduates were women in 2014, down from 14% in 2010. That is women are not as interested as men in pursuing IT as a profession.
In order to meet the IT skills requirement, the UK cannot afford to ignore the 47% of the potential workforce who are women (there are currently 47% of the UK participating workforce who are women, though there is a greater percentage female population). To that end, we are running unconscious bias education (i.e. to ensure that our members and employer organisations recognise the need not to bring their biases to bear when recruiting people into IT roles.
Research from the University of Kansas [17] shows that the single biggest factor in encouraging more women into STEM careers is early intervention in school. The introduction of computing into schools should help to radically improve participation of women in computing, provided we ensure the curriculum is delivered in a way that is just as appealing to girls and boys in the classroom.
Universities are taking steps to address the gender imbalance through the Athena Swan initiative [18], of which almost all universities are now members. The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.
Unconscious bias will be active in the management levels of UK industry when they take assessment and promotion decisions about their IT staff. Equally, it will be active when they give out salary increases. This is obvious in the ONS reported salary gap for women software developers and coders, the 'Makers' of the previous section. At 27% pay-gap, this stands as a discouraging factor in attracting and retaining women in one of the key roles within IT and requires active monitoring and Unconscious Bias training if the UK is to find (and retain) sufficient skills in the coming decade.

11 What is the pace and change of the future digital technology landscape over the next five, 10 and 15 years? What are the leading innovations?

It is safe to say that we are currently living in a digital revolution that is only in its infancy and that long term predications on future technologies are not going to be reliable. E-commerce in the form of Amazon started in 1994, which is all of 20 years ago. Google was founded in 1998, Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006. The first smartphone appeared in 2007, all of eight years ago, and the first iPad in 2010 all of five years ago. Already tablets are regarded as old-hat by some, who believe a new generation of hybrid laptop-tablets will soon replace them. None of the technologies those companies invented were anticipated; all were disruptive.
All we can say for the future is that technology is changing at an ever more rapid pace, yet the underlying principles, concepts and techniques those technologies are built on change only slowly. For example, the Internet still operates on the same fundamental principles that were behind its 1969 predecessor ARPANET, even though particular technologies have advanced hugely in that time. In terms of thinking about digital skills for the workforce, what matters most is that they understand these principles, concepts and techniques. That understanding will enable them to adapt rapidly when new technology enters the workplace, technology that hadn’t even been invented when they were still in school.
Although it isn’t possible to know for sure what new innovations are just around the corner, there are a number of areas that do seem likely to see continued innovation. It seems likely that the Internet of Things may finally become a reality in this decade or the next. The ongoing transfer of digital services to the cloud seems highly likely to continue to expand, and Big Data will also continue to be an area of significant innovation. Machine learning has now reached a level of maturity and is entering main-stream products (most people are already familiar with voice recognition such as Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’ Cortana for example). Cyber-security is another area where innovation will remain an urgent priority for government, industry and the individual.

December 2015