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IT knowledge is as important as Maths, says UK.gov

So ... we should make sure nobody is any good at IT?

Digital literacy must become a core subject in schools – just like maths – in order to mitigate the effects of mass job automation, a House of Lords report has warned.

The Digital Skills Committee said the "UK is at a tipping point" in addressing its "significant digital skills shortage". It said this was particularly important as 35 per cent of UK jobs are at risk of being automated over the next 20 years.

According to the committee, the government is not doing enough to prepare the UK for the future labour market.

Baroness Morgan, chair of the committee, said from an early age digital literacy must be given as much importance as numeracy and literacy.

However, she said the committee doubted whether teachers currently have the ability to deliver relevant digital skills.

"We are concerned about the ability of teachers to deliver [the computing curriculum], with more than half of our IT teachers not having a post-A level qualification relevant to IT," she said.

"At the higher education level, there is an urgent need for industry input, so that graduates are learning job-relevant digital skills."

The report also suggests that the internet is given the same importance as any other utility, and that the government create a "digital agenda" to establish the UK as a leading digital economy within the next five years.

Morgan said: "Digital skills can no longer be dealt with by individual departments – this must all join up. We urge the new government to create a Cabinet Minister post to steer this Digital Agenda through." ®

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