Over 2016-2017 Deloitte Centre for the Edge collaborated with Geelong Grammar School to run a national series of roundtables where we unpacked the common catchphrase “everyone should learn how to code” as we have noticed that there was no consensus on what ‘coding’ was, and it seemed to represent an aspiration more than a skill. We felt that the community had jumped from observation (digital technology is becoming increasingly important) to prescription (everyone should learn how to code) without considering what problem we actually wanted to solve.
What we found from the roundtables was interesting. First, yes, everyone should learn how to code a little, mainly to demystify it. Coding and computers are seen as something of a black art, and that shouldn’t be the case. A short compulsory coding course would also expose students to a skill and career that they might not have otherwise considered. However, the bigger problem lurking behind the catchphrase was the inability for many workers to productively engage with the technology. Many of us suffer from learned helplessness, where we’ve learnt that we need to use digital tools in particular ways to solve particular problems, and if we deviate from this then all manner of things go wrong. This needs to change.
The result of the roundtables were written up and published but Deloitte and Geelong Grammar School.