Sir, – Michelle McBride suggests that coding should not have to be taught in schools as it is a niche subject that may go out of fashion ("Coding in the classroom – time to call a halt to digital bandwagon", Education, September 13th). This is a mistake. Coding is the art of defining an idea clearly and logically. It is a skill that, like mathematics, lies at the foundation of human reasoning.
Every day I work with Irish university students who struggle to grasp material now featuring on the UK primary school computing curriculum. Automation is only going to increase throughout the 21st century. If we don’t teach coding, our children will be redundant. That’s the reality, and teachers need to deal with it. – Yours, etc,
Dr PHIL MAGUIRE,
Co-director, BSc in
Computational Thinking,
Maynooth University.