Sir, – Irish teachers have consistently identified a lack of access to computers and lack of training as the main barriers to integrating the use of computers in the classroom.
It is encouraging therefore to see Minister for Education Richard Bruton planning to implement the Unesco ICT Competency Framework (teacher training), implementing the Digital Strategy for Schools (published last year), and starting to deliver the long-promised grants for schools to replace old computers.
The inclusion of coding in the curriculum is merely a populist distraction. We do not need a nation of 12-year-old children being able to use a coding language that will soon be defunct. We need a nation of problem-solvers, critical thinkers and creators.
Technology in the classroom has an important role to play in bringing these skills to our young people.
Focusing on its role in teaching coding is like using an axe to sharpen a pencil. – Yours, etc,
STEVEN DALY,
Camara Education,
Chapelizod
Industrial Estate,
Dublin 20.