Associations of computer engineers, teachers and students have started a campaign called «There is no progress without computing» so that the Government re-includes the computer science subject among its competences. And it is that the new education law, the LOMLOE, has raised blisters before the ‘removal’ of this subject of the high school curriculum.
“In the digital age, most jobs require the use of new technologies. In the subject of computer science, they not only teach you to write in a word processor, editing and programming, but also to understand how it works and to improvise digitally, something that is fundamental today”explains Pablo Urrea, web developer and software programmer at LaborFox.
Education should be vital to finding a job, and currently “many companies may be reluctant to hire new generations because they consider that they have not had adequate training”, Urrea thinks. “In the minimum education they don’t teach you how to look for a job, understand your payroll or make the income statement, and it is something that the educational system fails to do. They are constantly making changes in the way they teach, but they do not consider what is really important”.
For professionals in the sector, the suppression of the computer science subject in the new Education Law has taken place in the worst moment. According to Dell and the Institute for Future, 85% of the jobs of the future will require digital skills. The need for ICT professionals is becoming more and more evident.
A new handicap for the ICT sector
The subject of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has never been compulsory. Depending on the branch of Baccalaureate that was chosen, the student could decide to take it or not. However, the fact that it was included in the Education Law left its regulation in the hands of the Ministry, which specified, among other things, the hours that corresponded to it.
The Organic Law of Modification of the LOE does not include this subject in its writing, therefore, the competence remains in the hands of each autonomous community. They will be the ones who decide at will if this subject is among their electives.
For its part, the Ministry of Education maintains that the digital skills of students will be promoted across the board during all school years. In addition, students must take digitization and technology subjects in ESO. But will it be enough?
The subject, in the hands of the autonomies
For the associations mentioned at the beginning, that the only Baccalaureate subject related to computer science remains in the hands of the autonomous communities is a problem. The sector already has a defendant lack of talent and this decision can start a gap between the students of each community.
In addition, while the controversy erupted around the suppression of the computer science subject in the LOMLOE, the Council of Ministers has approved a new National Catalog of Professional Qualifications. This document is used as a basis for the elaboration of the educational offer of Vocational Training.
Among the new qualifications, professions closely related to new technologies and computing have been included, such as the design of graphic interfaces, interaction and user experience in digital devices; Installation and maintenance of connected devices and systems (IoT); digitization applied to the professional environment; and data management and training in Artificial Intelligence systems. All of them aimed at reinforcing training in new technologies in the Vocational Training curriculum.
Faced with the possibility of gaps or inequalities, as experts fear, what can students do to show their talent? “A candidate who cannot prove on paper that they have a skill can only do so through practice, and that is exactly what LaborFox offers, a tool to put their skill in writing and have it recognized by companies”, explains Pablo Urrea.
