The Next Gen report, led by Ian Livingstone and Alex Hope, argued for computer science to be included in the National Curriculum to equip young people for the demands of a high tech digital world.  

Nesta, along with partners including Nominet Trust and The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) with Futurelab will now lead a digital education consortium with an initial run of two years, consisting of practical programmes to explore how technology can be used inside and outside the classroom to facilitate learning.

Announcing the new programme the Education Secretary emphasised the importance of training teachers:

 "It is vital that teachers can feel confident using technological tools and resources for their own and their pupils' benefit, both within and beyond the classroom, and can adapt to new technologies as they emerge.

"Working with the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), we will be looking at initial teacher training courses carefully in the coming year so that teachers get the skills and experience they need to use technology confidently."

Gove also announced that the Department for Education was opening a consultation on withdrawing the existing ICT curriculum from September of this year in a move to place further emphasis on computer sciences. He stressed that technology in schools would "no longer be micromanaged by Whitehall" and teachers would be given freedom over what they taught.

This week's announcements are a big win for the Next Gen campaign which has been working hard to emphasise the importance of computer programming skills alongside subjects such as maths and science in schools. 

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Find out why we need to teach our children computer science - and not just ICT.