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The Digital Future Nobody Is Planning For
For many years the talk of the town has been how digital is in and anything else should be left in the past. But how prepared is everyone for this digital world? Not very according to recent studies and publications. In a number of articles on The Conversation it is reported that “a recent report from the Foundation of Young Australians said that between 60-70% of our students are being educated in jobs that won’t exist by the time they graduate” . For all the talk about the digital world and digital future, nobody is being prepared for the digital jobs and therefore the digital literacy that comes with those jobs.
Literacy is at the heart of this issue as Stewart Riddle, senior lecturer at USQ and contributor to The Conversation says “low literacy levels have a significant impact on the health, education and employment opportunities of workers and are connected to lower salaries, lower employment rates, poor health and housing, crime and poverty”. The effect not just on seniors who do not know how to use the internet, but on workers who will need to retrain and primary school students who have no real idea of what jobs will be available in 15 years time is huge.
“The increasing importance of digital literacy can no longer be overlooked, with the FYA report claiming that over 50% of Australian workers will need to: ‘be able to use, configure or build digital systems in the next 2 – 3 years’.” Skills that have long been known to be specific to information technology degrees and knowledge that is not considered vital parts of school curriculum is quickly becoming a subject to be taught beside core subjects like maths and English.
This is echoed in a post by IT, HR, Marketing & Accounting recruitment Ashdown Group when they report that “being digitally proficient is just as important as being well versed in maths and English, according to BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT … the organisation has warned that unless people are equipped with the digital skills required for employment or future training, new entrants to the jobs market will struggle to find roles”.
ProBono Australia wrote on their website that the CEO of The Foundation for Young Australians Jan Owen was very concerned about their reports finding and that Owen “said young people need to to be provided with a different skill-set that focuses on digital literacy”.This study shows scarily how although for years the media has talked a lot about the digital revolution there has been no real change to how we prepare those who will have to find work in 10 or 20 years time.
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Hi Louise,
The point you are making here is so true. We keep learning about lots of things, which also includes lot about digital literacy but that learning is not preparing anyone to get job in future. Yes, technology is such a field in which new things comes in every now and then, but if we do not look at the basics before starting to learn about advance technology I don’t think it will be much fruitful. At the same instance, if we skip the basics and be much focused on the new topics again it will be difficult for the learners to catch up. What I believe is, both type of literacy is needed simultaneously. Rather than being much focused on theoretical aspect, practical approach of literacy should be followed which will further help people to get job after they graduate!
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