Computing as a compulsory subject in the pre-university stages

A working group of the Spanish Computer Science Society (SCIE), coordinated by Professor Ángel Velázquez of the URJC, has prepared a report on the teaching of Computer Science in the educational stages prior to university. Experts recommend that Computer Science be a compulsory study subject in these stages.

Irene Vega

Since September 2017, the SCIE has launched a working group with the aim of developing recommendations on Computer Science education in pre-university educational stages. This team of experts is coordinated by URJC professor Ángel Velázquez, on behalf of the Association for the Development of Educational Computing (ADIE).

The last published report considers that education in the use of Informatics and its scientific bases should be approached in an integrated manner. “In this way, future students will have adequate training in the use of ICT, the so-called 'digital competence', but they will also have sufficient knowledge of its fundamentals that will serve them in the future, when current technologies have become obsolete. ”, explains the URJC professor.

Implementing these improvements in education will allow the new generations to acquire skills related to understanding new knowledge and to be better prepared for the society that surrounds them. According to Ángel Velázquez, “specifically, it would facilitate the promotion of vocations in IT, especially among women, labor integration and entrepreneurship in new technologies.

New educational subject: Computer Science

The report proposes that the introduction of this matter be specified in a compulsory subject in the stages of Primary Education, Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate. In this document, the experts collect a concrete proposal of learning results for each educational stage. "These results are organized into six areas: programming, computers and operating systems, networks and the Internet, data, content and cooperation, and security," says Ángel Velázquez, who adds that "the recommendations for Baccalaureate are individualized for each modality and also the problem of teacher training and some didactic issues are analyzed”.

For the preparation of this study, the SCIE working group has also had the support of the Coordinator of Deans and Directors of Computer Engineering (CODDII). The report is available on the websites of SAW and CODD II and in the coming months various actions will be carried out to publicize it.