Equipping all young people with the digital skills they need to realise their potential.

By Philip Colligan, Chief Executive, Raspberry Pi Foundation

Let's be honest, we all know that digital skills aren't optional. With the pace of technological change, it is more important than ever that all young people have the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge, and mindsets to participate in and shape a world that is being transformed by increasingly powerful digital technologies, including artificial intelligence.

While computing is a core part of the curriculum for all pupils in England, the reality is that far too many young people still leave full-time education without a foundational understanding of digital technologies, the opportunities and risks that they bring, or the role that they could play in their lives. The computer science qualifications at GCSE and A level are important but, despite recent increases, they are still taken by a minority of students.

What we need is a universal qualification that ensures that all young people can demonstrate to employers and further education institutions that they are ready to thrive in a digital world.

While technology moves fast, education systems are notoriously slow. It is absolutely right that governments take time to properly think through the implications of education policy reforms and consult stakeholders. But we can and should move faster on this issue.

That's why the Raspberry Pi Foundation has teamed up with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to develop a world-leading qualification in Applied Digital Skills as part of the new Manchester Baccalaureate.

What the Applied Digital Skills qualification will cover

Our goal is to provide all young people in Greater Manchester with a broad understanding of digital technologies and how they are changing the world. We want young people to be confident users of current digital technologies and to develop the mindsets that will enable them to engage positively with new and emerging technologies. That’s why this qualification will include topics like:

• Data, information, security, and media literacy

• Artificial intelligence and how it is impacting life and work

• Critical thinking skills to analyse and evaluate one’s own and other’s uses of digital technology and their impact from a variety of perspectives

• The knowledge and skills to work individually and collaboratively with digital technology

We have already started working with education institutions and businesses in the Greater Manchester area to collaboratively develop a compelling curriculum. Over the coming months we will work with teachers and students to prototype and test that curriculum in practice. Our ambition is to launch the new qualification in time for the start of the 2025/26 school year, alongside support and training for teachers.

At a time when the new government has launched a wide-ranging curriculum review, we want to show what is possible by harnessing the world-class tech businesses and educational institutions in Greater Manchester.

To find out more, contact info@raspberrypi.org.