Tag: BT

Home Schooling: Parents worry that children will fall behind

  • Two thirds of parents say their child’s education is more important than their job during lockdown
  • Average parent can only commit 3 hours a day to home schooling
  • A third of parents worried their children will fall behind in modern subjects they don’t feel comfortable teaching

A new study has revealed that 1 in 5 UK parents will only be able to spend up to two hours each day on home schooling their children during the current school closures, leaving them worried that youngsters will miss out on learning certain subjects.

In research commissioned by BT to launch its Code a Cake online experience, it was found that on average parents of children aged 5-11 would be able to dedicate three hours a day to home schooling, despite 66% saying that their children’s education takes priority over their job.

As parents across the country find themselves thrust into juggling full time work with full time teaching for the foreseeable future, more than a third (32%) are worried that their children will fall behind in certain subjects as no one in their household is confident enough to teach them.

Of the subjects to be cut from the domestic curricula, subjects such as computer sciences – including coding – are most likely to be scrapped first as parents weren’t taught them at school: just 24% of those questioned feel comfortable teaching IT and computer science, while coding is the subject parents feel least comfortable with (only 8% do). In comparison, the subjects parents feel most comfortable teaching at home are maths (62%), English (58%) and P.E. (43%).

BT Code a Cake is a new online experience which introduces children aged 6-11 to the art of coding through a simple baking analogy, allowing parents to teach their children coding in a simple and fun way.

Kerensa Jennings, Digital Impact Director, BT, said: “With the UK facing such extraordinary hardship, BT wants Code a Cake to play a small, yet important role in inspiring and supporting parents and children at this challenging time.

“Families need more help than ever as they try to keep their kids educated and entertained at home. Our Skills for Tomorrow initiative is here to help people make the most of technology, and we want to do our bit to help children have fun and keep on learning.”

Presenter and father, Joe Swash, who has been using BT’s Code a Cake to teach his kids coding, added: “Code a Cake has been amazing for helping me keep the boys occupied at home, it’s an even bigger bonus that they’re learning a new skill, particularly something so important such as coding.

“I am quite out of my depth when it comes to teaching digital skills, so anything that can help is invaluable. It is simple, fun, and I’m sure will come in handy for lots of parents over the coming weeks.”

More on BT’s Skills for Tomorrow initiative can be found here: bt.com/skillsfortomorrow

Code a Cake is available here: bt.com/codeacake

Strengthening cyber resilience

New action plan puts cyber-skills at the heart of learning and development

Widening awareness of cyber resilience and developing a strong pool of talent skilled in cyber security will be at heart of improving resilience to online and digital threats.

The Cyber Resilience Learning and Skills Action Plan includes key actions for education, business and the public sector to strengthen and further embed understanding of the need for cyber-security.

The aims of the action plan are to:

  • Increase cyber resilience through awareness raising and engagement
  • Explicitly embed cyber resilience throughout education and lifelong learning system
  • Increase cyber resilience at work
  • Develop the cyber security workforce to ensure that skills supply meets demand and professionals can find rewarding employment in Scotland.

The action plan was launched by Economy Secretary Keith Brown while meeting BT apprentices in Edinburgh as part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2018. He said: “This plan is a blueprint for the Scottish Government and all its partners across the public and private sectors to work together to enhance our wider understanding of cyber security.

“We want to see people across Scotland, whether in early years, school, college or the workplace, get greater opportunities to develop the skills needed to be safe and resilient in their online lives.

“The plan also sets out how we can ensure we have a strong pool of professionals able to secure our businesses, charities and public services against current and future threats, and who can develop innovative goods and services for the rest of the world.

“Supporting the development of these specialist skills will be vital to the success of other activity on cyber resilience as well as our forthcoming plan to help us to take advantage of the economic opportunities presented by our work on cyber security.”

Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: “As one of the biggest dedicated cyber security practices in the world we’re pleased to host the launch of this action plan which will help to bolster the cyber security profession in Scotland. We’re proud to be one of the first employers of cyber security apprentices in Scotland, with around 20 in Edinburgh, and more broadly we have 320 apprentices across Scotland.

“Apprentices are important to our business in providing new talent and fresh ideas. Last year we became the first-ever employer in Scotland to be awarded the highest possible marks in a review of our Modern Apprenticeship scheme by HM Inspectors.

“We’re supporting the development of digital skills for young people through our partnerships with Young Engineers and Science Clubs and Digital Xtra Fund, as well as the Barefoot Computing initiative to boost tech literacy. We urge young people to consider careers in the fast growing cyber security sector.”

SDS Director of Industry and Enterprise Networks, Gordon McGuinness, said: “We welcome the launch of the Cyber Resilience Learning and Skills Action Plan and fully support raising the awareness of cyber resilience in our schools, workplaces and beyond.

“Cyber skills are a key focus for Skills Development Scotland. We launched our Cyber Skills Programme in 2017 which is an initiative encouraging school pupils to choose fighting cybercrime as a career choice.

“Through a series of collaborative events with industry, school pupils have been able to learn more about cyber security and the many exciting career opportunities that are available in this industry.”

cyber plan