OCR chief executive Jill Duffy has warned that young people are leaving school without fundamental digital skills in a “significant omission from the current curriculum”, at a speech this week. 

Delivering a keynote address at the Festival of Computing on Wednesday 2 July, Jill Duffy called for the government-commissioned Curriculum and Assessment Review to recommend the addition of vital life skills like digital literacy to the curriculum. 

She said that although this generation has grown up with digital devices, employers have warned that the digital skills needed for the modern workplace are not always developed to the extent needed. However, she added that digital literacy is broader than the skills required for office work. 

Jill Duffy, Chief Executive of OCR, said: “Digital literacy should also equip young people with the skills they need to stay safe online. 

“Other key areas like recognising misinformation, using social media in a respectful and safe way, and engaging with AI confidently and ethically must also be considered key elements of young people’s education.”  

She noted the success of Computer Science for those who want more in-depth digital skills, but added that all students require the fundamentals. She said: “Computer Science itself has been a growing success thanks to the hard work of teachers – giving young people the skills to thrive in many fast-growing industries. But as a country we have been neglecting the fundamentals that are needed by everyone, no matter where they end up working.”

However, she warned that adding this to the curriculum would require streamlining the curriculum elsewhere. She said: “Curriculums are already overloaded, especially at GCSE. This, combined with an over-reliance on exams at 16, means there is simply not enough space to give students these broader life skills they want to be learning in school.” 

Calling for greater support for teachers to deliver a broader curriculum, Jill Duffy said: “Teachers need to be given the time, space and resources to deliver these vital skills.

“Only then can we be sure that our young people will be fully prepared to meet the new age of technological advances, as critical thinkers and competent users of whatever future technologies they may encounter.”

Jill drew on research and consultations carried out by OCR for its Striking the Balance report. Consulting over 2,000 students and teachers, the report found widespread demand for a broader curriculum that included more life skills, such as digital literacy, financial literacy and climate education. 

That report also called for a reduction in the volume and intensity of exams at 16, and in the size of the GCSE curriculum, to give teachers more time to deliver this richer education.