This article was written by Derek Blunt, for his new regular column in Digital Education, To put it Bluntly.

I have a problem: the numbers don’t stack up. According to Lottie Dexter, Director of the Year of Code, teachers can learn how to code in a day. (See her on Newsnight, being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, at 6 minutes 15 seconds – below).

We are often told that teachers take ages to learn anything to do with computers, while kids pick it up instantly. So, allowing for a bit of exaggeration, if it takes teachers a day to learn how to code, what would it take kids? Half a day, maybe? That equates to three one hour lessons. If the timetable features Computing for an hour a week, that means kids will learn how to code in three weeks.

What are they going to do for the rest of their school career?

Derek Blunt: Blunt by name, blunt by nature.

That video:

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