Education

Greater Manchester’s MBacc: What digital skills education could look like

Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, wants Greater Manchester’s digital sector to become ‘world-class’ employing 95,000 people by 2026. Creating a Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) to guide technical education locally is central to his plans for developing highly-skilled, workplace-ready young people. But what skills will students need if they are to succeed in the digital era and how can schools teach them? John Sibbald, one of the mayor’s advisors in his MBacc planning group, thinks it is time to switch focus from teaching ‘digital skills’ to developing students ‘digital agency’ instead.

Date12/10/23

AuthorJohn Sibbald

Teachers and Industry can work together with students in a triangle of support
Photo: Katsuuu44/Flickr

I, and many others, have spent a lot of time trying to define what skills we need young people to have when they enter the modern workplace.

We know students must be able to understand and use digital tools in the same way that they need to be numerate and literate, but the answer to what we teach and how is elusive.

What are the problems?

Our computing curriculum is over a decade old and there is a disconnect between thinking in different government departments.

It’s hard to blame anyone for this.

Computing technology is fast moving with new digital tools demanding new skills appearing all the time.

Also, most teenagers do not study computing after Key Stage 3 because it is seen as a narrow career pathway and does not appeal to all.
They, their parents and teachers do not always understand the sector with all its new and emerging roles.

For these reasons, we need to switch focus from teaching ‘digital skills’ to work on developing students’ ‘digital agency.’

What is Digital Agency?

My definition of digital agency is: Digital fluency combined with the ability to apply that to real life problems.

I’m not saying do not teach digital skills or fluency (the ability to understand, use and manipulate computer hardware and software) as they are a vital to creating digital agency.

All too often students learn how to use a tool but soon forget that skill because they never apply it.

Digital Agency and Good Careers Guidance

Teaching a student how to use digital tools by applying them to solve problems embeds knowledge and accelerates the development of productive work and life skills.

Done early enough, say at KS3, that experience becomes part of good careers guidance, informing future educational, work and life choices.

What is needed to fit Digital Agency into busy curriculum at resource-tight schools?

The main problem to overcome is the gap between what skills young people learn in the class and those that industry needs for the workplace.

Students and educators need greater understanding of digital in all job sectors for this to happen.

Students should know how a digital skill or tool relates to their educational and work pathways, and teachers have to be able place that within the context of their subject.

Finally, industry needs awareness of schools’ curriculum so they can help shape it to everyone’s benefit.

How Digital Agency creates a self-supporting network between schools and business

In this triangle of support and influence between learners, educators and industry, schools designate themselves specialists in a single subject according to the strengths of their teachers’ and school resources.

They form a partnership with relevant local businesses to create a database of projects for students to take on using digital tools.

These could see maths teachers working with Deloitte for example to devise a planning and budgeting projects such as a hypothetical school prom or local media organisations helping English departments create a critical literacy project for students about fake news.

In every case, students will have to collaborate to select specialist, digital tools and apply them to solve the problem with the aid of the industry specialists.

The end result of this will be a network of schools and businesses with a wealth of shareable learning and teaching resources.

If working well, students will develop digital agency – skills and sector knowledge – and teachers will be better informed about the role of digital within their own and other subjects.

Industry input will enhance the curriculum, strengthen careers guidance and as a result, empower the nascent workforce.

How to get Digital Agency teaching off the ground

This will require buy-in from local business and schools.

Some 60 businesses have already backed the Mayor’s plans including Microsoft, Deloitte, Siemens and BBC.

Sharing their expertise will put the foundation of that triangle of support and influence in place.

What work is left to be done?

The assessment and certification aspect of this is still to be worked through.

Should it be light touch as the curriculum is already packed at KS4?

Could it be done by a panel of education, industry and assessment experts, maybe it should be assessed by teachers and moderated by experts as Project Qualifications are or with a certificate similar to AQA’s unit award scheme?

There are other options and I would welcome suggestions to help find the best way to do this.

John Sibbald is an education consultant with over 30 years’ experience teaching and leading with a focus on researching the effective use of new and emerging digital technologies in education.
In 2018 he published a Digital Talent Pipeline report for Greater Manchester Combined Authority

As part of AQi’s work, we are inviting people from a wide range of viewpoints to engage with us on a wide range of topics. We welcome alternative views to help stimulate discussion and ideas. The views of external contributors do not necessarily represent the views of AQi or AQA.

Assessment

What can this year’s GCSE entries tell us to look for in tomorrow’s results?

With GCSE Results published on 22nd August, Dr Chinwe Njoku looks into the underlying data on what subjects this year's cohort took and how this has changed from previous years.

Assessment

A-level maths students hit six figures – what’s behind its popularity?

On Thursday, more than 100,000 A-level maths students in England will find out their results – 11.4% more than last year. Why the upturn? Dr Chinwe Njoku, AQA Education Insights Lead and former maths teacher, was heartened by the news and keen to look at the story behind the data.

Education Policy

What comes after ‘urgent’ for the new Education Secretary?

After the burning issues are addressed, what should come next for the new Education Secretary?

Education Policy

Labour’s oracy plans: They need clear goals

Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to boost students’ confidence by raising the importance of speaking skills – oracy. In this previously published blog, Reza Schwitzer, AQA’s director of external affairs, applauds the ambition but warns there needs to be clear goals

Education Policy

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Public attitude data is key to effective policymaking. Proper polling can reveal what people think about existing policies and what they want for the future. But, if looked at from a different angle, it can also help policymakers question themselves and their assumptions about the public. In this blog, AQA’s Policy and Evidence Manager Adam Steedman-Thake, reveals the lessons he learned about himself while reading a recent public attitude survey.

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Briefing

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

According to the latest PISA results, England’s science scores are still on a downward trajectory that started a decade ago. Yet TIMSS, another respected study, has science performances rising. Which of them is right? Is one more valid than the other? In this blog AQi examines three International Large-Scale Assessments and finds that, although they may look the same from a distance, get up close and you’ll find they are very different beasts.

Download a PDF version.

Download a copy of this content to your device as a PDF file. We generate PDF versions for the convenience of offline reading, but we recommend sharing this link if you'd like to send it to someone else.

Greater Manchester’s MBacc: What digital skills education could look like

What are the problems?

What is Digital Agency?

Digital Agency and Good Careers Guidance

What is needed to fit Digital Agency into busy curriculum at resource-tight schools?

How Digital Agency creates a self-supporting network between schools and business

How to get Digital Agency teaching off the ground

What work is left to be done?

What can this year’s GCSE entries tell us to look for in tomorrow’s results?

A-level maths students hit six figures – what’s behind its popularity?

What comes after ‘urgent’ for the new Education Secretary?

Labour’s oracy plans: They need clear goals

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

Join the conversation on Twitter

Download a PDF version.

Sign up to our newsletter