Why English, maths and digital skills are equally important in today's world

We are living in an increasingly digital world; hardly a day a goes by when there is not a news story on AI, ChatGPT, hacking, social media or a computer system crashing. Go to the supermarket and all the self-service tills are card only. In fact, as I write this, I’m on my way back from Liverpool where every part of my trip has been digital – from train tickets, to card payment-only hotels, to booking taxi journeys to get around the city. 

So, when we say digital skills are lacking in the UK, it is hard not to be sceptical – after all, such is the familiarity people may have with devices. However, there remains millions of people in the UK that do not have the skills to get by in this digital world – from old people who long for the days when they could use cash and visits banks in person, to those who struggle to navigate online forms or who don’t know where to start with a LinkedIn account.  

As such, these people are increasingly becoming disadvantaged in the modern world. 

Why digital is our third core skill 

Consider this – being digitally savvy allows you to access the best deals for shopping and utility bills, to access the lucrative jobs, a greater awareness on health matters, and ability to travel around more easily. Those who don’t have these skills are at risk of being left behind. 

This, I propose, is why digital skills are becoming the third core skill alongside English and maths. Indeed, way back in 2015 (think of your mobile phone 9 years ago and see how much further down the digital path we are since then!) the House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills stated children should be taught “digital literacy” as a core skill alongside maths and English.  

The report also highlighted that universities should ensure all graduates are “digitally competent” and that apprenticeships should have greater emphasis on digital skills. This report was written pre-lockdown – and with many learning routes now having a significant amount of online learning, it is even more vital that learners have these skills. 

Rightly so, English and maths are held up as crucial to being able to improve your social mobility and increasingly, the same can be said of digital skills. Digital skills will soon become a lot like English and maths, in so much that just as every student has to have a starting point in those subjects – there will be a need to assess a learner’s digital skills at the enrolment stage.  

Operating safely in the digital world 

We’re hearing more and more of colleges and apprenticeship providers putting all their learners onto a digital skills qualification to ensure they have the skills to access the course and all the resources that support it. 

There is a misconception that digital skills is an “old” persons need – that younger people are on their phone all the time and online 24/7. However, that is not the case at all. Young people may be more advanced in certain areas of digital devices, but this does not mean they have the full skills to operate safely and effectively in the digital world.  

In fact, I often hear stories about young people not being able to use keyboards in the office, confusion aplenty when they touch the screen, and nothing happens. 

Digital as a new normal in education 

When the Department for Education (DfE) brought in the new basic digital skills standards they created two qualification subject contents: the first one was essential digital skills and the second one being digital functional skills. These qualifications serve different functions – one is more focused on life digital skills, while the other is targeted at education and work digital skills. Though they both cover similar content, the key is in the detail. 

While digital skills can help people to navigate their day-to-day lives, they are also crucial in education. More and more learning encompasses digital tools or platforms, and this can create a barrier in learning to those with the digital skills to engage.  

I frequently hear about learners not engaging with learning resources or doing poorly on online assessments, and often it is not a lack of subject knowledge in the subject, but instead due to poor digital skills blocking their ability to access these platforms.  

In fact, Ofqual recently highlighted in their functional skills review that learners being forced to take online assessments rather than paper-based assessments was one of the reasons learners were unsuccessful in their attempts to achieve their qualification. 

My wishes for the future 

In life, education and work digital skills are the keys to an improved way of living – like it or not you cannot avoid it. However, too many times I hear people in education jump into talking about artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) as the solution for all the worlds ills, without thinking of the end users and whether they are skilled up enough to use them. 

We also see digital skills on every Local Skills Improvement Plan as a high need for each region – there is literally no region where it is not a priority, so in the same way we need to overcome embarrassment of our maths ability, we need to be brave to admit we could improve our digital skills. 

Maths, English and digital... let all three be considered an essential trio of core competencies and skills for individuals of all ages. 

To discover more about the work we’re doing to ensure access to digital skills for all individuals, visit our No One Left Offline homepage.