Digital literacy demand spikes as IT enrolments drop
đź”— [SYSTEM UPDATE] Link found. Timestamp incremented on 2025-11-26 13:55:13.Leading agencies are concerned that Australians lack basic digital literacy skills. Should these skills be taught in the same way as numeracy and literacy to meet the increasing demands of a digital workforce?
By JAMAL HADDOU,
education editor
Leading agencies are concerned with the digital literacy of Australians as IT enrolments plummet.
In the past decade the number of Australians studying information technology has fallen by up to 60 per cent.
While involvement in the technology industry decreases, digital skills are becoming increasingly important.
The Foundation for Young Australians recently released the New Basics report which highlights the workplace skills that are increasingly in demand.
The organisation analysed more than four million job ads for three years and found the demand for digital literacy had increased more than any other skill.
The demand for digital literacy spiked 212 per cent in junior and entry level jobs. This skill was followed by critical thinking, creativity and presentation skills.
With increasing demand, employers are also willing to pay higher salaries for digitally literate workers.
According to the report, more than half of Australian employees will be required to be able to configure or build digital systems in the next two to five years.
The report also revealed that 90 per cent of Australia’s workforce needs to be able to use technology to communicate, find information and transact.
Monash University digital education expert Professor Neil Selwyn said he was dissatisfied with the way technology was being taught in schools
“If you look at how coding is taught in primary schools now, the teachers are struggling because they don’t have the skills themselves,” he said.
“Computation thinking is being taught in primary schools and often involves card games rather than actually using technology.”
Prof Selwyn said he thought technology should be focused more on higher levels of education.
“The primary school curriculum is so crowded already and there’s the danger that we're piling things on to primary schools and they have not got the time or space or expertise to do it,” he said.
“It should be a compulsory part of secondary schools and degrees. Every university student should have a module in coding, whether they are a philosophy student or a physics student.”
According to the latest Digital Pulse report, 100,000 IT workers are needed over the next five years for Australia to compete in the international digital economy.
Digitally literate workers, managers and entrepreneurs are also in demand for rapidly changing skilled occupations.
Improving digital literacy will be an important part of facilitating Australia’s transitional economy according to Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull.
Looking forward, Prof Selwyn said technology education should prepare students to be responsible digital citizens and not just competitive employees.
“It’s really important for people to think about issues like privacy, security and surveillance, ethics and the morals of using technology … but unfortunately that’s the stuff that has disappeared form schools in the past 10 years to make way for more technical forms of digital skills,” he said.
