A digital skills challenge will be free to schools across Australia in order to plug a critical gap in teaching and attract thousands of students needed as future technology professionals. 

According to the Tech Council of Australia, Australia requires an additional 286,000 workers and 12,000 students to enter the sector by 2025 to keep up with the tech demand. 

Backed by Amazon Web Services, Telstra, Accenture and Commonwealth Bank, Grok Academy launched the Digital Technologies Applied Challenges project at the EduTech conference in Melbourne. 

“Teachers do need help,” Grok Academy Chief Executive Dr James Curran said. 

“A child could come in knowing more than the teachers and that’s a bit confronting.” 

Dr Curran said federal, state and territory education officials needed to do more, but the tech industry could develop real-world content to get students thinking and designing, all the while providing support to teachers. 

“Design thinking, user interface and user experience, cloud computing, data analytics – they’re all huge areas in their own right that teachers don’t know much about, and that kids are going to enjoy learning,” he said. 

The challenge to teach digital skills aligns with the school curriculum from year 5 to years 9 and 10 and could get parents thinking about supporting a career in tech for their child. 

“It’s a challenge of the modern era that kids need to deal with, starting at school,” Dr Curran said. 

He expects many state, independent and Catholic schools to participate. 

Using a similar model, the academy’s cyber project has had more than 200,000 enrolments since it was launched in 2019. 

Not to be confused with tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ investment vehicle Grok Ventures, Grok Academy is a charity focused on computer education. 

The word “grok” was coined in the 1960s by a science fiction writer and adopted within tech to mean understanding thoroughly and with empathy, and experiencing joy in technology. 

 With AAP

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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