U.S. Schools Don’t Meet Computer Training Needs

Employee training and development are major priorities for many businesses. Businesses of all types and sizes need their employees and managers to be able to handle the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that come up every day.

And, because businesses are unique in terms of their objectives, priorities, processes, and cultures, it’s not typically possible to rely on the education employees received during their K–12 or higher education coursework to prepare them with the skills they’ll need on the job.

Public Schools Not Doing Enough, Says Microsoft

Software giant Microsoft believes that the American public school system isn’t doing enough to provide even a basic level of computer and technology education for companies like itself to build off of.
Microsoft, in collaboration with international research company YouGov, recently conducted a survey in which over 500 K–12 educators from around the country were asked a series of questions about classroom training for computer science and coding skills.
While the survey found that 88% of teachers agreed that computer science is very important to a student’s eventual success in the workplace, Microsoft said that only about 40% of U.S. schools offer computer science classes that include computer programming.
What’s more, 30% of teachers surveyed said they felt underqualified in their ability to help students prepare for a future in computer science or coding fields, and another 20% said they felt overwhelmed by being asked to do so.

A Role for Government?

The survey results also showed that teachers believe the government doesn’t do enough to teach these skills, but they don’t place the blame entirely with the government.
They say that big tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google—the ones that stand to benefit at an organizational level from having a workforce more highly educated in such fields—need to do more to help promote computer science and programming skills.
For its part, Microsoft says it has expanded its cooperation with school systems in recent years to do just that.