The vast majority (70%) of British adults believe their school didn’t teach them enough digital skills, with over a third claiming they would have considered a career in cybersecurity if lessons had been more interesting, according to McAfee.
The security vendor polled 2000 UK adults and found a clear link between today’s cyber-skills crisis and the quality of IT teaching in British schools.
In total, 36% claimed they would have considered a career in IT security if they’d been inspired more by IT lessons, while a whopping 88% said they didn’t even know there was such a thing as a career in cybersecurity whilst at school.
Nick Viney, McAfee VP of consumer, argued the research findings show that fixing chronic cyber-skills shortages will take more than updating the curriculum.
“However, teachers are not to blame. Our sector needs to attract new talent but that won’t happen if the industry cannot convey the wide variety of available job opportunities or the fast-paced and challenging nature of careers,” he added.
“The view of cybersecurity needs to change at a national level. While updates to the curriculum could help plug the skills gap and inspire a new generation of cyber experts, it won’t come into effect straight away. Instead we need to foster new education models and accelerate the availability of training opportunities for all.”
Back in February, industry non-profit (ISC)² warned the UK is heading for a skills “cliff edge” if younger cybersecurity professionals can’t be encouraged to join the industry to replace older retirees.
Two-thirds of UK organizations suffer from a cybersecurity skills shortage, with 47% claiming the reason is a dearth of qualified applicants.
Although there seemed to be an uptick in interest among students when the computing GCSE was launched in 2013, growth in new students seems to have slowed in recent years: 64,159 Year 11 students registered for the computer science exam in 2017, versus 60,521 in 2016.
What’s more, standards aren’t rising either. Some 41% gained a B-grade or higher in 2017, up just slightly from 40.3% last year, but down on 2015’s 43.4%.
Despite the high salaries on offer and the possibility of working at the cutting edge of an industry constantly evolving, students continue to eschew IT security, especially girls.
Girls accounted for only 20% of the new computer science GCSE this year. That’s reflected in the survey results, with 61% of male respondents claiming they were aware of the option of a career in cybersecurity when at school, compared with just 39% of female respondents.