Established by the IFIP President in 2022, the IFIP Task Force on ‘Sustaining relevant digital inclusive education for young people (5-18 years of age)’ has taken the work of IFIP TC3’s Zanzibar Declaration further, seeking to gain international perspectives to support organisations in moving forward with this important focus, whether they be international agencies, affiliated organisations, national societies, regional or local organisations.

The IFIP Task Force has eight members: 

  • Don Passey, Chair of the IFIP Task Force, UK; 
  • Luís Soares Barbosa, Chair of IFIP TC1, Portugal; 
  • Jo Dalvean, Deputy Chair of IP3, Australia; 
  • Admire Gwanzura, Past President of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals, South Africa; 
  • Damith Hettihewa, Past President of the Computer Society, Sri Lanka; 
  • Greg Lane, CEO of CIPS, Canada; 
  • Adesina Sodiya, President of the Computer Society, Nigeria; and 
  • A Min Tjoa, Past Honorary Secretary of IFIP, Austria. 

From wide international consultation, the initial report is supported with evidence from 22 informants spanning 16 countries and international organisations.

The IFIP Task Force has identified five key ‘sustainable success’ factors that are important when seeking to implement ‘sustained inclusive digital education’:

  • Aspiration: young people need to be more aware of the roles of those involved in IT and digital professions, with ways they can understand the potential that digital technologies can offer, in terms of future uses, education and employment, enabling them to aspire to engage and be involved in this developing field.
  • Access for all young people: positively accommodating diversity, inclusion, the digital divide and the under-represented.
  • Computational thinking and computing should be included within the curricula for young people, ensuring activities support longer-term engagement and aspiration, as a bedrock for developing practices in uses across the wider school curriculum, providing access to and understanding of the language of computing.
  • All teachers must be supported effectively in maintaining appropriate and up-to-date ways to implement activities and understanding, within and across the curriculum.
  • Long-term systemic actions and planning, as well as short-term actions and plans are required, as history informs us that continuous support and involvement is essential, so that local, regional and national governments and agencies can support successful implementation, addressing pitfalls of any concerns related to the previous four points.

The full report is accessible online: ⟨hal-04736825⟩.

The next step for the work of the IFIP Task Force is to produce national and school-based case studies that will detail and highlight design features that make sustained relevant digital inclusive education possible for young people aged 5-18.