The majority of parents are not aware of a radical overhaul of the national curriculum that will see children as young as five learn to create their own computer programs, according to a poll.
It also suggests that many mums and dads are worried that they will not be able to help their youngsters with homework in the subject, and would like to be able to improve their skills so they can do so.
The new national curriculum is being introduced into schools in England from this week, as millions of children across the country return to classrooms for the start of the new academic year.
Under the shake-up, the subject of computing is replacing information and communication technology (ICT).
It will see infants taught how to write and develop their own computer programs as well as learn how to store and retrieve data. Between the ages of 11 and 14 students will be taught coding, and how to solve computer problems.
The new poll of around 2,000 parents, commissioned by O2, found that nearly two thirds (64%) of mums and dads said they were not aware that the ICT curriculum was changing, while one in three (33%) said they were "not confident" about being able to help their children with homework in the revamped subject.
Around 65% said they would not be able to create and debug simple programs, 63% said they were not confident or had no idea what algorithms are and how they are implemented and 32% were not sure about using technology to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content. These are all topics that five to seven-year-olds will be taught.
More than seven in 10 (72%) of those surveyed said that they would like help to improve their digital skills so that they can help their son or daughter with their computing homework.
O2 chief executive Ronan Dunne said: "A new computing curriculum fit for the 21st century is a step in the right direction for young people. Young people are brilliant. They are brave, ambitious and possess native digital talent that we need to nurture.
"Much is already being done across the UK to nurture that talent, but a greater emphasis must be applied to the support network to allow them to put their digital expertise to practical use.
"Simply put, more needs to be done to help parents get to grips with the fast-changing world of digital technology."
:: The online survey questioned 2,000 UK parents with at least one child aged five to 18 in May.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/parents-unaware-computer-changes-230405622.html
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