Zizi Sparks: Careers in the creative sector should be encouraged

Children are accessing technology earlier than before, making careers in the digital sector a given. Photo / File

OPINION

The way children learn has changed.

And so different industries have boomed too.

Twenty years ago we couldn't have imagined people making careers out of being gamers or developing games.

Yet the creative sector injects $17.5 billion into the country's GDP and supports 131,000 jobs.

And last week we reported it was evolving at pace and heavyweights were calling for more Government funding.

While it may be easy to say children spend too long looking at screens these days or rely on devices too much, times are changing whether we like it or not.

Roles in the creative sector are multiplying and viable and we should embrace them.

And Otumoetai College principal Russell Gordon says there has been an increase in the uptake of creative courses but "an alarming shortfall of technology teachers".

NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says creative technologies present a whole new
pathway of employment and education.

It seems to me there is no such thing as digital learning anymore, it is just learning.

I've heard more than once that a large portion of children in primary school today will go on to careers and jobs that don't even exist yet.

It's hard to comprehend but in a time when technology is evolving rapidly, we should expect the creative sector - which encompasses game development, animation, design and performing arts - to boom too.

Teenagers are already making money out of short videos on TikTok or streaming on Twitch — platforms that didn't even exist when I was at school.

It is terrifying to think children not yet old enough to drive, are streaming themselves and their friends online and making money off of it.

So while we should be encouraging children into roles in the creative sector and pumping money into the growing area, we should also ensure children know how to be safe while exploring these new fields.

In New Zealand digital technology has been introduced into the curriculum, yet only 400 of 35,000 teachers can teach it. I don't know what the subject entails but we should ensure it touches on online safety.

I think we should embrace the creative sector and teach digital technology to all ages but we should also ensure online safety is part of that.