A new A-level in data science and artificial intelligence could be introduced by Bridget Phillipson as part of her attempts to “revitalise the school curriculum”.

The education secretary will this week receive the final recommendations from a review of the national curriculum covering the content of GCSEs, A-levels and new vocational courses called V-levels.

Professor Becky Francis, the report’s author, is understood to believe that GCSE computing should incorporate new and emerging technologies including AI.

Phillipson will accept this recommendation and go further by examining the introduction of an A-level or V-level specifically in data science and artificial intelligence.

The qualification would help young people use AI and critically evaluate its output, including spotting bias in the technology.

Phillipson is thought to believe that, while the present computer science GCSE emphasises algorithms and programming, it lacks depth in areas such as data analysis and other digital literacy skills.

She will implement changes to the course after employers recently warned that 29 per cent of job vacancies went unfilled due to the applicants’ lack of digital skills, according to the Education Policy Institute.

Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, arriving for a cabinet meeting.

Bridget Phillipson

JUSTIN NG/ALAMY

The measures will form part of a broader overhaul to science and technology education, with Phillipson poised to introduce a “triple science entitlement” — a statutory offering allowing any pupil to take biology, physics and chemistry.

Almost a tenth of schools do not teach the three subjects separately at GCSE level and the issue has been compounded by a shortage of physics teachers.

Phillipson is said to be concerned that pupils from deprived backgrounds are the least likely to take triple science. Many are forced to take combined science courses in which each discipline takes up a minimum of 30 per cent of the overall content.

The Houghton & Sunderland South MP, who was educated at a Catholic state school and later Oxford, is also minded to introduce greater “digital, financial and media literacy” within the curriculum, and an expanded offer of sports, arts and volunteering.

She has already said that she is prepared to take on the teaching unions over extracurricular activities designed to stop children being “stuck in a doom loop of detachment” from school.

A third of children at secondary school do not take part in any extracurricular activity.

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Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, is aiming for two thirds of young people to participate in some kind of higher-level learning by the age of 25.

A government source said: “Our new curriculum is geared totally towards helping kids step into the future, dealing with the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world.

“Whether we like it or not, AI is already a big part of kids’ lives, and it will be an even bigger part of their future workplace — we’re determined our young people are at the leading edge in the new world of technology emerging right before our eyes.

“Arming young people with the skills and knowledge to harness that power, including the risks, is critical both for the prospects of the next generation, and our future economy.

“It’s this government and this education secretary that is focused utterly on the future, building opportunity for all our young people and prosperity for our country.”

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