Starting in September 2014, children will learn about algorithms and programming. The curriculum faced opposition from teachers when it was announced in July. Chris Keates, leader of the Nast teachers' union, called it an "ideological crusade", while the National Union of Teachers' deputy leader, Kevin Courtney, said it was written by "government advisers and officials, not teachers".  The business body for the IT industry, BCS, is setting up a training network to make teachers have the right skills and knowledge for the new curriculum. It hopes that it will have the infrastructure to train 16,000 teachers by 2016.  But the body admitted that the task is a tough one. Bill Mitchell, director of education at BCS, told CNBC that the "biggest challenge" is getting enough teachers trained to carry out the curriculum.  (Read More: Why you might want to start speaking in code)  Codecademy is another company providing materials and courses to teach teachers about computing.  It claims the new curriculum will be help the U.K. become a world leader in technology and computing helping to boost the internet economy in Britain which is expected to be value at £221 billion ($358 billion) by 2016.  "A long time ago people thought, 'why would you need to learn to type?' But could you imagine anyone now working without knowing how to type?" Leng Lee, head of operations at Codecademy, told CNBC.  "So much of our lives are based around computers and technology. We are living more online and the production of these services is going to rely on people who know how technology works. It is only going to give us a chance to get further ahead."
Children as young as five will begin learning computer coding next year as part of a shake-up of the U.K.'s national curriculum.