Contemporary issue or trend in New Zealand or internationally

Identifying the trend

According to the NZ Herald, Computer Science was already introduced in NZ Secondary Schools in 201. The Conversation, 2015, puts forward that coding is a growing trend as the United Kingdom, Estonia and  some states in the USA have already introduced it in primary schools, and the Australian Labour Party wants it in every Primary and Secondary School.  According to Code.org, 32 states in the USA, allows Computer Science to count towards High School requirements in Maths and Science. Most recently, the process has also just started in NZ to include digital technology in the curriculum.

Why teach coding?

According to Edutopia: Coding in the classroom: A long-overdue inclusion,

• reading and writing code is the new literacy as it prepares students for a technical revolutions that spans cultures and language boundaries and it is a way of thinking about problem-solving.
• it is a tool to improve educational equity as it exposes computer science to students in lower socioeconomic groups that would otherwise miss out opportunities this provides.
• it offers inclusion as students on the autism spectrum can be better prepared for the workplace.
• It can improve neuroplasticity as children who acquired a second or third language, even a computer language, showed functional changes in the inferior parietal cortex.
• It improves STEM proficiencies. LiveScience  reported in 2014 that the USA, UK and Germany will have a shortage of workers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields by 2020.

NZ need to prepare students to fill this market. An article in the NZ Herald quoted John Straker, founder and CEO of Straker Translation, saying that he sees the gap growing between what kids are learning and where the world is going.

Why am I interested in Coding? and  Benefits to the Education system.

I started teaching when typewriters were the popular technological invention, so over the years, keeping up with technological advancements in education has been essential to stay relevant in education. Now that we are preparing students for 21st Century learning and have started teaching in Innovative Learning Spaces, the benefits of Coding seems to tick many of the boxes.

Code.org’s curriculum overview list the skills that will be developed through coding:

• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Persistence
• Problem Solving

These are 21st century skills we all need to develop in our students.

As a complete novice in computer science, I have offered Scratch as an elective in 2016 and it connected with many of my students, including students who are below National Standards in Reading, Writing and Mathematics.   As I researched trends in Education, I felt a stirring in my belly - usually felt when I get excited - when I started reading about coding. I am aware that coding is offered as part of my current study program and I enjoyed the time we spent on exploring Scratch, but my time and attention was occupied by other topics. This reflection helped me to see coding as another step towards staying relevant to educating today’s and tomorrow’s children.

Possible response of my local community

According to code.org 90% of parents in the USA want their child to study computer science. I believe that our parent community will have a similar view, and our students will love it. The main obstacle I foresee is the current workload and focus of staff to get their heads around teaching collaboratively in an ILS. That is already taking up a lot of time, energy and mental space, so I don’t expect everyone to be excited about coding just because I am.

However, once Digital Technology becomes part of the curriculum in the near future, as recently announced, and it becomes a priority, coding will be embraced by most staff members. Hopefully, we would all be more comfortable teaching in an ILE and have the headspace to take on another challenge.