The Digital Schoolhouse programme for teaching digital concepts to children has completed its first successful year.
The initiative provides classes with a free day of workshops designed to teach the concepts of computing in a creative manner to introduce relevant topics in a way that’s easily understandable to children.
Shahneila Saeed, programme director for Digital Schoolhouse in London, told Computer Weekly the programme is as much about assisting teachers as it is teaching pupils.
“Some of them have this kit – it’s sitting in a cupboard because they don’t know how to use it. They leave the sessions full of ideas,” she said.
Since the introduction of the computer science curriculum in September 2014, children in the UK are required to learn computing from the ages of five to 16.
But with schools unprepared for the launch, many teachers had insufficient skills and struggled with the changes.
“Each school has to have someone who is confident in this and at the moment that’s not the case,” said Saeed. “Our job is to demystify it, because none of it is as complicated as it seems.”
The programme was originally aimed at groups of pupils aged nine to 11, but teachers wanted to include children as young as six.
“Some of them have this kit – it’s sitting in a cupboard because they don’t know how to use it. They leave the sessions full of ideas,” she said.
Since the introduction of the computer science curriculum in September 2014, children in the UK are required to learn computing from the ages of five to 16.
But with schools unprepared for the launch, many teachers had insufficient skills and struggled with the changes.
“Each school has to have someone who is confident in this and at the moment that’s not the case,” said Saeed. “Our job is to demystify it, because none of it is as complicated as it seems.”
The programme was originally aimed at groups of pupils aged nine to 11, but teachers wanted to include children as young as six.