Estonia to teach programming in schools from age 6



With the launch of the Raspberry Pi, computers are becoming affordable again for the younger generations. Now what we need is kids learning about computers in greater detail, including what the hardware is inside the box, and how to create rather than just use software.

Estonia looks to be the pace setter in this regard, and has just announced that it is introducing computer programming learning for all children attending school. By all, I mean from Grades 1 through to 12, meaning children as young as 6 will be writing their own code and producing software.

The program is called “ProgeTiiger” and is being introduced by the Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation as a pilot scheme to some Estonian schools this year. Next year the program will expand alongside adding programming groups for older kids who want to carry on activities outside of the classroom. Eventually it looks as though ProgeTiiger will become just another standard part of the curriculum, just like math and language studies are.

Although young children will no doubt be started off with very simple computational tasks, the goal is to get them creating web and mobile applications. By doing so, Estonia is equipping future generations with the necessary skills to go directly into programming and software development roles–areas that are seeing growing demand for new talent. However, such skills will be of use whatever they choose as a career due to computers becoming an ever more common part of our day-to-day lives.

Adding programming as a standard part of a child’s education makes a lot of sense. Not only does it add new skills as part of a their learning, but it supports other subjects as programming typically requires the use of math and logic.

We won’t see the real results of this decision by Estonia for a few years, but it’s certainly a positive step in my view, and one I hope other countries will copy.

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