CODING AND

COMPUTATIONAL
THINKING
What is the Evidence?

education.nsw.gov.au
About the research team About the Australian Computing Academy

James Curran is an Associate Professor in the School The University of Sydney leads the Australian
of Information Technologies, University of Sydney. Computing Academy to provide the intellectual,
He is Director of the National Computer Science technical, and practical leadership needed to fulfil
School (NCSS), the largest computer science school the ambitious goals of the Australian Curriculum:
outreach program in Australia. Last year, over 10,000 Digital Technologies. This includes working directly
students and teachers participated in the 5-week with jurisdictions and systems as they implement the
NCSS Challenge. James is a co-founder of Grok Digital Technologies curriculum. For more information
Learning, an Edtech startup that aims to teach about the Academy please visit aca.edu.au.
children everywhere how to code. He was a writer
on the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies,
the new national computing curriculum. In 2014, Australian Computing Academy
James was named ICT Leader of the Year by the ICT
A/Prof James R. Curran
Educators of NSW and the Australian Council for
A/Prof Karsten A. Schulz
Computers in Education.
Amanda Hogan
Karsten Schulz is an Associate Professor in the
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies
School of Information Technologies, University of The University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Sydney. Karsten has a PhD in Computer Science and A/Prof James R. Curran
a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering with a focus Phone: (02) 9036 6037 / 0431 013 320
on Software Engineering. For 10 years, Karsten led [email protected]
aca.edu.au
the research division of a large multi-national ICT
company in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region
and between 2013 and 2016 he led the national
Digital Careers Program. In 2010, Karsten created
the Young ICT Explorers Competition and in 2014
he founded the Bebras Australia Computational
Thinking Challenge which is part of the international
Bebras Challenge.

Amanda Hogan is the current president of ICT

Educators NSW which is the professional association
for computing teachers in NSW. She is a secondary
Computing Teacher at Tara Anglican School for Girls.
She has come to teaching after working in the IT
industry most recently at Microsoft Australia. Amanda
is an active tutor and content creator in the Girls’ © State of New South Wales (Department
of Education), 2019. Education for a Changing
Programming Network Sydney Chapter. She runs the
World is an initiative of the NSW Department
Maths, Coding and Robotics clubs at school and is
of Education. The project aims to stimulate
a keen programmable electronics hobbyist. In 2015, informed discussions about the policies and
Amanda was named ICT Teacher of the Year by the reforms that we may need to set in motion now
ICT Educators of NSW. to ensure education best prepares young people
to successfully navigate a more complex world.
As part of this initiatve the Department has
commissioned this report. The views expressed
are solely those of the authors.

2
Table of Contents
Introduction 5
Overview5
About this report 5

Part 1: Defining computational thinking and coding in Australian education contexts  6

Computational thinking 6
Coding7
Digital Technologies Curricula in Australia and NSW 7
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies 7
NSW Syllabus 8

Part 2: The Australian and global contexts: The increasing importance of

computational thinking and coding  9
Historical context 9
Australian perspective 9
Global perspective 9
Relating historical success factors to the present 10
Appropriate programming language tools and resources 10
Proper use of computers 11
Purposeful context that students can identify with 11
Teacher competence and confidence  12
Summary 12
The tertiary sector and the IT industry  13
Dot-com boom (and bust) 13
University enrolment trends 14
Jobs15
Summary17
European Union policy analysis 17
Student assessment 18
Implementation in national curricula  18
Implementation framework 18
International case studies  21
Estonia 21
Finland 22
United Kingdom 22
South Korea 24
Summary 24

3
Part 3: Implications for teaching and learning 25
Implications for teaching and teacher professional development 25
Professional development of teachers in computational thinking in Australia 26
Unpacking the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies 26
Resources 27
Train the trainer 27
Online courses 28
Supporting disadvantaged schools 28
Professional development of teachers in coding and computational thinking in the US 28
Professional development of teachers in coding and computational thinking in England 29
Lessons for Australia 29
Implications for student learning outcomes 30
Pedagogy30
The role of computers and laptops 30
Measuring computational thinking  35
Interpretation  37
Key themes for future consideration 39

Bibliography 41

4
Introduction

Overview • Summary of best-practice for teaching coding

and computational thinking effectively
This report has been commissioned by the
to students including the use of learning
NSW Department of Education's Education for
progressions, technology tools and programs,
a Changing World initiative. It investigates the
unplugged activities and other resources. We
available evidence on the teaching of coding and
also summarise the range of resources already
computational thinking for student outcomes
available in Australia to support the digital
and explores and critiques what works in the
technologies curriculum and
implementation of coding and computational
thinking within an educational context. • Summary of state, national and international
efforts in providing teachers with support and
About this report professional development for teaching coding
This report addresses the following areas, and computational thinking, the small number
summarising the relevant research literature and of teachers with existing coding skills.
evidence base as available:
This report is intentionally broad, rather than narrow
• Definitions of coding, computational thinking and technical, in order to provide a comprehensive
and related computing terminology, especially overview of the aspects to be considered in
with respect to the Australian Curriculum: formulating (i) a strategic vision for teaching coding
Digital Technologies, the Australian Curriculum: and computational thinking in NSW public schools
Information and Communication Technology and (ii) in light of the report’s target audience of
(ICT) Capability, and current and soon to be policymakers, school leaders and non-specialists.
implemented NSW Education Standards The report concludes with proposed areas for future
Authority (NESA) syllabi consideration.

• Analysis of the history of coding and

computational thinking in the classrooms dating
back to the 1970s. Reflection on the momentum
(or hype) surrounding coding and computational
thinking with reference to Australian and
international job projections, and the use of
coding across careers and learning areas

• Analysis of evolving computing curricula

internationally and the place of the Australian
Curriculum and NSW syllabi within that

• Discussion of the learning outcomes (both

learning-area specific and general capability) of
teaching coding and computational thinking to
all students across both digital technologies and
integrated into other curriculum areas

5
Part 1: Defining computational thinking and coding in
Australian education contexts

In schooling contexts, coding and computational problem-solving, computer algorithms

thinking are taught in subjects such as digital
can be used to reflect on, and pose
technologies, computer science, informatics,
computer programming, robotics, information and
solutions to, complex real-world
software technology, information processes and scenarios such as data sorting, without
technology and software design. For the purpose of which databases would not work
this report we will primarily use the contemporary and therefore search engines such as
Australian term digital technologies. When referring
Google could not exist.
to an historical or international context, we will use
the US term computer science.
At the core of the computational thinking approach
Computational thinking sits the belief that a solution to a problem can be
obtained by a repeated cycling over the problem.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Each cycle results in incremental solutions that,
Reporting Authority (ACARA) defines computational
fed back into the solution process produce a slow
thinking as a “problem-solving method that
shift, eventually leading to a solution to the original
involves various techniques and strategies
problem. This is a fundamental difference between
that can be implemented by digital systems.
the computational thinking approach and all other
Techniques and strategies may include
thinking approaches presently taught at school.
organising data logically, breaking down
problems into parts, defining abstract concepts
and designing and using algorithms, patterns
and models” (ACARA Glossary).

In defining computational thinking, the NSW

Education Standards Authority (NESA) refers to
the work of Jeannette Wing (2010, p. 1) and defines
computational thinking as “the thought processes
involved in formulating problems and their
solutions so that the solutions are represented in
a form that can be effectively carried out by an
information-processing agent."

Contrary to the scientific/mathematical

approach to problem-solving, in which
a solution to a problem is generally
expressed as an integrated formula, a
computational-algorithmic solution to
a problem involves a sequence of steps.
Due to this step-by-step response to

6
Coding As will be explored throughout this report, there is no
established consensus if and to what extent learning
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies does coding influences the development of higher-order
not define coding and only refers to programming computational thinking. According to Mohaghegh
in the context of object-oriented, visual or general- & McCauley (2016) and Grover (2013) learning
purpose text programming (ACARA Glossary). with programming languages such as Scratch,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) App
 enerally, coding is an activity that
G
Inventor, Kodu and Alice can help primary school
converts a piece of information from students rapidly construct working programs and
one representation into another. In apps. Mohaghegh & McCauley argue that while this
contrast, computer programming is the is “advantageous in learning programming skills, the
degree of conceptual knowledge obtained through
process of designing, writing, testing,
using these tools can be questioned, specifically to
debugging, and maintaining the source what extent students learn computational thinking
code of computer programs. skills” (2016, p. 1527). Rather than simply learning the
syntax of a language, Grover (2013) advocates for a
Historically, coding was simply seen as the last
focus on solution construction and exploration of
step to writing a computer program based on the
why some solutions are more effective than others.
specifications of a designer - usually a computer
Grover suggests this approach allows young students’
architect. This approach to coding has since been
learning ability and creativity to be developed
replaced by an iterative approach where a rapid
alongside computational thinking skills.
succession of design-implement-debug-test phases
leads to a solution. Increasingly, the designer of Digital Technologies Curricula in
a computer program is also responsible for its Australia and NSW
implementation, debugging and testing. Coding has
therefore become a synonym for programming. The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies

Coding is done through the use of programming The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies is
languages. A programming language is needed a new national subject within the Technologies
to translate a human representation such as a learning area. The subject is mandatory from
flowchart, text or pseudocode into a representation Foundation (Kindergarten in NSW) to Year 8, with
that a computer can understand and execute. elective offerings following for Year 9/10 students.
Popular programming languages currently include Digital technologies was endorsed on 18 September
Python, JavaScript and C/C++. Generations of 2015 by the Education Council, with jurisdictions
computer scientists have developed abstraction committing to implementing the curriculum from
layers, frameworks, libraries and programming 2016.
languages to streamline programming. Historically,
The digital technologies curriculum includes
the early computer engineers had to move wires
fundamental ideas from the academic disciplines
to program a loop in binary that would instruct the
of computer science, information systems and
computer hardware to perform a multiplication
informatics. The curriculum states:
through repeated addition. In contrast, today’s
programmers only have to press the ‘*’ character on "In a world that is increasingly digitised and
their keyboards to achieve the same outcome. automated, it is critical to the wellbeing and
sustainability of the economy, the environment

7
and society, that the benefits of information While the digital technologies curriculum does not
systems are exploited ethically. This requires deep refer to computational thinking on a frequent basis,
knowledge and understanding of digital systems the stages of the design process correspond strongly
(a component of an information system) and how to the main aspects of computational thinking
to manage risks. Ubiquitous digital systems such (defined above).
as mobile and desktop devices and networks are
Most Australian jurisdictions formally reported
transforming learning, recreational activities, home
against this curriculum from 2018.
life and work. Digital systems support new ways of
collaborating and communicating, and require new NSW Syllabus
skills such as computational and systems thinking.
These technologies are an essential problem-solving The NSW Syllabi for Stages ES1-3 (Science and
toolset in our knowledge-based society" (ACARA, Technology) and Stage 4 (Technology (Mandatory))
Digital Technologies subject rationale). were released in December of 2017 with
implementation mandated for 2019. The Technology
The developmental progression of learning in the (Mandatory) Years 7-8 syllabus combines the
subject is captured in the content descriptions for Australian Curriculum: Design Technologies and
each band and held together by a collection of Digital Technologies.
conceptual threads. This work is set out in the PDF
document available on the Australian Curriculum Digital technologies makes up at least 50 hours of
website and includes: the broader Technology (Mandatory) syllabus. It has
a similar shape to the Australian Curriculum with
•• Abstraction (underpins all other key concepts)
the inclusion of knowledge and understanding and
•• Digital technologies knowledge and design and production skills student outcomes.
understanding:
In primary education the digital technologies
–– Digital systems curriculum has been incorporated into the new

–– Data representation science and technology syllabus, which has

knowledge and understanding and skills as
•• Digital technologies processes and production categories for student outcomes.
skills:

––  ollecting data and interpreting

C
data

–– Specification (defining a problem)

–– Algorithms

–– I mplementation (computer
programming or coding)

–– Impact 1

–– Interactions 2

1 Analysing and predicting how existing and created

systems meet needs, affect people, and change society
and the world.
2 How users experience and interface with digital systems,
and how we use them to communicate and collaborate.

8
Part 2: The Australian and global contexts: The
increasing importance of computational thinking and
coding

Historical context hands-on access to a computer. In 1974 a group

at Monash University produced a system [...] that
Pre-university computer science education started
allowed a class of 30 children to each get two runs 3
in the 1970s. The computer science teachers of the
in a one-hour period (Monash Computing Museum
1970s and 1980s were mostly mathematics and
2003). The MONECS system was used to teach
physics teachers who viewed computer science
programming in FORTRAN or BASIC. At this stage,
as extension of their respective fields. This is the
schools saw computing as a branch of mathematics
reason why mathematics and physics dominated
concerned with algorithm design” (Tatnall & Davey,
the early-use cases. In this section, we consider both
2004, p. 4).
Australian and global historical perspectives.
With the advent of PCs in the late 1970s and early
Australian perspective
1980s, the foundations of most of the current
In world terms, Australia moved into educational computing curriculum in schools and universities
computing both at the higher education and school were established. PCs lowered the barrier of
levels very early. University computing in Australia entry into computing for schools and universities
started in 1947 with the University of Sydney’s significantly as they were more affordable and easier
course ‘The Theory of Computation, Computing to use than mainframes. In 1981 computer science
Practices, and Theory of Programming’. In 1949, the was first offered as a Higher School Certificate (HSC)
Radiophysics Laboratory at the CSIRO in Sydney subject in Victoria (Tatnall & Davey, 2004, p. 5).
released Australia’s first and the world’s fourth digital
Global perspective
computer, the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research Automatic Computer (CSIRAC). The 1960s Resnick et al. (2009) describe the historical
saw several key computing personnel moving from foundation of computer science teaching in the
industry to academia to set up computing courses classroom. While they do not identify a particular
(Tatnall & Davey, 2004). “From 1965, computing country for their work, their descriptions resonate
courses became ‘respectable’ and were soon widely with the personal experiences of the authors of
available” (Tatnall & Davey, 2004, p. 3). It was in the this paper in Australia and Germany. Personal
early 1970s that school computing began to emerge, computers were first introduced in the late 1970s
usually as a result of teachers being exposed to and 1980s and generated initial enthusiasm for
computing during their university studies. “In 1972, teaching children how to program. Thousands of
for example, Burwood High School was loaned a schools taught millions of students programming in
PDP-8 computer by Digital Equipment [...]. In 1973 languages such as Logo, Basic and Pascal.
McKinnon High School received an Innovations
This initial excitement for computing in the
Grant to enable the purchase of an 8k Wang
classroom soon faded as schools shifted to using
computer costing over $10,000 (AUS) [...]. The biggest
computers for other purposes. Resnick et al. (2009)
impact on schools, however, was [the] introduction
argue that the reason for this was that (i) early
of the Monash Educational Computer System
(MONECS). Before the advent of personal computers
(PCs) it was impossible for an average school to have 3 Two runs likely refers to two attempts of running a
program on the computer.

9
programming languages were too difficult to use types, loops, functions, assignments and operations.
and that many children couldn’t master the syntax The syntax of a programming language specifies the
of programming, (ii) programming was often rules of how the instructions are to be put together
introduced alongside abstract activities, such as to form valid constructs that the computer can
generating lists of prime numbers, that were not process. This is called grammar in human languages.
connected with purpose for the young learners, Visual programming languages address vocabulary
and (iii) a lack of guidance when things went wrong and syntax by providing predefined blocks from
or encouragement of deeper exploration when which students can choose. This is significant, as it
things went right. This last point has significant frees students from needing to know much upfront
implications for teacher competence and about the programming language. Instead, students
confidence. can choose from a limited set of blocks (vocabulary)
which only click together in syntactically valid ways,
In summary, from an historical viewpoint, the success
thereby supporting accurate learning.
of computer science education in the classroom
depends on four factors: There are several disadvantages to visual
programming languages, which the blog by Schulz
1) Appropriate programming language tools
and Fuda (2018) summarises comprehensively.
and resources
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies
2) Appropriate use of computers mandates the move to general-purpose (text)
programming languages from Years 7/8 and up.
3) Provision of a purposeful context that students
Beyond programming languages themselves there
can identify with
is now a growing number of resources and tools
4) Teacher competence and confidence. that are useful (or claim to be useful) in teaching
primary and secondary students computational
Relating historical success factors to the
thinking and/or programming. Education Services
present
Australia maintains a curated list of over 700 of these
In this section we apply the four historical success resources in the Digital Technologies Hub and maps
factors from the 1970s and 1980s to the present each resource against the content descriptors of the
situation in Australia. Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies.

Appropriate programming language tools and Lockwood & Mooney (2017, p. 30) conclude that
resources a “huge number and range of tools have been
developed to assist the teaching of computational
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies does
thinking. These range from music tools to
not mandate the use of particular tools and resources
programming languages to games. Although several
other than a move from visual programming
of these are in the early stages of development,
languages to general-purpose programming
it is encouraging to see so many efforts to make
languages which occurs at the end of Year 6.
computational thinking fun and accessible to
Visual programming languages, such as Blockly, students of all ages, genders and abilities. The
Alice, GameMaker, Kodu, Lego Mindstorms, MIT App benefits for educators are many and include a
Inventor and Scratch address vocabulary and syntax, variety of options of how to integrate computational
key concepts that all learners of languages need thinking into their classrooms. Whether in a
to learn. In programming language terminology computer lab, a regular classroom or outside, in a
the vocabulary refers to the instructions that a one-on-one session or with a class of 30+ there is a
programmer needs to know to instruct the machine tool out there which will suit educators’ needs, and
to perform a specific task. Examples include data if there isn’t then the evidence suggests that there

10
might well be soon!” schools are already teaching digital technologies,
when really they may only be requiring students have
In summary, the evidence suggests that there are
access to a computing device.
now age-appropriate programming languages to
help primary-school students begin learning coding. The DER mid-program review report (DEEWR, 2013)
This constitutes a significant change compared to draws no specific correlation between the DER and
the 1970s and 1980s when students had to work with enhanced learning outcomes. The authors point
text-based programming languages which provided out the complexities of measuring educational
less assistance around how to produce code. outcomes, due to (i) concurrent implementation of
reform activities that make it difficult to isolate and
Proper use of computers
prove causality, (ii) the lack of control groups, (iii) the
In recent years, some schools have moved the ramp-up time of DER and therefore the shortness of
student-related delivery of learning content and the analysis period and (iv) that the DER targets years
student-related administration onto computers. In 9-12 students. In contrast, the National Assessment
Australia, one of the catalysts for this development Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is for
was the Australian Government’s 2008 Digital years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and only tests “Reading, Writing,
Education Revolution (DER) (Department of Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and
Education and Training), (ZDNet, 2013), (DEEWR, Punctuation) and Numeracy”(DEEWR, 2013, p. 18).
2013). Although this program ended in 2013, it kicked Instead, the report summarised non-DER related
off an investment in information technology (IT) studies for which we refer the reader to (DEEWR,
infrastructure and support that was probably more 2013) for a comprehensive overview. We revisit this
significant in its long-term impact on schools than point in the section titled "Implications for student
the financial support for the purchase of laptops learning outcomes."
themselves.
Purposeful context that students can identify with
The DER program ended more than four years ago
There is general agreement about the importance of
and most if not all of the laptops have now been
teaching within a context that students can identify
retired. Today students use their own devices or
with. In the 1970s and 1980s computer science
school-provided computers for much if not most of
emerged as a spin-off from mathematics and physics
their day-to-day learning.
and therefore its teaching drew many examples from
Increasingly, tools such as OneNote are being used those disciplines. Since then, computational thinking
as a medium for homework, and paper textbooks has been applied to almost all aspects of life,
are being replaced by eBooks or PDFs stored on the including astronomy, the environment, health, sports,
student’s computer. and the economy. In parallel, embedded computing
systems, such as the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi
Whereas previously computers were have emerged that enable deployments into the
primarily used for computer science application domain that portable and ultra-portable
laptops and tablets could not achieve. Therefore,
education, they are now primarily a
identifying a context that students find interesting
vehicle for learning content that is not is now primarily limited by the imagination and
related to computer science education. domain-expertise of the teacher and not by the
capability or the cost of technology.
This has resulted in confusion between information
and communications technology (ICT) general Lockwood & Mooney (2017) summarise their
capabilities and coding and computational findings concerning the application of coding
thinking, which can lead to the mistaken belief that and computational thinking to already existing

11
subjects, including biology, physics, mathematics languages have been specifically developed to
and English. They conclude “that introducing support primary and secondary school students to
computational thinking doesn’t have to be done learn coding. Conversely, the increasingly pervasive
exclusively through new courses or even through use of computers in schools can result in the subject
computer science. Computational thinking is a being ignored due to the mistaken belief that
skill that can be used in a possibly surprising range using a computing device is the same. Embedding
of disciplines and can benefit students studying coding and computational thinking into purposeful
in any area. The ability to break down a problem scenarios that students can identify with is essential.
and develop a manageable solution is one that all Effective teaching of the subject is primarily
students will find useful in both their academic limited by the imagination and domain-expertise
and work lives... Computational thinking can be of the teacher and not by the capability or cost of
successfully taught in varying topics and subjects technology. Teacher competence and confidence
which can be especially helpful to educators dealing emerges as one of the most significant factors in
with already crammed curriculums” (Lockwood & successfully teaching coding and computational
Mooney, 2017, p. 21). thinking in the classroom.

Teacher competence and confidence

Teacher competence and confidence emerges as

one of the most significant factors in successfully
teaching coding and computational thinking in the
classroom. Yet many teachers expected to teach the
digital technologies curriculum in classrooms today
would have received limited relevant training in their
initial teacher education.

While there is a shortfall in suitably

trained digital technologies specialist
teachers the task of delivering the new
curriculum often falls to teachers, such
as primary school teachers, who may
have limited specialist knowledge in
this area.
The process of using computational thinking and
coding to solve a problem in a maths or science
lesson is quite different compared to using these in
an English or art lesson. As a consequence non-
maths/physics subjects often use existing programs
(apps) rather than making them, which provides
limited opportunities for students to develop
computational thinking skills.

Summary

Since the 1970s and 1980s, new programming

12
The tertiary sector and the IT industry The dot-com boom led to a bust that started
in March 2001. By the end of the stock market
In this section, we investigate the link between downturn in 2002, stocks had lost US$5 trillion
schools, universities and the IT industry. We consider in market capitalisation. The stock market losses
the impact of the dot-com boom and bust on were felt by many mum and dad investors that had
university enrolment numbers and compare the invested in a market that looked too good to fail.
open and high-paying jobs in the IT industry with Hence, the effects of the tech-bubble was felt by
other industries in Australia. ordinary people. In combination with the high-profile
reporting by the media about failing companies and
Dot-com boom (and bust)
job losses in the tech industry, many people formed a
The first wave of computing in the 1970s and 1980s view that (i) there is no professional future for and (ii)
resulted in what has been coined the dot-com no jobs in IT.
boom. The early 1990s mark the beginning of
the technology information age when a growing
number of technology companies were founded
and supplied with ample venture capital. It also
marked the beginning of the industrialisation of
company formation. Dot-com companies were
highly valued on the stock exchanges, especially
the NASDAQ. The dot-com boom follows the
Gartner hype curve (Gartner) in which an innovation
trigger leads to a peak of inflated expectations, a
trough of disillusionment and a gradual slope of
enlightenment until a plateau of productivity is
reached.

Peak of inflated
expectations
Expectations

Plateau of productivity

Slope of enlightenment

Trough of disillusionment
Innovation trigger
Time

13
University enrolment trends information technology appears to be in the slope
of enlightenment in relation to the Gartner hype
Falkner (2017) at the University of Adelaide has
curve. The plateau of productivity appears not to have
researched the enrolment trends in Information
been reached yet when comparing the IT higher
Technology and Engineering courses at Australian
education enrolment chart with the Gartner hype
universities. Her work is based on uCube data from
graph.
the Australian Government Department of Education
and Training. The analysis comprises the years 2002- The Australian Government Department of Education
2015 and depicts a decline in higher education and Training annual report of the Undergraduate
enrolments from 2002 to 2008, followed by a Applications and Offers listed 8,719 offers being
plateau until 2012 and a gradual increase since 2013. made in 2017, which constituted an 8.1% increase on
The data shows a two-year lag between the bust 2016 levels.
of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the decline in
higher education enrolments in IT in 2002. A possible
explanation is that the Year 10 students of the year
2000 had already made up their minds about their
future tertiary fields of study.

IT enrolments in Australia have not yet reached the

levels of their peak in 2002. As of 2016, the field of

14
 Offers Offer rates
Field of education
2016 2017 % Change 2016 2017 Change
Natural and Physical Sciences 29,982 31,326 4.5% 97.5% 97.3% -0.3
Information Technology 8,062 8,719 08.1% 84.9% 83.8% -1.0
Engineering and Related 16,251 16,628 2.3% 86.2% 84.8% -1.4
Architecture and Building 6,932 7,278 5.0% 80.0% 75.7% -4.2
Agriculture, Environmental & 4,194 4,064 -3.1% 90.7% 89.7% -1.0
Health 64,451 65,153 1.1% 73.7% 72.4% -1.2
Medical Studies 2,130 2,226 4.5% 25.2% 23.9% -1.2
Dental Studies 867 785 -9.5% 41.3% 38.8% -2.5
Veterinary 1,142 1,051 -8.0% 56.1% 52.6% -3.5
Nursing 26,788 26,247 -2.0% 77.2% 73.2% -4.0
Health Other 33,524 34,844 3.9% 83.5% 85.5% 2.0
Education 23,718 24,113 1.7% 83.5% 82.9% -0.6
Teacher Education 22,215 22,382 0.8% 81.7% 80.7% -1.0
Education Other 1,503 1,731 15.2% 122.5% 127.7% 5.2
Management and Commerce 40,316 38,728 -3.9% 90.0% 88.7% -1.3
Society and Culture 66,958 66,470 -0.7% 87.0% 85.7% -1.3
Law 9,008 8,641 -4.1% 68.1% 66.3% -1.7
Creative Arts 23,634 22,499 -4.8% 79.0% 78.2% -0.9
Mixed field programs 1,338 1,234 -7.8% 112.2% 106.7% -5.5
Total 285,846 286,216 0.1% 83.7% 82.5% -1.2

Jobs

In August 2014, the Australian job portal Seek listed

12,659 open positions in ICT out of which 3,453 were
remunerated over $150,000 per annum.

As of 19 July 2018 Seek listed a total of 172,525

open positions. 17,064 (9.9%) fell under the general
category of ICT. Seek also lists high-paying jobs with
an annual remuneration package of over $150,000.
Here, ICT has 6,234 (36%) out of 17,318 open positions.

15
The development of open ICT positions between
2014 and 2018 follows an upward trend with an
average annual increase of 8.3%. The number of
high-paying ICT job adverts increased by 20.1% on
average per annum. The ratio of high-paying to open
positions increased from 26.9% (2014) to 36.5%
(2018).

16
Summary European Union policy analysis
The bursting of the dot-com bubble has shaped On behalf of the European Commission Bocconi
a negative perception by market participants et al. (2016) conducted a comprehensive study
concerning the job prospects in the IT industry. analysing various European Union (EU) and non-
This has led to a significant downturn in IT course EU initiatives concerning computational thinking,
enrolments at tertiary institutes, which has resulted in coding and related concepts such as programming,
a shortage in IT specialists leading to a large number algorithmic thinking in compulsory education. The
of open and high-paying positions. The IT industry is purpose of the study was to show the implications for
presently in a growth phase in relation to the Gartner policy and practice.
hype curve (Gartner) and job prospects and therefore
university enrolments will likely continue to increase According to Bocconi et al. (2016) the most significant
in the short to mid-term. contributions to the relationship between

17
digital competence and computational thinking and Austria include computational thinking and
come from the following four policy documents: related concepts as part of the digital competence
curriculum. Digital competence is a term used by
•• Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K–12
the European Commission and Norwegian scholars
Computer Science in the Digital Age (Wilson,
Sudol, Stephenson & Stehlik, 2010) to describe ICT general capabilities.

•• Shut down or restart? The way forward for Bocconi et al. (2016) remark that a lack of a common
computing in UK schools (The Royal Society, understanding of computational thinking inhibits its
2012) implementation in school curricula:
•• L'enseignement de l'informatique en France
“An upsurge in the integration of computational
- Il est urgent de ne plus attendre (Académie
thinking and, more broadly, of Computer Science
des Sciences, 2013)
in compulsory education is evident, as indicated
•• Informatics education: Europe cannot afford by the recent wave of curricula reforms. Eleven
to miss the boat (Gander et al., 2013)
countries in Europe (Denmark, France, Finland,
Bocconi et al. (2016) criticises pedagogy and Croatia, Italy, Malta, Poland, Turkey, UK-England, UK-
practice which focuses only on students having Scotland) have recently concluded a reform process
access to technology as opposed to learning about that includes computational thinking and related
the ideas and science which underpin that. The concepts. Seven others (Czech Republic, Greece,
Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies follows Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Wales) are
this approach by focusing on key concepts and currently planning to introduce computational
not mandating use of any specific technology. The thinking into compulsory education. Moreover,
detailed exploration of these four papers is beyond seven other countries (Austria, Portugal, Cyprus,
the scope of this report, save for recommendations Israel, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia) are integrating
from the Royal Society paper (2012), which we computational thinking by building on their long-
discuss in Part 2. standing tradition in computer science education,
mainly in upper secondary schools. Some of these
Student assessment are expanding computer science education to
include the lower secondary and primary levels. For
Bocconi et al. (2016, p. 7) state that experts and
those countries (namely: Spain, Germany, Belgium
practitioners are emphasising the importance of
and Switzerland), where curricula development
assessing students’ ICT skills. However, they argue
is managed at regional level, the integration of
that “only a limited amount of research has been
computational thinking in school varies from region
carried out and currently there are only a few
to region.” (Bocconi et al., 2016, p. 9)
actual experiences of assessing students’ grasp of
computational thinking concepts and of transferring The study analysed how computational thinking
of computational thinking skills to other knowledge is positioned in the curriculum along two axes:
domains.” educational levels and subjects. Most countries
integrate computational thinking in secondary
Implementation in national curricula
school. However, there is now a growing trend
The countries investigated by Bocconi et al. (2016) towards primary school integration.
approach the teaching of computational thinking
Implementation framework
in different ways. Some countries integrate
computational thinking across subject areas, The study puts forward an integration framework
particularly at the primary level. Others, especially at comprising consolidated understanding,
the secondary level, include computational thinking
as a separate subject. Some countries, such as Wales

18
comprehensive integration, systemic rollout and ACARA, in line with the
support policy:
implementation framework proposed
“In order for computational thinking to be integrated by Bocconi et al. (2016), has made
comprehensively across all levels of compulsory the study of digital technologies
education, it is necessary to define a clear vision
compulsory for all students from
and set specific goals. As computational thinking
involves far more than offering a few hours of
Foundation through to year 8. Further
coding, placing it in the curriculum calls for a robust study through to year 10 is optional.
strategy that takes into account the wide range of
Bocconi et al. (2016) encourage close links between
factors involved. A key consideration is the extent to
stakeholders including policymakers, grassroots
which computational thinking is allocated across
initiatives, research centres, and teachers to allow
the full spectrum of subject area studies and, also,
them to learn from each other and history to avoid
in multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts.
the repetition of mistakes and to promote good
Introducing computational thinking concepts to
practice. Other stakeholder groups not directly
children early on in school is commonly held to
involved in curricula development should also be
be desirable. These considerations call for a holistic
adequately informed about what computational
approach to computational thinking integration in
thinking is and how it is relevant to compulsory
compulsory education, which embraces essential
education. Bocconi et al. (2016) recommend a wide-
aspects such as suitable assessment strategies and
angle monitoring and analysis strategy to measure
adequate teacher training” (Bocconi et al., 2016, p.7).
the impact and sustainability of implemented
actions.

19
 Integrate CT
across all levels
of compulsory
education

Develop Adopt a holistic

a shared approach for
understanding of introducing CT into
CT & the relationship compulsory
with 21st century education

Foster broad
engagement &
optimise impact

20
International case studies In this section we present examples of countries
that have decided to move forward with computing
In most countries the main rationale for introducing in the classroom. We use this general term
computational thinking and coding is to foster 21st- intentionally since the terminology, foci and scope
century skills. These are seen as essential for active of the initiatives ranges vastly. The constituting
and fruitful participation in the knowledge economy elements of the national approaches are as follows:
and for employment in a digitally-oriented jobs
market. The degree, however, varies. Where Austria, 1. Achieving student proficiency in the use of
Denmark and Hungary take a logical thinking and a range of technologies (laptops, 3D printers,
problem-solving approach, Finland and Turkey take a software)
more holistic approach that includes logical thinking,
2. Coding
problem-solving, fostering key competencies (ICT
skills) and coding, aimed at attracting more students 3. Computational thinking and algorithmic
into computer science and fostering employability in thinking
the ICT sector.

Fostering logical thinking skills

Fostering problem solving skills
Fostering other key competences
Attracting more students into Computer Science
Fostering coding and programming skills
Fostering employability in the ICT sector

4. Teacher training Estonia

5. The development of teaching resources for In primary education Estonia has a national
non-computing subjects that use digital cross-curricular theme called ‘Technology and
technologies. Innovation’ which requires all teachers to implement
A rigorous evaluation of the initiatives cannot technology in their teaching. That means that
yet be expected given their relative novelty. Even teachers have to integrate technology into different
the Estonian ProgeTiger program (discussed subjects, for example using Scratch in mathematics
below), which can be considered as a testbed and or music programs in music lessons. The curriculum
frontrunner, has not yet published a program does not specify how to, or exactly what technology
analysis. teachers must use, leaving them with a level of
personal discretion.

21
In 2012, when the idea of teaching programming sized Nordic countries that are also relatively more
and robotics was introduced to Estonian schools, homogenous and egalitarian than the United States.
Estonia launched the ProgeTiger program. The Those countries—Sweden, Denmark, and Norway—
goal of ProgeTiger is to enhance learners’ score lower than Finland and more in line with
technological literacy and digital competence. America” where the focus is on coding.
From an Australian curriculum perspective it
Because of its status as an early adopter and its focus
involves a mix of ICT general capabilities, design
on computational thinking, the results from Finland
and technologies, and digital technologies and
both in terms of its Programme for International
their integration into the teaching and learning
Student Assessment (PISA) and other reports should
of different subjects and extracurricular activities.
be closely watched.
The program financially supports kindergartens
and schools in acquiring different programmable United Kingdom
devices. ProgeTiger is supported and funded by
the Estonian government through the Ministry of The inspiration for the digital technologies curricula
Education and Research. in the United States of America, Australia and New
Zealand is the UK national computing program (UK
In March 2018 the Estonian Information Technology Government, 2013). The program focuses on coding
Foundation for Education reported on the scale of and computational thinking but has removed ICT
ProgeTiger in Information Technology Foundation general capabilities and digital literacy:
for Education (2018): “Over the past five years,
equipment in the amount of more than 830,000 “It explores the deep links with mathematics,
euros has been purchased to 446 schools and science and design and technology, and provides
kindergartens for teaching robotics, programming, insights into both natural and artificial systems. The
3D modelling as well as multimedia. Attention core of computing is computer science, in which
has also been paid to increasing the teachers’ pupils are taught the principles of information and
technological literacy. More than 4,100 teachers computation, how digital systems work and how to
have participated in trainings of ProgeTiger.” The put this knowledge to use through programming.
ProgeTiger program yet to publish an evaluation. Building on this knowledge and understanding,
pupils are equipped to use information technology
Finland to create programs, systems and a range of
content. Computing also ensures that pupils
Finland introduced a national computer science
become digitally literate – able to use, and express
school curriculum in the 2016-17 school year. The
themselves and develop their ideas through,
curriculum does not use the word ‘code’, but
information and communication technology – at a
instead discusses computational thinking (Finnish:
level suitable for the future workplace and as active
algoritminen ajattelu) and programming (Learning
participants in a digital world” (UK Government,
Environments research group, 2015). The focus is less
2013).
about programming and more about computational
thinking. The underlying motivation has been The program has a strong focus on computer
expressed by Guzdial (2017): “We want students to science, which appears to have drawn inspiration
understand what a computer can do, what a human from an influential paper published by the Royal
can do, and why that’s different. To understand Society (2012). The paper laments the vicious cycle of:
computing is to have a robust mental model of
a notional machine”. According to Deruy (2017), 1. Shortage of teachers with sufficient subject
“Samuel Abrams, a professor at Columbia University knowledge
[...] compared Finland’s high marks on international
2. ICT lessons delivered by non-specialists
education tests to those produced by other, similarly

22
 3. ICT curriculum delivered as digital literacy advise awarding organisations on appropriate
assessment methods for qualifications in
4. ICT perceived as being low level skills
digital literacy, information technology and
5. Decisions are made based on negative computer science.
impressions
G. Teacher professional development: the UK
6. Few people study degrees which result in Forum should put in place a framework to
rigorous Computer Science qualifications, support non-formal learning in computer
which again leads to a shortage of teachers science and to support teachers.
with sufficient subject knowledge
In Australia the focus so far has been
The Royal Society (2012, pp. 8-11) makes 11
recommendations, most notably:
on the development of a National
Digital Technologies Curriculum, led
A. Clarity of terminology: the term ICT as a by ACARA, the curation of resources
brand should be reviewed and the possibility (Digital Technologies Hub, led by
considered of disaggregating this into clearly Education Services Australia), some
defined concepts.
development of local resources by
B. Teacher recruitment: the government should various players and the development
set targets for the number of computer science of training courses to upskill in-service
and information technology specialist teachers,
teachers. There are some industry-
and monitor recruitment against these targets
supported programs, mainly developed
in order to allow all schools to deliver a rigorous
curriculum.
by industry itself. However it appears
that government has not yet set targets
C. Industry support: government departments
for the number of computer science
with responsibility for education in the UK
should seek industry support to extend existing
and information technology specialist
funding in this area teachers and Australian universities do
not yet graduate computer science
D. Resources: suitable technical resources should
be available in all schools to support the specialist teachers in large scale to
teaching of computer science and information meet the demands of the schools.
technology.
The UK national computing program has been
E. Education of teachers: in order to redress the criticised for being too abstract and trying to
imbalance between academic and vocational produce mainly programmers (Everett, 2018) whilst
qualifications in this area – and to ensure that neglecting soft skills and lacking a recognition that
most students will not ever work as programmers.
all qualifications are of value to those who
This is not necessarily a fair criticism. Most students
take them – the departments for education
will not work as mathematicians or scientists or
across the UK should encourage awarding
linguists, yet mathematics, science, and languages
organisations to review their current provision
are compulsory at school. The purpose of school
and develop Key Stage 4 qualifications in
curricula is the development of cognitive skills and
computer science in consultation with the UK not only the production of work-ready graduates.
Forum, universities and employers.

F. Professional standards: The UK Forum should

23
South Korea Computing at School (CAS) program and the related
efforts in South Korea.
The South Korea Software Education program is
focused on developing computational thinking,
coding skills and creative expression through
software and is due to be rolled out at all levels of
education. Primary and lower secondary face the
most dramatic change because the new program
is mandatory at these levels as of 2018. Training for
primary teachers is especially critical to the success
of this policy since they teach all subjects and there
are no separate IT/computer teachers. By 2018
60,000 primary school teachers (30% of the total) will
receive specialized training in software education
and 6,000 of that trainee population will receive
in-depth training. In addition 1,800 middle school
teachers who are certified to teach IT/computing will
receive additional training on software education.

Summary

Many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD) countries have decided to
move ahead with the implementation of digital
technologies at primary and/or secondary level. The
underlying intents vary and so do the approaches.
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies
has been inspired by the UK national computing
program which commenced in 2013. Many of the
recommendations from the Royal Society (2012) are
applicable to Australia and go beyond what has been
implemented in Australia to-date, in particular with
regards to the above-listed recommendations B, C,
E, F, and G. It will be interesting to study the results
from the different approaches chosen by the UK,
Estonia and Finland:

• UK: coding

• Finland: computational thinking

• Estonia: a combination of ICT general

capabilities, design and technologies, and
digital technologies

In terms of the teacher professional development we

note the interesting large-scale approaches of the UK

24
Part 3: Implications for teaching and learning

Implications for teaching and teacher many digital technologies teachers are self-taught.
professional development So while the former require significant professional
development in terms of core concepts, the latter
Teacher training and professional development
require hardly any. However, comparable best
are crucial to the success of any new curriculum
practice ways of delivering content can change and
including digital technologies. Digital technologies is
are reviewed regularly.
very different from most other Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects According to Bocconi et al. (2016, p. 7), “there is
due to the relative newness of its knowledge base. broad consensus among experts and practitioners
Most science and mathematics content taught that the introduction of computational thinking
at school is over 50 years old, and much of it is in school curricula at all levels is creating demand
several centuries old. Modern calculus, probably for large-scale in-service continuous professional
the most advanced form of mathematics taught at development. Training activities are often designed
Australian high schools, dates back to the late 17th specifically to be hands-on so that teachers can more
century. Curriculum changes in these subjects have easily transfer their new skills to their classrooms.
a significant lag time and teachers in these fields Grassroots efforts are also contributing to teachers’
acquire most of the content knowledge required for professional development.” This observation is
a successful forty-year teaching career at university. confirmed by the Australian Computing Academy’s
own anecdotal evidence from the field.
In contrast, digital technologies is an emerging
field. Modern computing has its origins in the 1930s, In this section, we provide an overview of teacher
and the concept of general-purpose information coding and computational thinking training
processing machines and their application is still in activities in Australia, the US and the UK, with a
development. particular focus on England. The US was chosen
due to the drive of their private-sector in supporting
Most teachers remain unaware that the professional development of teachers. We
the fundamental computing concepts selected the UK because of the vanguard nature
used today have changed little since of the UK curriculum and the strong government
involvement. Between the US and the UK, Australia
the 1930s. The focus on these original
appears to be taking a position closer to that of
concepts, rather than on the application the UK with creation of a national curriculum,
of changeable technologies, tools or publicly-funded projects, and some private sector
operating systems is a significant credit investment.

to the Australian Curriculum: Digital According to Bocconi et al., (2016, p. 13), the “[...]
Technologies. It is therefore beneficial teacher training opportunities discussed in the
for teachers to have a firm grasp of literature largely focus on pedagogical aspects rather
than technological skills. Most training seems to be
computational thinking concepts.
designed for all subject teachers, sometimes with
The professional development needs of digital a particular focus on STEM teachers. Pedagogical
technologies teachers are very different from the approaches addressed include storytelling, problem
requirements of mathematics teachers, especially as solving, deductive and inductive pedagogies with a

25
focus on computational models and simulation.” 1. Unpacking the Australian Curriculum: Digital
Technologies
All the experts interviewed by Bocconi et al. (2016)
discuss or at least mention teacher training. They 2. Resources
propose:
3. Train the trainer
1. A multi-perspective approach in preparing 4. Online courses
teachers,
5. Supporting disadvantaged schools
A. Specialisation of teachers for upper
Unpacking the Australian Curriculum: Digital
secondary level;
Technologies
B. An array of competencies of teachers at
primary school level. The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies was
endorsed in September 2015, but it is an entirely
3. Professionalisation of teachers who are asked new field of study for many schools and teachers.
to impart coding and computational thinking To counter this problem, a number of organisations
lessons. have developed training resources or run training
sessions to assist teachers with unpacking the new
4. Making room in teacher education programs
curriculum.
for computer science specialists who can
2. teach at least basic notions of computational Lockwood and Mooney (2017) summarise their
thinking, related to STEM subjects. findings about ways in which “[...] teacher’s
enthusiasm for, knowledge of and ability to teach
Professional development of teachers in computational thinking and computer science
computational thinking in Australia in their classrooms can be improved/increased.
Most popular seem to be day-long workshops
In Australia, the introduction of the Australian
and workshops that are heavily practical in nature.
Curriculum: Digital Technologies has led to a surge
The ideas, tools and lessons that are given during
in demand for in-service teacher training in this area.
these workshops seem to give teachers a greater
Only a relatively small number of digital technologies understanding of what computational thinking is
teachers in Australia have a formal university- and how it can be useful for their students whilst
level background in digital technologies, or, also giving them very practical ways to implement
more generally, computer science as it is called this in a variety of contexts. [...] Interestingly it seems
at university. According to estimates, Australian that one significant barrier to computer science and
universities graduate in the order of 100 digital computational thinking in education is teachers
technologies specialist teachers annually. This means and educator’s misconceptions about what these
that a vast majority of Australian digital technologies are. One advantage of having teachers attend
teachers are teaching out of field, though some of these training days and workshops is that these
them have undergone some teacher professional misconceptions and misunderstandings can be
development. A typical two-day teacher professional corrected, which is successfully done in most of the
development course consists of twelve hours of described studies. It can also be seen from these
content. Whilst better than nothing, it is small papers that teacher’s willingness and interest in
compared to a cumulative total of months (of years) teaching computer science/computational thinking
of in-depth training at university. Training efforts in is vital in its implementation in both primary,
Australia, therefore, focus on five aspects that we secondary and tertiary education.”
elaborate in the following section:

26
Some of the typical misconceptions that the authors the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies.
have encountered in the field are that digital
The Computer Science Education Research
technologies is only about coding, photo editing,
group (CSER) based at the University of Adelaide
stop-motion animations or about using ‘educational’
maintains a lending library of digital technologies
apps, usually in a form of edutainment.
resources. Teachers can borrow a selection of digital
The Australian Computing Academy (ACA) delivers technologies educational equipment that are
federally-funded professional learning workshops accompanied by lesson plans, based on the CSER
to show teachers how to interpret the Australian Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) (see below),
Curriculum: Digital Technologies. The Australian designed for different age groups and mapped
Computing Academy also sponsors training delivered to relevant content descriptors in the Australian
by the state Computer Education Groups (CEGs), Curriculum.
several of which run workshops unpacking the
The ACA develops online digital technologies
curriculum.
challenges for coding and computational thinking
The workshops contain both coding and (Australian Computing Academy Website, 2018).
computational thinking activities. This includes The focus of the digital technologies challenges
computational thinking concepts such as is computational thinking, with coding being the
representation and abstraction that are derived vehicle to deliver computational thinking concepts
from human communication and then applied and and to keep the activities engaging and practical.
developed further in the context of computing. The
Train the trainer
estimated balance between computational thinking
and coding contents is approximately 60:40. The ACA An alternative approach to training the teachers
found that deriving digital technologies concepts directly is to train a group of lead teachers who
from everyday life makes it easier for teachers to then train other teachers. In 2018, the Western
make connections with their students, and apply Australian Department of Education established
their prior knowledge to teaching the subject. Teachers Can Code (TCC) in partnership with the
Examples include a human sandwich making robot ACA to develop, design and deliver a lead teacher
(played by the teacher) that is programmed by the training program, consisting of multimodal, face-to-
students in a clear and unambiguous way to make a face and online professional learning and resources
sandwich. covering curriculum insights, as well as training in
computational thinking and coding.
Resources
The objectives of the TCC program are to build
Teachers are in need of high-quality resources
the capacity of up to 100 lead teachers, in either
to support the implementation of the Australian
Years 3-6 or Years 7-10. The program aims to build
Curriculum: Digital Technologies. While the internet
capacity in the lead teachers to deliver TCC modules
provides easy access to an array of resources it can be
to schools and networks and build expertise in the
difficult for teachers to find those most relevant to,
most technically challenging parts of the digital
and linked with the curriculum.
technologies curriculum, especially coding.
To address this in part, the Digital Technologies
The TCC program develops eight primary and
Hub was created under the Australian Government
secondary professional learning modules, aimed at
Department of Education funding to support the
supporting teachers to improve their own coding
Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. It is
skills (Department of Education: Western Australian
a repository of resources drawn from across the
Curriculum Support, 2018).
internet. Each resource is tagged to relevant areas of

27
TCC has established a reporting regime in which providing digital technologies expertise to primary
teachers are regularly asked about their confidence, and secondary school teachers. The project develops
capability, engagement and other aspects of their tailored plans for each school and stakeholder
teaching. This data informs the development of the networks comprising schools, industry, universities,
project resources and delivery methods. teacher associations and others.

Train the trainer models have also been Professional development of teachers in
implemented by some of the state CEGs. A particular coding and computational thinking in
case is the ICT Educators NSW (ICTENSW) Regional the US
Champions Scholarship program that funded
The US has a highly decentralised K-12 education
regional teachers to travel to Sydney for training
system. Public schools belong to school districts,
in content and extension training in how to run
which are governed by school boards. Each district is
workshops, ICTENSW also runs regional workshops.
set up as a legally separate body corporate.
Online courses
Hence, the US K-12 education system’s
CSER has developed online courses designed to fragmentation is considerably higher relative
support Australian teachers with implementing the to Australia where ACARA is tasked with the
Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. These development of national curricula that are
are free online courses that provide teachers with subsequently implemented (sometimes with
background knowledge about concepts and topics adaptations) by all schools. In contrast, there is no
in the curriculum, as well as practical examples that national US curriculum and the state governments
can be tried in the classroom. CSER brings together only set standards and mandate standardised tests.
a collection of existing, and purpose-built resources.
Teacher professional development for ICT and
At present, CSER offers four MOOCs: F-6 Foundations,
Digital Technologies is driven mainly by the US
F-6 Extended, 7-8 Next Steps and 9-10: Explore
National Science Foundation (NSF) and the private
(University of Adelaide, MOOCs). The MOOCs cover
sector.
both coding and computational thinking.
The NSF-financed CSK10 program (2010-2016)
Supporting disadvantaged schools
trained 10,000 upper secondary computer science
The Digital Technologies in Focus project operates at teachers. Private-sector grassroots efforts are also
the intersection of teacher professional development contributing to teachers’ professional development.
and equity. The project is a part of the Australian For example, Code.org trained about 30,000
Government’s National Innovation and Science teachers in US compulsory education over the last
Agenda. ACARA has been funded to support the three years, organizing professional workshops
implementation of the Australian Curriculum: and holding conferences for teachers and teacher
Digital Technologies in some of Australia’s most trainers.
disadvantaged schools across all states and
territories. One hundred and sixty schools with a low
Professional development of teachers in
Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage
coding and computational thinking in
(ICSEA) participate in the project. From July 2017
England
leaders and teachers from these schools take part According to Jeannette Wing (Loble, Creenaune,
in workshops to support the implementation of & Hayes, 2017, p. 131), the US takes its lead from the
digital technologies subjects within their schools. UK: “The UK, through their Computing at School
Nine digital technologies specialists (also known initiative, has introduced computing at all levels. It
as curriculum officers) support clusters of schools, is a very courageous effort. The UK is my exemplar.

28
I hope countries around the globe look to the UK teacher model resembles the Western Australian
as a leader and learn from them as they push the Government’s approach for TCC (see above).
frontiers of education in computer science.”
“While several MOOCs have been developed, a
According to Bocconi et al. (2016), in England, face-to-face component of teacher training is still
there are approximately 24,000 schools, including relevant. A recent survey of over 900 in-service
16,800 primary schools, 3,400 secondary schools teachers in England concluded that face-to-
and 2,400 independent schools (primary and face events and training, paired with an online
secondary). There are more than 500,000 teachers community, are considered to be particularly
in compulsory education. In secondary schools the effective in addressing their needs in content
new ‘computing’ subject is assigned to the 14,000 knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge
existing ICT teachers who have to be up-skilled. In related to computational thinking” (Bocconi et al.,
primary school there are around 200,000 teachers 2016, p. 42).
who currently teach all subjects, a load which will
now also include computing.
Lessons for Australia

The teacher training task in England is being Teacher professional development for
addressed by CAS, a grassroots initiative with in-service teachers in Australia would
financial support from the Department for benefit from embracing a focused,
Education. CAS has established the Network of
accredited and large-scale initiative
Teaching Excellence (NoE) in Computer Science
for supporting, training, and equipping teachers as similar to the UK’s CAS program with
they implement the computing programs of study specific focus on teaching excellence in
in their classroom. The NoE’s plan is to recruit 600 coding and computational thinking.
master teachers each supporting forty local schools
by designing and running not-for-profit continuing This could be enhanced by a public-private
professional development (CPD) activities for those partnership between federal and state governments
schools. and the private sector. Currently this relationship is
weak relative to the US. WA’s TCC train the trainer
“The NoE has selected and trained Master Teachers, initiative is also shaping up as a potential blueprint
i.e. experienced classroom teachers with a passion that warrants closer inspection by the other states
for the subject; enthusiasm, energy, and a desire to and territories.
support others. Master Teachers, with the support
of their Head Teacher, are expected to dedicate one In parallel, Australian universities could support
afternoon a week to train other teachers in their area. the training of more specialist digital technologies
We develop some learning material centrally (such teachers, in part by treating coding and
as QuickStart Computing), but is up to the master computational thinking as a core subject area, just
teacher how to run the training. Now, we have 350 like literacy and numeracy. This approach would
Master Teachers active in the NoE. Starting from ensure that graduate teachers are well versed in
September 2015 we have introduced 10 Regional coding and computational thinking and can make
Centres based in Universities, involving either the links to other subject areas. It is likely this approach
Computer Science department or the School of would reduce the need for teacher professional
Education and in some cases both, working with development intervention for in-service teachers.
the CAS Master Teachers in their area to promote
and support relevant teacher engagement and CPD
activities” (Bocconi et al., 2016, p. 43). NoE’s master

29
Implications for student learning thinking skills and not to produce a droid army of
outcomes programmers.

Pedagogy To appreciate the importance of this point one has

to consider the creativity and skill-sets necessary
The development of pedagogy in computer science for turning an abstract idea into a tangible, useful
education lags behind that of other subjects. In product. Steve Jobs is attributed the quote “real
contrast to computer science, mathematics has artists ship!” in which he refers both to the artistry and
been taught at schools for centuries and there is creativity of the software engineering process as well
broad consensus about teaching key concepts as to an outcome that does something.
at different year levels, taking into account the
changing cognitive capabilities as students age. The role of computers and laptops
With respect to computing and computational
Computers play an increasing role in the classroom.
thinking, this consensus has not yet been developed.
In addition to their historic role as instruments
As a result, it is possible to either underwhelm
to do coding, they have assumed a broader role
or overwhelm students with content that they
as a vehicle for student administration and as a
are either too old or too young for, leading to
delivery channel for learning content that is not
disenchantment with the subject. Jeannette Wing
related to computer science education. This leads
states that she strongly believes that it is important
Jeannette Wing to ask the question: “[...] how best
to do more research in this area (Loble, Creenaune &
and when should we use ‘the computer’ in the
Hayes, 2017).
classroom to teach and reinforce computational
The experts who were interviewed by Bocconi et thinking concepts? Here my concern is throwing
al. (2016, p. 36) “agreed that multiple pathways to technology into the classroom and thinking
computational thinking should be used throughout the students are going to learn anything, let
compulsory education. In particular, Mitchel Resnick alone computing. We need further research on
and Joke Voogt pointed out the benefits of providing how computing technology can be used effectively
students with the opportunity to design, create and for learning and not hinder the learning process.
experiment in real-life situations, and other areas they We also need research on how such technology
care about. A number of interviewees questioned can help reinforce the learning of computational
the current uptake of coding. Judith Gal-Ezer, for thinking specifically” (Loble, Creenaune & Hayes,
instance, points to the fact that over-reliance on 2017, p. 131).
coding might give pupils a false impression of what
The OECD released the results of a landmark study in
computational thinking is. Simon Peyton Jones
2015 about students, computers and learning
discussed the need to undertake research to evaluate
(OECD, 2015). The authors conclude that “where
the effectiveness of different approaches.”
computers are used in the classroom, their impact
If a student were to always code as directed and on student performance is mixed at best. Students
were never allowed to experiment with algorithmic who use computers moderately at school tend to
development, and thus a range of computational have somewhat better learning outcomes than
thinking skills, then this would be similar to students who use computers rarely. But students
someone only pushing the buttons of a machine who use computers very frequently at school
in a repetitive fashion without providing any do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even
direction as to the function of the machine or to the after accounting for social background and student
design of its output. Instead, the objective of digital demographics” (OECD, 2015, p. 15).
technologies teaching is to develop higher-order

30
“The countries with the greatest integration of ICT
in schools are Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands
and Norway. Rapid increases in the share of students
doing school work on computers can often be
related to large-scale laptop-acquisition programs,
such as those observed in Australia, Chile, Greece,
New Zealand, Sweden and Uruguay” (OECD, 2015,
p. 50). Despite the rapid increase of computers
in Australian classrooms between 2003 and
2012, student mathematics performance in PISA
decreased during the same period (OECD, 2015).

31
Correlation does not constitute causation, and of students and that schools and students from
isolating factors that contribute to an effect is difficult areas with a high socio-educational advantage
in education where curricula, syllabi, teacher training (ICSEA) value would perform better academically
and confidence, pedagogy and cultural norms because of the high-ICSEA students’ higher access to
intersect. If anything is definite, it is that the effects technologies. Based on the OECD report (2015), high-
- both positive and negative - of computers and ICSEA students that have high access to computers
their usage for education inside and outside of the might be at a disadvantage relative to lower-ICSEA
classrooms require further investigation. students with less computer access.

It is generally believed that more technology in the

classroom is beneficial to the learning outcomes

32
Australia’s mean index of ICT use at school is 0.6
points higher than the OECD average. Australia
therefore finds itself on the high side of computer
use in the classroom in relation to most other OECD
countries.

“Overall, the most frequent pattern that emerges in

PISA data when computer use is related to students’
skills is a weak or sometimes negative association
between investment in ICT use and performance.
While the correlational nature of this finding makes
it difficult to draw guidance for policy from it, the
finding is remarkably similar to the emerging
consensus in the research literature, based on studies
that use more rigorously designed evaluations. [...]
Overall, the evidence from PISA, as well as from
more rigorously designed evaluations, suggests that
solely increasing access to computers for students, at
home or at school, is unlikely to result in significant
improvements in education outcomes”(OECD, 2015,
p. 164).

33
34
Measuring computational thinking was the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge,
which has been running in the UK since 2013. Bebras
Lockwood & Mooney (2017) investigated the methods UK is a 40 min online quiz of 15 questions, grouped
and tools that exist to test students’ computational in 3 categories (easy/medium/hard).
thinking abilities and improvement. In their paper,
they list several tools, quizzes, and concepts and The results of the evaluation showed that attending
discuss the issue of assessing computational thinking Code Club for a year did not impact students’
without a dependency on coding. Lockwood and computational thinking any more than might have
Mooney come to the conclusion that “overall work occurred anyway, but did significantly improve their
in testing for computational thinking is in its infancy. coding skills in Scratch, HTML/CSS, and Python. This
Most of the examples…are in the early stages of was true even when control children learned Scratch
development. Tools do exist such as Dr. Scratch as part of the computing curriculum in school.
and the tools developed by the Scalable Design
Code Club students reported increased usage of all
Group but there is a need for more research into
three programming languages – and of computers
this area. Other forms of test are based on problem-
generally. However, the evaluation data suggests that
solving and analytical thinking tests. Whilst these
attending Code Club for a year does not affect how
are potentially beneficial, if computational thinking
students view their abilities in a range of transferable
is to become a common skill taught in schools
skills, such as following instructions, problem-solving,
and universities then built-for-purpose tools and
learning about new things and working with others.
assessments might be required” (Lockwood &
Mooney, 2017, p. 15). Reflection on Methodology

Case Study: Measuring computational This study leads to two important questions:
thinking skills
Is Bebras the right metric to measure computational
thinking?
The National Foundation for Education Research
(NFER) in the UK has published the results (Straw, Is coding at UK Code Clubs taught in a way
Bamford, & Styles, 2017) of a randomized controlled that is mechanical, non-creative and therefore
trial and process evaluation of Code Clubs – a UK removed from core concepts that can be found in
network of after-school clubs where children aged computational thinking?
9-11 learn to program by making games, animations,
websites, and applications. Code Club UK produces Bebras started in 2003 in Lithuania and was founded
material and projects that support the teaching of by Prof. Valentina Dagienne from the University
Scratch, HTML/CSS, and Python. The clubs, which of Vilnius. Nowadays, representatives from over 35
are extracurricular in their nature, are supported by participating countries annually produce a set of
volunteers, and usually run for one hour a week after non-coding computational thinking questions that
school during term time. undergo a quality management process and a one
week workshop before they are implemented for
The evaluation assessed the impact of Code deployment mostly through Bebras online servers.
Clubs on Year 5 students’ computational thinking, Whilst every effort is made to map the question
programming skills, and attitudes toward computers to computational thinking concepts, there is not a
and coding. Twenty-one schools in the UK took part single canonical framework at the foundation of the
in the trial which used a student-randomized design question development. The earlier mentioned lack
to compare student outcomes in the intervention of an agreed definition of computational thinking
and control groups. Intervention group students is an issue. Every country is at liberty to choose from
attended Code Club during the 2015/16 academic the annual question catalogue for their national
year, while control group students continued as they Bebras week (or fortnight). Since question sets
would do normally. The primary outcome measure

35
vary annually and between countries and national The 2014 report identified a decline in the mean
Bebras organisers are free to (1) choose how many scale scores for years 6 and 10 from 2011 to 2014. The
points are allocated per question (2) set the age Year 6 cohort’s mean score has dropped below 2008
groups (3) set the duration and time allocations for levels and the Year 10 cohort’s mean score is below
a national Bebras contest. It is therefore extremely 2005 levels.
difficult to draw conclusions as to the (1) relevance
The NAP-ICT of 2014 did not measure coding and
of computational thinking concepts, (2) country
computational thinking skills. Its focus is on “The
by country comparisons and (3) long-term trends.
ability of individuals to use ICT appropriately to
From this perspective, we argue that whilst Bebras is
access, manage and evaluate information, develop
a useful tool in the classroom, it should, at this point
new understandings, and communicate with others
in time, not be considered as a metric against which
in order to participate effectively in society” (ACARA,
other computational thinking activities or resources
2015). In contrast to OECD (2015), NAP-ICT (2014)
be measured and therefore no policy decisions
did not investigate the impact of ICT on students’
should be taken that are based on a Bebras metric
literacy and numeracy skills.
alone.

In Australia, ACARA has published the National

Assessment Program – ICT (NAP-ICT) Literacy report
on the ICT proficiency of Australian year 6 and 10
students in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and most recently
in late 2018.

36
Interpretation 6. Inability to connect: Continual access to the
internet may lead teachers and students to
A firm understanding of the correlation of the
believe knowing where to find information
increasing computer use and a decline in academic
is more important than, or the same as,
outcomes has not yet been scientifically established.
knowing essential facts. The latter is necessary
We can presently only put forward potential factors
of students are to make connections, draw
that require further investigation:
conclusions, and therefore develop new
1. Distraction: Students use their computers not insights.
only for focused academic work, but instead for
7. Rise of mobile technology: the authors of the
other things, such as browsing the web, playing
NAP-ICT report (ACARA, 2015) suggest the
games, or social media.
testing regime, which focusses on laptop use,
2. Task suitability: computers may not always has been superceded by tablets that have a
be the best instrument for a task. Using a drag and swipe touch user interface.
computer can consume significant cognitive
8. ACARA (2015, p. 114) further suggest other
effort on the side of the student, which would
potential influences:
otherwise have been available to solve the task.
Example: Writing a formula in a formula editor A. Changes in teaching and learning with
is much harder and slower than writing it by ICT have resulted in less emphasis being
hand on paper. Here, the student could be placed on the teaching of skills associated
focussing on mastering the tool, rather than with ICT literacy.
thinking about the mathematics. B. “Development of ICT literacy competencies
3. Unavailability: computers are not always has been taken for granted in Australia
functioning reliably. In a class of 20-30 where the level of access to ICT in
students, some computers are bound to schooling is extremely high.”
malfunction, experience network issues, block C. “The emergence of mobile computing
content, prevent login, etc. In our experience, technology devices has led to increased
a teacher can lose 5-10 minutes from each emphases in teaching and learning on
period just because of computer issues. different skills (such as those associated
Assuming 5 lost minutes per lesson x 4 lessons/ with online communication).”
day x 200 school days = 4,000 minutes or 67
hours of lost time per school year.

4. Varied, but incorrect information: whilst

traditional textbooks are extensively reviewed,
computer-use encourages the use of a wide
range of resources from the internet that have
not been rigorously reviewed.

5. Superficiality: reading online is different

from reading a book. Online reading is more
about skimming information. As a result, the
learning may be less permanent (Alexander &
Trakhman, 2017).

37
Case Study: Teaching coding and • Unplugged activities are a useful approach to
computational thinking without the need teach programming where “an Unplugged
for computer hardware explanation or walk-through is used before
getting on the computer to help students
Computer Science Unplugged (CS Unplugged) is understand the design of a computer program
a collection of resources that teaches Computer or language elements” (Böckenhauer, Komm,
Science without the need for computing hardware. & Unger, 2018, p. 507). Interestingly, this is the
The content instead favours games and puzzles that way computer science was taught in the 1970s
use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. and 80s when the student to computer ratio
CS Unplugged, therefore, constitutes a low barrier was higher. Teachers had no other option but
of entry resource that can be used by all schools to teach CS in an unplugged way, often on
independent of their budget. a blackboard, with only the final step of the
training conducted at the computer.
Bell and Vahrenhold conducted an analysis of the
effectiveness of CS Unplugged in their paper CS Bell and Vahrenhold conclude that, despite mixed
Unplugged—How Is It Used, and Does It Work? evidence as to the impact of unplugged activities
(Böckenhauer, Komm, & Unger, 2018). They found on student learning, the approach appears to be
that “surprisingly few empirical studies about the use popular with teachers as a pedagogical approach.
of CS Unplugged activities in a regular classroom More research is needed to determine how best to
setting have been conducted” (Böckenhauer, Komm, use it effectively.
& Unger, 2018, p. 504). As part of the review of the
studies, it was identified that:

• CS Unplugged activities changed middle-

school students’ view of computer science
toward mathematical thinking. However,
these students still considered computers
essential to computer science and, were
found to become less attracted to the field. CS
Unplugged activities are only loosely related to
“central concepts” in computer science and not
explicitly linked to students’ prior knowledge.
This “is a direct consequence of the activities
having been developed for very young children
who—by definition—cannot be expected to have
much prior knowledge in computer science
or mathematics to build upon” (Böckenhauer,
Komm & Unger, 2018, p. 504).“The union of the
derived learning objectives did not fully cover
all dimensions of Bloom’s revised taxonomy.
However, [...] CS Unplugged activities indeed
address objectives well suited for outreach and
for introducing new topics in class, thus showing
the applicability of CS Unplugged beyond
reasons of playfulness or creating intrigue”
(Böckenhauer, Komm, & Unger, 2018, p. 504).

38
Key themes for future consideration

This research report has considered the evidence 8. Is coding an effective instrument to teach
base for the teaching of computational thinking, computational thinking? Are some approaches
including its relationship with coding, and reflected more successful and what do these involve?
on some of the implications of this for schooling and
school systems. 9. What is the capacity for computational
thinking to be developed in and integrated
Our research raises a number of important themes with other key learning areas such as maths
that we believe the NSW Department of Education and biology?
could consider:
10. What do effective assessment and success
1. To what extent do the Australian Curriculum metrics look like in judging the extent to
and NSW Syllabi appropriately cover the which students are attaining proficiency in
teaching of computational thinking and computational thinking?
coding?

2. Does the terminology related to coding and

computational thinking concepts need to be
more clearly defined?

3. What resources need to be in place to support

the teaching of computational thinking and
coding in NSW and to what extent do we
already have them?

4. Would initial teacher training benefit from a

greater focus on computational thinking and/
or coding?

5. Do we have sufficient understanding of

the extent to which students are achieving
proficiency in computational thinking,
algorithmic thinking and familiarity with a
range of contemporary technologies?

6. Is more work needed to reach agreement on

appropriate pedagogies and age-appropriate
teaching and assessment approaches?

7. Are current learning continua/progressions of

computational thinking or coding concepts
adequate and informed by current research
and theory?

39
Abbreviations PISA – Programme for International Student
Assessment
ACA – Australian Computing Academy
STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and
ACARA - Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Mathematics
Reporting Authority
TCC – Teachers Can Code
CAS – Computing at School

CEG – Computer Education Group

CPD – Continuing Professional Development

CS Unplugged – Computer Science Unplugged

CSER – Computer Science Education Research

CSIRAC - Council for Scientific and Industrial

Research Automatic Computer

DER - Digital Education Revolution

EU – European Union

ICT – Information and Communications Technology

ICTENSW – ICT Educators NSW

ICSEA – Index of Community Socio-Educational

Advantage

IT – Information Technology

MONECS - Monash Educational Computer System

MOOC – Massive Open Online Course

NAPLAN – National Assessment Program Literacy

and Numeracy

NAP-ICT - National Assessment Program-Information

and Communication Technology

NESA – NSW Education Standards Authority

NoE – Network of Teaching Excellence

NSF – National Science Federation (US)

OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development

PC – personal computer

40
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NSW Department of Education © 2019
Report commissioned by the NSW Department of Education ([email protected]).

44