What do you know about coding? Tell The Sunday Times for a chance to win a £250 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

The Sunday Times have asked us to let Mumsnetters know that they’re running a Learn to Code series this weekend to coincide with the inclusion of coding in the national curriculum.

They told us: “With coding hitting the national curriculum this week, and our readers becoming more tech-savvy than ever, we will be demystifing computer programming in this weekend's edition of the paper. In partnership with Decoded, a company that specialises in digital training, the Learn to Code in a Day guide out this Sunday will take readers step-by-step through app-making.”.

“Editorial Director Eleanor Mills, who did Decoded's Code in a Day course herself, said: 'This is an exciting moment for us as we are the first British newspaper to offer a course like this. With five year-olds now learning computer programming in school, it is essential that adults keep up too.”

“If you’re nodding whilst reading the above then why not give it a go yourself? The easy guide will empower and equip you with the knowledge needed to tackle those potential conversations with your children over homework after school."

“Simply sign up to The Sunday Times for a £1 for 30-day trial and start learning now: thetim.es/1uD6qml”

So, what do you think about the addition of coding to the curriculum? Do you think it’s beneficial for children to learn this from a young age? Is this something you think you could get your head around when you were younger? Are there any other additions to the curriculum you feel are necessary for children to cope with today’s technologies?

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

as long as parents get some training too...overall it done seem so bad,

I am pleased to see coding added to the national curriculum, it is an important skill that will be essential to the younger generation. Don't forget they will start off with very basic ideas and build them up, they won't be programming pages of code for quite a few years!!

er, coding has hit the national curriculum has it? Would this be the national curriculum that applies to the whole nation? Or the national curriculum that only applies to England?

I think its the latter.
And people wonder why Scotland wants independence!!!!!!

I hold my hand up and admit I don't even know what coding is! As ever in this household, the dcs learn new tech stuff and show me how to do it. So if it needs to be taught to them, then they can teach me.

I work as a Teaching Assistant in a local secondary school and there is a real divide between children who excel in ICT and those who struggle throughout - just like any subject. In my opinion, I would have two GCSE courses - one that remains as ICT and one that includes coding and programming. There is a world of difference between learning how to use a computer and the next level. In my opinion this is a ridiculous idea. My own daughter loves computing but coding is a separate entity and would totally put her off.

I think it is a good idea, but hope the teachers are offered plenty of training as for some of them this will be entirely new too.

As with other subjects, the basics should be taught to everyone as soon as they are capable and interested. It is the logical concepts behind coding that are most important and simple exercises such as sorting a list into a required order are not beyond infants and juniors. Next comes the terminology such as "strings", "loops" and "arrays". The reward comes when you code this and make a computer do it for you. Sensible adults can learn simple coding in a few days, so it should not be a problem for any teacher.

I was a programmer in the days before PCs existed, worked on mainframes.

I wanted dd (now 15) to be unafraid of technology, so had some kids games disks (can't remember what they were called) and she was great until she went to school.....

She hates computers, has no interest in programming or anything else, uses facebook simply because she has to as it's the only way to keep in touch with her friends. Her phone has WiFi but she doesn't every turn it on, so only texts.

As I haven't programmed for years (last time was pre-Millennium bug scare!) I wouldn't mind seeing how it's all done now, updating my skills a bit - but I don't want to enough to actually do a proper course. Therefore, I might give this a go.

I think it's brilliant. I always wanted to learn how to programme and never got round to learn. Its an extra skill that kids can take away with them

coding, app design and computer programming etc have been part of the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence for a couple of years now and it is fantastic creative approach to learning

I think the introduction of coding is a good idea but not until children have a good grasp of maths and English - in Year 5 or Year 6 would seem the time to introduce it

I have to admit it's beyond me, but I think it's a good that the kids will learn the basics.

It's a good idea. Children will probably find it interesting because they are so used to technology. Times change and the education curriculum should reflect these changes.

I'm concerned about the new curriculum, they seem to expect so much so early for children that I am concerned children will feel like failures very young and lose the incentive to learn.
I havent' a problem with coding, its just a question of putting it in at an appropriate time for individual children.

Absolutely essential

I have to admit it's beyond me, but I think it's a good that the kids will learn the basics.

I think anyone who is capable of average literacy and numeracy can understand the basics. It's understanding things like basic logic. For example, all women over 25 are offered a smear test every 3 years, so you'd code it something like this:

Is patient male or female?

• If male, don't offer appointment.
• If female, continue.

Is patient's age greater than 24?

• If no, don't offer appointment.
• If yes, continue.

Has patient had smear test in last 3 years?

• If yes, don't offer appointment.
• If no, send letter to offer appointment.

If you can follow that, then you can understand some of the logic behind computer programs.

We already ask children to understand this sort of thing - "You can only cross the road if you hold my hand."

Are you holding my hand?

• If no, then you can't cross the road.
• If yes, then we move on to another check - is there any traffic coming?

All we are doing is breaking it into separate steps with yes/no answers. It's something we do anyway, this is just making how we do it more conscious. There are other things where you have to break down steps into a particular order - you can't brush your teeth until you are holding a toothbrush and you have put a blob of toothpaste on the toothbrush. We all understand that, we just don't think about it, but being able to break things down into steps and understanding that some steps have to come before others (like making sure you've got the lid off the toothpaste tube, and then making sure the end of it is over the toothbrush before squeezing), and that some steps will only be taken if certain conditions are fulfilled - that's understanding the basics of how computer programs work, and even if you don't end up working in IT, it's understanding you can use for all sorts of things.

it's a good skill to have...but possibly not if everyone has it too!

But we don't say that numeracy or literacy are good to have - only if not everyone has it too.

There are some things which which everyone should have a basic understanding of, and having an understanding of how programming logic works should be the same as understanding that prisms split light, and that chemicals can be broken down into elements, and that plants photosynthesise and so on. That doesn't mean everyone ends up as a vet or physicist or chemist or botanist or whatever, and this won't mean that everyone ends up as a brilliant programmer in java or python or perl or C or whatever. It's giving people the basic background so that everyone will have the general understanding and some people will go on to take it further - which doesn't happen now, because some people have no idea what's involved to know that they might turn out to be good at it and like it.

I think it's a good addition, but not to 5 year olds. I know my daughter did a small amount at her junior school, so was perhaps about 10 or 11, and she understood it perfectly well. Maybe introducing it at this sort of age would be more beneficial. I know personally I wouldn't have had a clue!! Even the basics I have to check with my daughter.

Scary how things are changing, not for young kids. Maybe more suitable for secondary school.

Coding is essentially (as many have pointed out) an exercise in logic, algorithms, structured thinking and problem solving. These are transferable skills and good practice for a developing brain. The lessons, assuming they are structured appropriately for the age they are done day, are a good idea in our era in my opinion.

Given that KS1 children will already be regularly working with algorithms (number lines for maths, recipes etc.), I don't see why they can't cope with these concepts if presented in an age appropriate way.

I think it is great in theory. I suspect it is a very very basic introduction at age 5 but it is a starting point so that kids aren't afraid of learning more as time goes on and that is a good thing.

It does rather terrify me that my kids are going to know way more than me about such things by the time they finish school!

I don't think they would necessarily lack anything by not being taught coding but i guess it is another 'problem solving' type subject and so that should be a good thing.

One of my DCs used to do coding in a Lego robotics class about ten years ago so it's not that new a thing to teach kids. He is now at Uni and during their first year they used the programmable Lego for something or other. I thought it funny that he was doing the same thing at 19 as he did at 9.

The subject that I think should be on the curriculum is personal finance and budgeting. It's so important and some people are clueless about it.

I have never even heard of it so perhaps DS can give me a few lessons!! Always good to learn a few new things.