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

light

many schools start coding using scratch (or similar) as a GUI

• primary schools

not just schools.

I don't know what coding is, nor did I learn it.
I assume its about computers, so I assume its needed.

I don't understand coding at all & probably never will, but our children will naturally be better at technology that we ever were as they will grow up surrounded by it. Therefore, I think it is an essential skill (not just coding, but computer literacy generally) that will be required as much as the three R's in the future. I support the inclusion of coding in the curriculum - although I can see it now.. DS: "Muuuummm, it's so easy.. you're so old!"

What do I know about coding? Basically nothing - at 44 with school age children though I am keen to learn more so this sounds right up my street! It is an essential skill in today's digital age but I don't envy the teachers having to keep up to date with this fast moving topic..

I think it's a great idea - I don't know how to do it myself, my brothers are tech geeks though so I'm sure they would also approve of it being taught in school.
I think it's probably going to prove more valuable for future generations than Pythagoras and algebra!

I will confess to knowing absolutely sod all about coding

I can tell you it relates to computer programming but only because I saw a segment of breakfast news about it a few days ago

Prior to that I knew diddly-squat

It's a great idea. dh is a programmer, more or less self taught from the days of having a ZX spectrum at home but now in a reasonably senior Software Engineer role. He wants to teach our dc to code but said it's far more difficult now that technology has moved on and the self taught route isn't as accessible as it was in his day. We're both really pleased with this initiative.

Think it's a good idea, helps children understand IT rather than just using it.

I think it's important these days that kids understand what IT is rather than thinking Microsoft Office is IT (which is what I thought when I was at school - and I had a Standard Grade in Computing Studies!)

I now work for an IT company and while we don't employ coders as such we have infrastructure, desktop and application support guys and girls who all use code as part of their roles day to day.

Looking back now I wish I had stuck with computing as I think I would have been quite good at coding. I'm now trying to learn Ruby on Rails, just for interest.

I am a programmer, and I think that the idea comes from the right place, but the implementation will be everything.

Compare a building a house - sure there are some very good DIYers who could do it, and bad professional builders who couldn't, but in general a DIYer wouldn't be capable, and a builder would.

If the subject is taught badly, you're going to end up with a load of kids who think they can code, but are actually just a load of bad habits held together by confidence (or think they can't code when really it's just that they haven't been taught properly).

If it's taught well, then you get kids who know enough to tell a cowboy coder to get knotted before they cost you/your business a fortune.

Not everyone is suited to the subject to take it to an advanced level, but everyone knowing a little must be a good thing

Sounds like a good idea to me. Tis the way forward.

I have no idea about coding, except that it is something to do with computer programming. I think it's a great idea to teach children how to be creative with technology rather than just disappear into a world already created. 5 seems very young though!

It sounds like a good idea to be teaching it in schools. I didn't even know what coding meant until I clicked on this thread. 5 seems very young, but I'm pretty clueless......

Boney. Thanks for explaining that, I had somehow got it confused with the very boring looking stuff that DS did when he was about 13. I did mention to DS who is now 21 that children were going to be taught coding and he said what a good idea and so they should be. The thing is as others have mentioned who is going to teach this as quite a lot of the teachers are going to be like me and although computer literate, will they be up with knowing all this stuff.

This is just an older persons point of view.

DH is a computer programmer/software developer but I know nothing about it other than the names of some of the programming languages.

I think it is good that schools teach children basic coding, as well as just "driving" a computer as it were. I don't know whether five is a bit young. I can't imagine DS programming in 15 months' time!

I think it will also be important to relate it to possible real-world usage (i.e. how it could be used in jobs other than programming) and to encourage girls just as much as boys.

It's hard to say whether I would have enjoyed it at school as I'm so old we didn't have PCs there until I was about 15 (there were pre-PCs before). But my school was a bit rubbish when it came it IT. Our family had a Commodore 64 which I used to play games on but I don't think I'd even heard of programming at the time.

What a brilliant idea, although I have to agree with other posters five seems a little young but definitely something I would encourage.

I love the idea... But it is gimmicky.

What exactly are we going to teach our kids to code? HTML? Java? PHP? C++? C#? The list goes on and on and codes are being relegated/outdated often.

Is there any benefit to teaching them how to code when there's every chance that a) their knowledge will be mostly obsolete by the time they are old enough to do much with it and b) it is really not for everyone.

I'd like to see it incorporated into basic high school IT classes but there's no need to look at it earlier than that.

Id also like to add that the 'start young' myth is ridiculous as I built my first PC when I was 25. (With a lot of trial and error!)

I think the language is a side issue, the skills around analysing a problem/requirement, breaking it into steps, thinking logically, working accurately, developing test strategies etc. are all transferable skills (and essential in jobs outside IT) regardless of which language is flavour of the month.

If people look at the curriculum, it is not focused on teaching specific programming languages or technologies. It is about teaching the underlying principles of computer science - problem solving, logical thinking, algorithms etc. Those sorts of skills will allow you to easily pick up new languages and tech as they develop.

I have no problem with coding (although my Mother who is now in her 80s was a computer programmer..so shame on everyone here who says they are too old!) My older son (now 10) has done a little bit with Scratch and the like but he wasn't much interested in the Raspberry Pi we borrowed for him. I agree it is like learning a musical instrument..learn the boring basics when you are young or you may never bother!

My son has been doing this in Playschool already with a robot bug that they programme to go a certain route. It's not that they are suddenly going to make them sit down and do java but I think that there is so much technology around that IT skills will be just as essential as maths and English when they join the job market and if we are to keep up with other countries we do need to be introducing these subjects at an young age.