Digital literacy and computing knowledge are become increasingly important core skills as the world becomes more tech focused.

Not-for-profit organisation, Micro:bit Educational Foundation, has announced that approximately 3,000 UK primary schools will receive BBC micro:bit coding devices.

The pocket-sized computers are designed to help UK primary school children take their first steps into digital creativity and computing.

Micro:bit is working in partnership with Nominet and the Scottish government to donate 57,000 micro:bit coding devices to primary schools across the UK, alongside teaching resources and online Continuing Professional Development courses.

The Scottish Government has provided additional support to see every primary school in Scotland receive 20 devices, with the Foundation and Nominet working with primary schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to prioritise distribution of 22,000 devices. Delivery will begin from April onwards.

Boosting digital literacy

Gareth Stockdale started the foundation back in 2016, and there are now six million micro:bit coding devices being used by children globally, including most UK secondary schools.

The Foundation is looking to provide the devices and resources to help teachers make coding “exciting, accessible, and something they can teach confidently to younger children”.

Stockdale commented: “From the research that was done during the project, micro:bit is great at providing an easy first step for people into their coding journey.

“It’s designed to have a low floor and a high ceiling, so children have a positive first experience of coding. There are no barriers there.”

Recommended

• How can we break down barriers for women entering tech?
• UK Government urges stronger cybersecurity as attacks rise
• Edinburgh third best UK city for women seeking tech roles

Teaching digital skills from a young age has impressive results and understanding computational thinking can greatly enhance a child’s creativity and life chances.

“We, as an organisation, exist to get more girls and more underrepresented groups involved in coding digital creativity. We feel the younger that you can do that as per the research, the better for broadening that participation,” Stockdale continued.

“It’s great for getting children that think that technology is not for them to thinking that technology is for them. We have lots of research revealing that the device revealed to them that anyone can code, and that technology is for them.

“It has also shown that, with girls, there was an increase in them wanting to take computing and technical skills subjects further than if they hadn’t used the micro:bit,” he said.

There is currently a shortage of women working in the tech sector in Scotland. Tech Talent Charter data found that the number of women in tech roles increased by just 2% year-on-year in 2021, from 25% in 2020 to 27%. Devices such as micro:bits could work to turn these numbers around.

Roll-out of the micro:bits will also complement a three-phase research programme , as the Foundation looks to assess, monitor and address the challenges, concerns and successes UK primary teachers experience in improving digital literacy and in bringing micro:bits into the classroom.

Stockdale commented: “We think that digital skills and digital creativity are vitally important for the life chances for people in the 21st century.”

It’s beyond any doubt now that tech has evolved from a prestige skill to one that, broadly speaking, must becoming foundational at a grass roots level.

“We think tech is a foundational skill, not only for being able to fill this digital skills gap if you’re going to be a software engineer or developer, but increasingly all careers and all jobs have a technical element to them, something that has been heightened and accelerated by the pandemic,” Stockdale added.

Stockdale cited research showing that studying coding and digital skills increases your creativity and ability in things like maths, and problem solving. He added that the micro:bit device provides a physical tool that you’re “co-creating”. It can boost innovation, communication, and teamwork, as well as build soft skills.

Additionally, Stockdale said he hopes the device will help to support teachers who may struggle to teach tech subjects.

Helping teachers

The Foundation’s work initially started off as a research project looking to understand what the barriers were for primary school teachers in the classroom who were teaching new skills, and the unique pressures teaching digital skills to a younger age group pose.

Research underpinning the project from the Foundation and Nominet found that three in five teachers cite lack of resources as a barrier to teaching computing and digital skills.

“Two of the main things that came out was a lack of resources, and around 61% of those teaching computing in primary schools have absolutely no background in the subject,” Stockdale said.

With this new project, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation aims to boost usage of the devices in primary schools to try and mitigate this problem.

“It is not going to be fixed overnight. This is about a long-term commitment to continuing to support teachers.

“You have a huge number of different priorities and lack of time, but we want to make it easy for them to integrate micro:bit into what they are doing in the classroom and to be able to teach these skills easily and then continue to support them.”

Get the latest news from DIGIT direct to your inbox

Our newsletter covers the latest technology and IT news from Scotland and beyond, as well as in-depth features and exclusive interviews with leading figures and rising stars.

To subscribe, click here.