1.1 Computing and the school curriculum
In England, computing replaced ICT as a national curriculum subject for all age groups. Similar changes have taken place across other UK countries, Europe and beyond. Read the table to see these similarities.
| England | The first country in the European Union to make computing compulsory for 5 to 16 year olds. |
| Northern Ireland | Using ICT is a statutory cross-curricular skill in the primary curriculum. |
| Scotland | Technologies is a primary curriculum area and includes computing as a distinct aspect of knowledge. |
| Wales | A Digital Competence Framework includes computer science as a subject in the primary curriculum. |
| Finland | Programming is a mandatory element of the primary curriculum. |
| New Zealand | Digital Technologies curriculum for primary schools. |
| Australia | National Curriculum in Digital Technologies for primary schools. |
| Sweden | Computing is introduced from the first year of primary school. |
As the table shows, computing is increasingly seen as an important subject. But this presents some challenges. Teachers report that they are unsure about their own computing subject knowledge, and what are the best ways to support children’s computing learning (Sentence and Csizmadia, 2017).