Abstract
Coding and robotics are integrated in many curricula worldwide. In South Africa, this remains a relatively new subject in schools. The national and provincial departments of education are involved in ensuring teachers have the necessary skills and competence to teach this subject. Similarly, initial teacher education institutions have begun training pre-service teachers to ensure they are prepared to teach coding and robotics. However, pre-service teacher training in coding and robotics is not well researched, particularly regarding whether the training adequately prepares them for the challenges they will face in the classroom.
Using a deeper learning framework, this basic qualitative study examined the learning experiences of fourth-year pre-service teachers in a week-long intensive training on coding and robotics at a South African University. The training took place at the faculty of education's teacher training school’s computer lab and makerspace. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, portfolios, and observations, and subsequently analysed through thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti.
Findings indicate that pre-service teachers acquired significant learning about coding and robotics concepts and teaching strategies, which prepared them to connect this to the new coding and robotics curriculum. They also considered how to integrate coding and robotics into foundation phase classrooms to engage learners in meaningful learning.
The study recommends that teacher education programmes should offer more ongoing opportunities for pre-service teachers to engage with coding and robotics throughout their undergraduate studies. These experiences should include practical design tasks that help them better understand how to connect coding activities with the outcomes of the Foundation Phase curriculum. There is also a need for clearer national and institutional guidelines that show how coding relates to school curricula, along with easy-to-access examples and resources that demonstrate what curriculum-aligned coding activities might look like for young learners.