Abstract
The South African Department of Basic Education officially introduced the Coding and Robotics curriculum at public primary schools in 2021. C & R is a new subject in the South African public-school landscape, and it was apparent that teachers would face challenges implementing it. As teachers have a critical role in fostering the learning process of both boys and girls, the study investigated whether gender stereotypes influence the teaching and learning processes of C & R. However, very little if any attention is being given to gender stereotypes pertaining to the teaching of C & R and how this may influence the rollout of this new subject in the literature. Teachers from the Pixley ka Seme and Frances Baard districts of Northern Cape Province were selected for this sample because they were among the first to get C & R training from the Provincial Education Department. This study adopted a mixed methods approach and used qualitative data analysis and interview data. Open-ended questions allowed participants to record their perceptions and constructs, which allowed themes to emerge from the raw data. This study also employed descriptive statistics to organise and summarise the quantitative data. This study presents the perceptions of primary school teachers (social capital) towards gender stereotypes (habitus) with the teaching of C & R (technology capital and digital field) in primary schools (educational field). As C & R is a novel field in the South African public educational landscape, there are gaps in knowledge. The findings of the study suggest that there is a cognisance of gender issues in school and the teaching of C & R.
Keywords: Coding and Robotics (C & R), gender stereotypes, teaching, teachers` perceptions.