Primary programming : teachers’ attitudes and skills in the light of computing reform

Vaníček, Jiří (author), Pršala, Jan (author)

Two global trends that can be observed in computing education all over the world are moving the beginning of teaching computing as a compulsory school subject to primary education and moving from the teaching of user approaches to digital technologies to computer science content. The Czech Republic is currently the scene of such changes within the ongoing reform of informatics education. This paper presents the visions and principles that have served as the foundational framework for the reform initiative. A significant term for the introduction of computing in schools is programming. The key figure for the implementation of the changes is the primary school teacher who has no background in computer science and no experience in the subject as a student. The topic of our inquiry is therefore the attitudes of primary teachers towards teaching programming at the time of the ongoing school reform. The aim of the research is to identify the personal, pedagogical and environmental factors that influence teachers’ attitudes towards teaching programming. We measured programming attitudes using Sun’s Teacher Programming Attitude Scale, while the relationship of these attitudes to teachers’ computational thinking was explored using Bebras Challenge tasks. A survey of primary school teachers revealed a positive attitude towards the teaching of programming, coupled with very good computing skills. The study also found that previous experience in teaching programming is a significant factor in influencing teachers’ positive attitudes towards the subject.

• Language: English
• Keywords: national curricula innovation, programming, primary teacher, attitudes, programming skills
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 61-88
• Numbering: Vol. 15, no. 4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179551
• UDC: 37
• ISSN on article: 2232-2647
• COBISS.SI-ID: 264299011

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC-BY 4.0 je naveden na spletni strani revije (https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/about). (Datum opombe 17. 2. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 17.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: CEPS Journal: Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal = revija Centra za študij edukacijskih strategij
• Publisher: Pedagoška fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-2647
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254029824

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Programiranje v osnovni šoli : odnos in veščine učiteljev v luči reforme poučevanja računalništva in informatike

Abstract

Dva globalna trenda, ki ju lahko opazimo v računalniškem izobraževanju po vsem svetu, sta premik začetka poučevanja računalništva kot obveznega šolskega predmeta v osnovnošolsko izobraževanje in prehod od poučevanja uporabe digitalnih tehnologij k obravnavi vsebin računalništva. Češka te spremembe uresničuje s sistemsko reformo poučevanja računalništva in informatike. Članek predstavlja vizije in načela, ki so oblikovali temeljni okvir reforme. Pomemben vidik uvedbe računalništva in informatike v šolah je programiranje. Ključna oseba za izvajanje sprememb je osnovnošolski učitelj, ki pogosto nima ustreznega znanja iz računalništva in izkušenj s tem predmetom kot učenec. Raziskava se osredinja na odnos osnovnošolskih učiteljev do poučevanja programiranja med šolsko reformo. Cilj raziskave je identificirati osebne, pedagoške in okoljske dejavnike, ki vplivajo na njihov odnos do poučevanja programiranja. Odnos do programiranja smo merili z uporabo Sunove lestvice odnosa učiteljev do programiranja, medtem ko smo raziskali povezavo med temi odnosi in računalniškim mišljenjem učiteljev z uporabo nalog tekmovanja Bober. Raziskava med osnovnošolskimi učitelji je pokazala pozitiven odnos do poučevanja programiranja, ki ga spremljata dobro računalniško znanje in zadostna raven računalniškega mišljenja. Študija je tudi ugotovila, da so pretekle izkušnje s poučevanjem programiranja pomemben dejavnik, ki vpliva na pozitiven odnos učiteljev do tega predmeta.

• Keywords: inovativnost v nacionalnih učnih načrtih, programiranje, osnovnošolski učitelj, odnos, programerske veščine, učitelji, veščine, znanje