Education

Every primary school to get free coding kit and teaching resources

EDTips will train primary school teachers in a suite of age-appropriate and interactive educational tools

Academics will develop teaching materials and activities modelled on the curriculum. Photograph: iStock

Colin Gleeson
Thu Mar 7 2024 - 11:00

Every primary school in Ireland is to receive a free coding kit as part of a landmark educational research project.

EDTips – Enabling Digital Technology in Primary School will provide every primary school with free digital technology teaching resources and equipment to prepare for the introduction of the primary curriculum framework next year.

The project, led by CSinc (Computer Science Inclusive) at TU Dublin, has received funding from Science Foundation Ireland and is supported by the university’s industry partners AWS in Communities and Workday.

Running over two years, EDTips will train primary schoolteachers in a suite of age-appropriate and interactive educational tools, catering to the abilities of all pupils and encouraging them to become “confident, creative, and critical users” of digital technology.

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TU Dublin academics with research expertise in computer science education will develop comprehensive teaching materials and activities modelled on the curriculum, while AWS will supply 3,000 free offline digital technology kits.

EDTips is also supported by Workday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources.

Employing over 2,000 people in Ireland, Workday will provide resources to help deliver the programme, including software development, content, design and project management.

AWS country lead for Ireland Neil Morris said: “These new technology kits will enable teachers in every primary school in Ireland to learn and be curious with coding and empower them further with digital literacy tools in advance of the introduction of digital technology curriculum.

“At AWS Ireland, we are determined to play our part in fostering the next generation of Irish technology leaders and we will continue to look for opportunities to encourage young technology talent and supporting them in their journey through school and into further education.”

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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