Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

156. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the full year cost of introducing a computing and coding curriculum for primary schools. [51130/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Exact expenditure figures regarding the teaching of Computing or Coding in primary schools are not available, as funding is not allocated by my Department on a subject-by-subject basis. However, work in this area is taking place at both primary and post-primary levels. 

The NCCA is in the process of developing a new primary mathematics curriculum and will consider my request to have coding, creative and computational thinking included in the revised curriculum. The NCCA will work with a network of schools during this school year to explore different approaches to integrating coding in the primary curriculum.

Currently the PDST Technology in Education provide training for both primary and post primary teachers in ICT which includes 'Scratch' coding.5,800 teachers received ICT training in 2016.

Furthermore, a large number of schools are running voluntary coding programmes through initiatives such as Coder Dojo (over 200 dojos in Ireland),  Hour of Code, where over 200 events took place in Ireland and the  annual computer programming Olympiad held at Dublin City University.

Further resources in this area will be looked at in conjunction with the STEM Education policy statement and implementation plan, which I launched yesterday.