recently officially endorsed by the now former education minister Christopher Pyne<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Tagalan says it\u2019s very positive that this issue now has a level of prominence, but it\u2019s important that the right message is passed on.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest message we would like for everyone engaging with this conversation to understand is that coding is just a tool,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outcome we desire is to have stronger problem-solvers and computational thinkers to make for a stronger Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ensuring gender diversity in STEM education<\/b><\/h2>\n
A stark lack of gender diversity is a huge problem with STEM education and jobs, Talagan says, and it\u2019s important that teachers know how to address coding in order to make it accessible for all.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really help teachers to understand the importance of a gender neutral learning environment when teaching STEM,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be hyper aware of the language we use and the metrics we reward kids for performance on.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cTo divide the class up and name a top boy and a top girl is in a passive way allowing boys and girls to compare each other rather than saying this is a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gender diversity has been a main focus of Code Club, and the program is now made up of 54% girls.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cJust about every time I return to a community I get teachers coming up and saying, \u2018I\u2019ve never known this quiet, reserved and shy girl to be such a superstar\u2019,\u201d Tagalan says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat used to be a unique outlier, and now it has become expected.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Code Club does when it is successful is open up more opportunities for girls to step up and say, \u2018I\u2019m good at this\u2019, in a collaborative environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The teachers program will also have an especial focus on reaching out to lower socioeconomic areas that are often left out of the coding in education push, Tagalan says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of educators are left out of the loop,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re concentrating directly on these communities and we\u2019re getting a warm and enthusiastic response.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some incredibly dedicated educators willing to carry the torch for us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cCode Club works in a variety of communities. It requires so little, you don\u2019t even need an internet connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Starting early<\/b><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s crucial that this focus on diversity and accessibility begins from primary education, she says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we allow STEM education and digital technologies to only be taught in secondary school we\u2019ll lose most of the girls and a lot of the children of colour and children speaking English as a second language,\u201d Tagalan says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll self-select out in order to protect themselves from rejection or to better align with what they see as their place in society.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we teach it at age eight or nine then it\u2019s really a safe place for kids to jump in and be a part of something that\u2019s bigger than themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Code Club is currently on the hunt for more corporate partners to help keep the training program running into next year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tagalan says endorsement from politicians or prominent figures can do wonders for the group.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After Tasmanian minister for information technology and innovation Michael Ferguson publicly backed Code Club, membership in the state grew rapidly, and now 23% of all the kids involved with Code Club are from Tasmania.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conversations with stakeholders are really good, they\u2019ve been really positive and we\u2019re incredibly optimistic,\u201d Tagalan says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Want to grow your business with Instagram?<\/i> StartupSmart School can help<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teachers are the real heroes of the coding in school movement and need to be given more support, Code Club<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}