As part of the DIGITAL FIRST project’s research activities on the theory and practice of teaching informatics in primary and secondary schools across Europe, the University of Coruña (UDC) team has undertaken the first part of the investigation addressing three fundamental questions for Spain: What do we learn/teach, how do we learn/teach, and are we satisfied with it?

The UDC team carried out two Focus Groups in the university with high success. The first one involved 8 participants, including teachers, parents and representatives of the ICT companies. The discussion and opinions extracted from them have been interesting, denoting that informatics teaching must be updated in Spain. One of the remarkable outcomes from these meetings was the perception of participants related to the student’s lack of knowledge in basic aspects like operating system fundamentals, data privacy or programming. The main conclusion of this first group was that formal digital education at schools is required to ensure students’ protection and fundamental rights.

The second one was joined by nine secondary school students (5 boys and 4 girls). There was a very active discussion about their knowledge of informatics pointing to a wide spectrum of skills depending on the school and implication of their previous teachers. This is a challenge that needs to be addressed by policymakers. Students realized during the session how relevant it will be for their future to receive proper training on the fundamentals of computer usage, programming or Artificial Intelligence.

The UDC team is now proceeding with the formal qualitative analysis of these two sessions to provide more detailed conclusions about their opinions and reflections. Thanks to all partners and stakeholders for their active support and engagement so far.

Stay tuned for more updates on our progress and discoveries!

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