Primary school curriculum | Barefoot Computing

Start exploring the different curriculum requirements for your nation below.

The national curriculum for computing in England was introduced by the Department of Education in 2014. The curriculum aims to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to thrive in the digital world of today and the future. The curriculum can be broken down into 3 strands: computer science, information technology and digital literacy, with the aims of the curriculum reflecting this distinction.

The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure all pupils:

can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation (Computer science)
can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems (Computer science)
can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems (Information technology)
are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. (Digital literacy)

For more information, visit the Department of Education Computing Programme of Study

Register or Log In to access further details on how the Barefoot resources have been aligned to the curriculum in England.

Barefoot resources are mapped to Curriculum for Excellence (opens in a new window) and the current Experience and Outcomes (opens in a new window). The materials provide learning opportunities to support aspects of the broad general education Computing Science curriculum within the Technologies whilst also providing interdisciplinary experiences across the curriculum.

You can find out more about the Technologies Curriculum here (opens in a new window).

Technology Benchmarks set out clear statements about what learners need to know and be able to do to achieve a level. They streamline and embed a wide range of existing assessment guidance, including the significant aspects of learning and progression frameworks, providing a single key resource to support teachers’ professional judgement.

There are 3 key concepts/significant aspects of learning for Computing Science:

Understanding the world through computational thinking
Understanding and analysing computing technology
Designing, building and testing computing solutions

Each significant aspect of learning brings together a coherent body of knowledge and understanding and related skills, as outlined in the Principles and Practice paper and detailed in the Experiences and Outcomes.

Register or Log In to access further details on how the Barefoot resources have been aligned to the curriculum in Scotland.

The Northern Ireland Curriculum is underpinned by the development of skills and capabilities and incorporates ‘Cross-Curricular Skills’ (CCS) and ‘Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities’ (TSPC).

Using ICT (Information and Communications Technology), along with Communication and Using Mathematics, is one of the three statutory Cross-Curricular Skills that form part of the Northern Ireland Foundation Stage Curriculum (opens in new window) and the Northern Ireland Key Stage 1 and 2 Curriculum (opens in new window). Across the curriculum, at a level appropriate to their ability, pupils should be enable to develop skills in Using ICT.

The curriculum requirements for Using ICT are set out under the headings of Explore, Express, Exchange, Evaluate and Exhibit referred to as the 5E’s. Explore contains the requirement that pupils should ‘investigate, make predictions and solve problems through interaction with digital tools’. Primary teachers can use programming and computational thinking classroom activities to address this requirement.

CCEA has provided non-statutory guidance for progression for this type of Using ICT aligned to the statutory Levels of Progression for Using ICT. This guidance was originally called the Desirable Features for Interactive Design but the name Interactive Design has been replaced with ‘Computational Thinking and Coding’.

CCEA also advise that statutory Using ICT requirements in primary schools in Northern Ireland can be aligned to a proposed CCEA digital skills pathway for learners.

These are:

Becoming a Digital Citizen
Becoming a Digital Worker
Becoming a Digital Maker

It is within the ‘Becoming a Digital Maker’ strand that the elements of programming, computational thinking and computing are housed. Logical and structured options include pupils exploring coding and programming through interaction with different types of languages and devices.

Register or Log In to access further details on how the Barefoot resources have been aligned to the curriculum in Northern Ireland.

In 2022, Wales will introduce a new curriculum which will have more emphasis on equipping young people for life. The new curriculum, which was made available for feedback in April 2019 includes a Science and Technology Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE), within which Computation is a new element for ages 3 to 16. Computation is a new area to meet the needs of a changing twenty-first century culture and economy.

Digital Competency Framework

Digital competence plays a powerful role in the lives of children and young people. Confident and creative application of these skills is essential to life, learning and work. As part of the development of the new curriculum for Wales, the Digital Competence Framework (DCF) was made available in September 2016. The DCF was developed by practitioners from Digital Pioneer Schools, supported by Welsh Government, regional education consortia, Estyn and external experts.

As the first element of the new curriculum, the DCF is about embedding digital skills and knowledge across all learning experience as pupils progress through school and teachers will increasingly apply relevant digital skills in their lessons. Digital Competence is a cross curricular responsibility alongside Literacy and Numeracy within the new curriculum.

For more information visit: Hwb (opens in a new window)