Free BBC scheme helps Pupils in vital digital skills

Year 6 pupils at Green Lane Primary School, part of the Priestley Academy Trust, are among many across the UK benefitting from BBC micro:bit - the next gen campaign.

Children demonstrated their digital skills during the special lesson, creating name badges, music and using their micro:bits to test temperature in a scientific experiment.

Launched as part of the BBC’s pioneering Make It Digital initiative in 2014, the BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that gives children an enjoyable way to learn digital creativity and programming skills, enabling them to shape their best digital future.

Tens of thousands of micro:bit classroom sets are being distributed across the UK for free, as well as brand-new teaching resources to accelerate computational thinking, programming, digital creativity and machine learning knowledge among primary school pupils.

Children get digital-savvy in one of the sessions

The project aims to inspire all youngsters to be excited by technology and see it as a means to unleash their creativity and have fun. Last year, computing A-Level continued to have the highest gender gulf of entrants

with 2,352 girls and 12,565 boys studying the subject, while the UK tech industry is comprised of just 26 per cent of women.

By engaging children in earlier, more formative years, the next gen project seeks to counter harmful stereotypes before they have time to bed in and broaden participation in a rewarding and increasingly vital aspect of our modern daily lives.

Following the initial launch, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation was founded in 2016 as a non-profit organisation, continuing to develop, advance and extend the reach of the micro:bit and accompanying resources across the globe. More than six million devices are now in use globally, and it is estimated that 39 million young people from more than 60 countries have benefited from learning with the micro:bit so far.

Helen Foulkes, Head of BBC Education, says: “In an ever-evolving digital age, BBC Education remains committed to inspiring the digital makers, inventors and pioneers of tomorrow. The BBC micro:bit - the next gen initiative is all about ensuring that every primary school student is given the tools to imagine and innovate with technology.

"Our aim is to not only equip these young minds with digital skills but to inspire creativity, challenge stereotypes, and nurture a passion for learning.

"With support from our partners, together we take a significant step towards creating a diverse digital future across the UK - and we can’t wait to see all of the wonderful things primary school children create with their micro:bit devices along the way.”

All primary schools across Bradford and the UK can still sign up for their free classroom set of BBC micro:bits, until December.

Green Lane pupils with their BBC micro:bits

Gareth Stockdale, CEO, Micro:bit Educational Foundation, says: “Our experience and research show how pivotal early learning confidence and interest is to encourage longer-term studies of technology-related studies. Capturing children’s attention in these formative primary school years is critical and the micro:bit is a great tool to have fun and learn about tech.

"We’re excited to welcome the next generation of teachers and pupils to the power of the micro:bit. Together with the exciting CBBC brands and support from Nominet, our new training and projects will provide a great introduction to a world of digital opportunities. The project couldn’t happen without the support of a wide range of industry and education partners.”

*Research from Micro:bit Educational Foundation and the UK domain name registry Nominet to understand the challenges facing UK primary school teachers and how to improve digital skills education found teachers feel overwhelmed, underprepared and lack the confidence to teach the digital curriculum asked of them today.

Sixty one per cent of UK primary teachers responsible for teaching computing have no background in the subject, while three in five also cite lack of resources as a barrier.

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation and training partners in each of the nations will be delivering virtual teacher training to support teachers in the delivery of digital and computing education. Resources to support teachers starting out with micro:bit will also launch. First lessons with MakeCode and micro:bit will provide a pathway of lesson plans and professional development for teachers to begin their micro:bit journey.

*The next gen campaign will also be partnering with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to give primary school pupils the chance to get involved in a large-scale playground survey from May 2024.

The survey will look to understand everything about the playground from its size, the biodiversity, how things can be affected by temperature and what kids do during their playtimes. The development of pioneering lessons and activities around this survey will introduce children as young as seven and eight to machine learning and working with digital data.

The project has been generously supported by Nominet, whose funding has enabled 675,000 BBC micro:bits to be provided for free to UK primary schools. Research carried out by Nominet and the Micro:bit Educational Foundation showed that primary teachers need more support in teaching digital skills and computing. The research led to the formation of this project, which aims to empower young people to be ready for the digital challenges of the future. Primary schools will need to register to claim their free micro:bits, and registration is open until the end of the year.

This has also been enabled by the support of a wide range of industry and education partners including Arm, CCEA, Education Scotland, Farnell, Lancaster University, Microsoft, National Centre for Computing Education, Okdo, STMicroelectronics, Technocamps and Twinkl.

Eleanor Bradley, Managing Director of Registry and Social Impact, Nominet, adds: “We’re proud to have made this project possible with our donation of micro:bits. We’re living in an increasingly digital age and many primary school children will find themselves in careers that don’t even exist yet – like those in Artificial Intelligence. Many of us remember the impact the BBC Computer Literacy Project in the 1980s had on an entire generation, and if we can inspire young children to consider a future in tech, then this latest micro:bit programme will be a huge success.”

*Primary schools will need to register to claim their free micro:bits. Registration is open until December 18, 2023. For more information and to register, go to bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit.