Computing in the Irish School Curriculum: What Can We Learn from a Fifty-Year Adventure?

This presentation examines the development of computing courses in the Irish school curriculum over a period of some fifty years. It aims to highlight three aspects: the varying rationales (for example, educational or economic) driving the work at different times; the types of course that were proposed and (in some cases) implemented; and the successes and failures experienced along the way. The third aspect, in particular, may offer lessons for other countries seeking to implement computing courses in schools. To frame the analysis, a brief chronological outline is provided here. In the 1970s, the state Department of Education initially offered some programming courses for teachers; a voluntary body, the Computers in Education Society of Ireland, advocated for the introduction of "Computer Studies" as a school subject [1]. Official provision came in the 1980s, with the introduction first of a Computer Studies option in the Mathematics courses for the senior cycle of post-primary education (US grades 11-12), and then of a free-standing subject in the junior cycle [1,2]. However, the increasing availability of educational software, applications packages, and internet access led to a switch in the focus of official policy in the 1990s - from computing to computer applications and the use of IT in teaching and learning - and the computing courses faded out [2]. Following the (re)-emergence of interest in computing / computational thinking in several countries in this century [2,3,4,5], advocacy for suitable courses again grew and the policy thrust changed. Provision is now made at primary and post-primary level, notably with a free-standing Computer Science course figuring in the senior cycle curriculum [2,5]. The author has been involved in advocacy and support for computing in schools throughout the fifty-year period. Thus, she offers a participant's analysis of the motivations, the successes and failures, and the lessons that can be learnt from the Irish story.