Why should my children learn to code in St Albans?

So why should my children learn to code in St Albans, and what's the value of learning a coding language?

"Why code?" is a common question we get asked a lot by parents and as we'll soon be launching coding courses for kids in St Albans we thought it a question worth tackling. There's a huge amount of content online advocating coding as an extra-curricular activity, especially given coding is now on the school curriculum, but it's not always abundantly clear why. The fundamental reasons why coding is important aren't really about coding, and it's definitely not about creating the next Bill Gates (although that would be nice!!).

Coding helps children learn to problem solve

Learning the basics of coding helps children develop an understanding of how things work. It teaches them to use their thinking skills to solve problems in a logical and creative way. The ability to problem solve using logical and creative thinking extends well beyond coding, and it has been argued this will be the defining skill of the next 30 years.

Coding challenges kids and builds resilience

Failure is a key part of coding. Identifying where mistakes were made and rethinking the problem to get the desired outcome are a staple within coding. Building up this resilience and treating failure as a learning exercise helps children to view failure in a much more positive way.

Coding teaches children how to think

As the anthropologist Margaret Mead once said

"Children must be taught how to think not what to think"

Coding isn't just about teaching kids how to write lines of code. It's much more about teaching kids how to think differently. Coding relies heavily on logical thinking and the ability to break down complex problems into smaller component parts. Computational thinking, as it's more commonly known, is a highly prized skill.

Coding teaches creativity

Coding teaches kids to experiment, giving them the confidence to be creative in code. Just like more traditional creative tools code and technology allow children to express themselves and their interests in a medium that has very few boundaries.

Coding is the future

You only have to look at the world around you to see how much of a role technology plays in our lives. This is only set to increase and having the ability to code is an extremely useful skill. The number of businesses that rely on coding and cite coding as a desirable skill is huge and goes far beyond the technology sector. This is why coding is now firmly on the school curriculum, but sadly many of the teachers tasked with delivering coding lessons don't have the specialist skills to do the subject justice.

codetoday will soon be launching coding courses in St Albans. If you'd like to register your interest follow the link below.