Teacher’s perceptions and readiness to teach coding skills: A comparative study between Finland, Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea

Many education systems have recognized the importance of computational thinking and coding skills and are implementing curricular changes to introduce coding into formal school education. A necessary and critical success factor involves the preparation of and support for teachers to teach coding. Thus, understanding the perceptions of teachers towards coding is most important, together with knowing the kinds of support they received, and their readiness and challenges to teach. The purpose of the current study is to compare teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of information and communications technologies (ICT) skills and coding skills in Finland, Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. The findings indicate that teachers in Finland, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea believe that coding is useful even if students will not work in ICT jobs while Mainland Chinese teachers are undecided. Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea have more positive views towards how to prepare for future-ready learners. Copyright © 2019 De La Salle University.