Compare Code School Finland vs Python in Pieces

Yao-Jin Choong, Senior Head: Teaching & Learning: We've had a great experience so far with Code School Finland! For a school looking to implement coding across KS1-3, but with no teachers trained to teach the subject, CSF has provided the necessary training and materials to get us started, with progression clearly built in. Our trainers and consultants, Sirkku, Jussi and Kaisu, have been friendly and most accommodating. They understand the unpredictable environment in schools, and are on hand to support with onboarding when we have changes in staff deployment. Should we have any questions, they are also quick to respond. We are just 6 weeks into our first year teaching CSF's brand of coding, but have already received some positive feedback from teachers, parents and students! One suggestion I would like to put forward, is to perhaps have more consistency in the format of each module. For instance, it would be very helpful for teachers' planning if each module has a list of learning outcomes provided that teachers can use to assess progress, like a syllabus document.

Ariadna Guzmán, Trainer: Is a pleasant experience. I love the materials and resources. You made feel confident in a subject I would have never considered.

Neil O'Toole, Learning Designer: Code School Finland is a well-designed curriculum from age 8 to 16, that allows educators to integrate coding, robotics and AI into their daily learning engagements. The resources are methodical and well-explained and focus on the thinking behind the above areas, thinking which is transferable to other subject areas.

Kay Sawbridge, Faculty Leader Computing and IT: Love PiP, great learning platform, students really engage and are enthusiastic about the tasks. The videos and hints allow most students to work independently giving the teacher a chance to work with those that need a little extra help. Watching the code run aids understanding as does the ability to switch from blocks to text based coding. The teacher dashboard is great and I like that you can set tasks as assignments which are auto marked and then you can download the results to analyse where students may need a little extra suppor.

Rhiannon Dumpleton, Computer Science and IT Teacher: While some schools might be wary of the price, I think that it is very much worth it. It saves time on planning and marking, and can be used across multiple year groups. The fact that each section is 6 lessons long makes it fit well into any half-term, for students who then need extra work, or if you have lessons left over with no work to complete, you can set them a challenge and let them loose on the freecode option.