An outstanding Codeweek 2018 for Malta!

• November 22, 2018
• admin

Nadette Zerafa, Keith Aquilina

Article by Nadette Zerafa EU Code Week Ambassador and Keith Aquilina Education Coordinator

‘EU Code Week is a remarkable grass-roots initiative where people of all ages can learn about programming, computers and other tech-related activities in an engaging way. My aim is that significantly more schools, pupils and teachers participate and equip themselves with digital skills that are necessary to thrive in an increasingly digitised world.’ Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
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Nowadays, digital skills are essential so that everyone can take part in society and contribute to economic and social progress in this digital era. Coding helps develop 21st century competences such as computational thinking, problem solving, creativity and teamwork. Coding offers the possibility for young and old to become digital creators and to bring ideas to life. Learning coding and tech empowers people and teaches them skills other than just passively consuming, liking or sharing content.

EU Code Week 2018, now in its 6th year, has proven to be the most successful Codeweek to date with more than 42,000 activities registered on the map. For Malta this has also proved to be an outstanding year. Malta for the second consecutive year, has ranked first from the participating 72 countries with the most events per capita. This success would not have been possible without the collaboration of an outstanding number of collaborators namely MCAST, University of Malta, Middlesex University Malta, Easy Peasy, Robocoach, Central Public Library, Foundation for IT Accessibility (FITA), MCA, Esplora, Secretariat for Catholic Education and the Ministry of Education and Employment Directorate for Digital Literacy.

This year, a special focus is being placed on school participation, and teachers of all levels and subjects have been invited to join the movement by organising activities with their students within the framework of EU Code Week. Teachers were encouraged to give their students a first look into the world of programming and “tech” and to inspire them by incorporating practical on-line and off-line activities in their classrooms.

The European Commission supports EU Code Week, as part of its strategy for a Digital Single Market. In the Digital Education Action Plan the Commission especially encourages schools to join the initiative. The goal is to reach 50% of all schools in Europe by 2020.

Malta is one of the few countries that has reached and superseded this target. The total number of Public, Church and Independent schools who took part in this year’s code week was of 192 with the involvement of approximately 6,000 teachers and 28,300 students. This means that 82% of all Maltese schools have participated with over 186 coding events which have been held so far this year, a total which was also outstanding and which placed Malta at the top of the map with the most number of events per capita!

The Foundation’s strive to promote coding did not finish at the end of code week. Coding is all year long. If you are interested in following the latest news in coding please follow us on https://www.facebook.com/CodeEUMalta/