EU Code Week is a highlight for many education professionals, pupils and other learning hubs from across Europe and beyond.
After a very successful edition in 2022, #CodeWeek 2023 is back, taking place on the 7-22 October 2023 featuring plenty of activities for everybody, including pupils, students and teachers. It even includes activities for pre-school children that can be run unplugged and do not require digital aides.
Everybody interested in joining this initiative can already start planning activities now. If you just want to join in the fun, there is an interactive map that you can browse to see the activities in your area. Podcasts are available on different subjects, such as metaverse, cybersecurity or about the benefits and risks AI and coding can bring to teaching. There are also free online training courses for teachers and anyone that is new to coding. Ah, not to forget Hackathons, regional mini-contests from which the forerunners will gain Europe-wide recognition.
Background
In fact, the Code Week is not restricted to the two weeks in October; there are plenty of activities all year around to help children get ahead in coding, computational thinking and the application of digital skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
The European Commission currently coordinates the initiative with the support of the European Schoolnet, the communication agency Gopa.com and education ministries in the EU and Western Balkan countries. The main goal of the initiative is to encourage kids and young people to discover and master the basics of coding and computational thinking and make them interested in taking up STEM subjects at school and eventually pursuing studies and careers in the digital field.
At the heart of EU Code Week are groups of motivated volunteers, including Code Week ambassadors and leading teachers from around the world.
Let’s have some figures!
The 10th edition in 2022 attracted 78 thousand activities and 3.4 million participants in 80 countries. In total, 10 countries registered more than 1,000 activities during the 2022 Code Week with Italy, Turkey and Poland topping the list.
Source: European Commission | Shaping Europe’s digital future (https://bit.ly/3orehux)