Finnish teachers as adopters of educational innovation: perceptions of programming as a new part of the curriculum

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of participants (N = 943).

Background variable	Groups	N	%
Gender	Female	627	66.5
	Male	310	32.9
	Missing	6	0.6
Grade level	K–2	139	14.7
	3–6	471	49.9
	7–9	157	16.6
	K–9	156	16.5
	Other	20	2.1
Region	Metropolitan area^a	198	21.0
	Southern Finland	226	24.0
	Western Finland	204	21.6
	Eastern Finland	158	16.8
	Northern Finland	150	15.9
	Missing	7	0.7
Experience in teaching programming	None	266	28.2
	A few times	542	57.5
	Once a month	57	6.0
	At least once a week	78	8.3

^aMetropolitan area – capital of Finland, Helsinki, and its surrounding municipalities, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen

Table 2. Characteristics of innovation.

Category	Subcategory	Quote	Mentions (n)
Advantages			462
	Competence	I’m a little scared, because my own skills are not up to date. I’ve just let my programming competences get buried. Now I will just refresh my own skills and bravely try it (programming) in some form in math class.		343
	Motivation	Programming seems really interesting and at least I myself, am excited. I believe that children, too, will be excited through this and practice their thinking skills in a versatile way.		119
Complexity			372
	Teaching content	I am excited to start teaching programming as long as I get to know what and how it is reasonably taught to different grades.		221
	Tools & software	It is just fine if the resources and teacher education can keep up. Schools should have enough tools that work.		83
	Allocation	I’m a little scared of how it will be integrated into teaching, so that is doesn’t remain a secluded entity on the shoulders of a couple of teachers.		68
Compatibility			129
	Needs	A necessary skill that you learn the best when you start early through play and slowly adding to the skills.		73
	Previous experiences	The same things have been taught before but now they are thought of and structured in a new way. In the future the way of thinking that is related to coding will become increasingly important. Technology should be taught in a versatile way.		35
	Personal values	In my opinion, developing logical thinking skills in school is always a good idea! I see programming as a bridge that unites many subjects that teachers and students have to walk together.		21
Total			963

Table 3. Internal and external factors.

Category	Subcategory	Quote	Mentions (n)
Internal factors			527
	Participation	I’m a bit scared of how it will integrate into teaching so that it doesn’t remain an isolated topic taught by only a few teachers.		185
	In-service training	Interesting. Now we just need easy-access training available for everyone.		138
	Tools	I am excited, but the excitement ends when the principal announces that there is no money for tools.		84
	Time	The topic is of great interest to me. I believe it is the same for students. I wonder – will there be enough time for all the new things in the curriculum? And also the time for myself to adopt new things?		57
	School’s operational culture	There are still problems with regard to the tools and software and the internal operational culture at school. They have to first change, and the whole school commit and plan a strategy for teaching programming. The municipality needs to provide a clear budget for purchases, so that all schools have equal opportunities to implement high-quality programming teaching.		43
	Materials	It is a good thing, but hopefully, for instance, the lower secondary school teachers will receive clear materials or a clearly outlined list of topics that has to be gone through.		20
External factors			98
	Digitalized society	I think it is a good thing because technology is developing at a pace that the current teaching will leave students behind in work life. The downside is that is adds to the teacher’s workload and raises the demand level.		41
	Core curriculum	The topic is surely important from the point of view of society. As a teacher, I experience inadequacy with the lack of training, as the new curriculum is already being implemented.		35
	21^st century competencies	Coding is a fairly necessary skill nowadays, and the youth become employed in industries where it is needed, so it is good that it is being taught from a young age.		22
Total			625

Table 4. Categories of teachers’ attitudes towards programming as a new part of the curriculum.

Category	Description	Quote	n	%
Negative attitude	The teacher presents a negative or even pessimistic attitude and does not find the change important or relevant.	Unlikely to change anything	39	4.2
Conditionally negative	The teacher expresses concern for the change on a practical level.	A little insecure about my own competence and about the materials available	86	9.3
Neutral	The teacher has a neutral outlook towards the change.	Doesn’t raise any special thoughts	91	9.9
Change from negative to more positive	The teacher explains that they previously had a negative attitude, but it has changed now to a more positive one.	I was terrified before, but the training gave me tools.	92	10.0
Conditionally positive	The teacher expresses mixed feelings and mostly sees the change positively but is worried about something related to it.	Interesting. I am wondering a bit if my competence and time are enough.	256	27.7
Positive attitude	The teacher shows enthusiasm and considers programming important.	Interesting, exciting, a great way to learning thinking skills	359	38.9

Table 5. Teachers’ emotions in relation to their attitudes towards programming as a new part of the curriculum (number of mentions).

	Attitude
	Negative	Conditionally negative	Neutral	Change from negative to more positive	Conditionally positive	Positive	Total
Emotion
Anxiety	15	14		45	28	2	104
Confusion	5	6	1	9	27		48
Insecurity		8		2	4		14
Worry		3		4	6		13
Curiosity			3	14	82	108	207
Elation				17	45	88	150
Total							536