An analysis of the current situation of teaching programming in Primary Education

The interest in studying Computer Science has extended worldwide to children in the last years. In Spain, teaching is regulated with RDA (Royal Decree Act) 89/2014. According to this RDA, the subject “Technology and Digital Resources for Learning Improvement” is configured as an Autonomic Free Configuration Subject, and in the case of Autonomous Community of Madrid (ACM), the subject is compulsory. This paper presents the results of a survey sent to 318 educational centers in Madrid. The goal of the survey was to find out the current situation of programming teaching in Primary Education. Forty six schools filled and returned the survey showing that: (a) 100% of the schools consider that teaching programming in Primary Education is useful; and, (b) 39.1% of the schools are unable to teach programming because they find difficult to accommodate the timetable of the subject, and (or) they lack teachers with enough knowledge and training for the subject. In the schools where the subject is taught, most teachers rely on using Scratch or games, but they lack an adequate methodology. When the schools were asked about the possibility of implementing a methodology based on metaphors, 63% of them approved the idea, and 61% were in favor of applying it in their classrooms.