Coding across the curriculum: challenges for non-specialist teachers

As coding becomes an increasing component of school curricula in many countries, the critical shortage of computer science teachers means it is often taught by non-specialist teachers through integration with other learning areas. What is not well understood is how these non-specialist teachers balance the goals of their primary discipline with the computing concepts or computational thinking skills they are expected to teach. Finger and Houguet (2009) suggest a range of intrinsic and extrinsic challenges can influence how teachers implement learning programmes and affect intended and received curriculum that may well be relevant to teaching coding in schools. This chapter draws on data from an Australian Research Council Discovery Project to explore how these challenges influenced the digital technology components of an interdisciplinary unit of learning implemented by non-specialist teachers, within the context of a coding animated narrative (CAN) task. The results challenge the popular belief that teaching coding as an interdisciplinary activity is a solution to computer science teacher shortages and an overcrowded curriculum and highlights the impact of the learning environment on student outcomes.