Computational thinking adds value to education policies, highlights President of the Government - Communication

Presidência do Governo Regional

The President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, defended today the role of computational thinking as "very important from an educational perspective" to consolidate a political strategy towards a successful education in the Region.

Speaking after a visit to Água de Pau Basic Education School, where he attended a computational thinking class, José Manuel Bolieiro praised the "commitment" of teachers and school boards to this project.

"In the face of innovation, they did not have any doubts," he highlighted, defining the project as a foundation for "educational success."

About Água de Pau school, José Manuel Bolieiro highlighted the "excellent" conditions of the space, but acknowledged the difficulties of the local school community, as 75% of the school's students benefit from school welfare support.

"We will increase the 2023 Plan and Budget by 22%" compared to 2022 in the area of school welfare, José Manuel Bolieiro announced, mentioning the documents that will be discussed and voted on next week at the Legislative Assembly.  

The computational thinking project was coordinated by Professor Miles Berry, from the University of Roehampton in London, who is responsible for the design and implementation of computational thinking in British schools.

In the previous year, which was the first year of the project's implementation, training was provided to all the teachers who joined the project and tools were created by the team to be used with students in subsequent years.

This school year, the project has effectively reached the classrooms, with the participating teachers carrying out recreational and educational activities with students.

In this second year of implementation, the focus was on the 1st grade. Next year, it will cover the 1st and 2nd grades (those who were in the 1st grade in the previous year), and successively until all students from the 1st to the 6th grades are covered by the programme.

After attending a class, José Manuel Bolieiro, accompanied by the Regional Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs, Sofia Ribeiro, had lunch at the school canteen with students and teachers.