World Coding Day is on 29 October and it’s worth asking what Foundation Phase teachers in South Africa really need from Coding and Robotics. The answer isn’t flashy kits or complex software. It’s confidence that translates policy into practice, and to make problem-solving feel like play, to incorporate sequencing, patterns and simple robotics into reading groups and number sense without turning the timetable upside down. When practical support inspires confidence, classrooms move forward.
That’s the lens through which we have approached Coding & Robotics. We have started where teachers are, in real schools with opportunities for growth and a need to solve challenges and build from there. Over the past few years, working alongside provincial subject advisors, we’ve run hands-on workshops that model how to introduce core Coding and Robotics ideas through low-tech, “unplugged” activities. The workshop focuses on what teachers keep asking for: concrete examples, simple routines, and links to literacy and numeracy that don’t demand more hours in a day. The programme has scaled significantly with 37 workshops reaching 1783 teachers across all regions already completed. “A very exciting and well-presented workshop. Very informative and the training has given us more strategies to use in our teaching and learning.” – Limpopo Teacher (C&R workshop attendee)
Workshops alone, however, aren’t enough. Teachers need materials they can open on a Monday morning and actually use. That’s why training is paired with classroom-ready resources. The Oxford Illustrated Coding & Robotics Dictionary strips away jargon with plain-language definitions and visuals so that new terms don’t become barriers. The Oxford Foundation Phase series integrates age-appropriate Coding and Robotics tasks into existing lessons. The outcome we care about, is that teachers become able to model thinking, guide a quick build-and-test, and help children reflect on what worked and why.
The Department of Basic Education’s revised plan for 2025/26 prioritises literacy and numeracy over the mandatory implementation of Coding and Robotics. For some, that sounds like a pause. For teachers, it can be an opportunity to strengthen the very foundations the country wants to consolidate. Pattern recognition underpins phonics, step-by-step instructions sharpen comprehension, debugging mirrors the way young children learn to check their work. If we equip teachers now, the system is more prepared when full roll-out arrives and learners benefit immediately from improved core skills.
Teachers tell us they can now set a five-minute sequencing warm-up before reading, or run a “give instructions, then debug” game that doubles as a language exercise. They describe how a simple, unplugged robot path becomes a discussion about direction words and measurement. These are not headline-grabbing moments. They are the daily moves that change classrooms.
World Coding Day is a reminder that the future is not waiting for us to be ready. But readiness is built, not announced. If we keep backing teachers with practical training and resources that make sense in the Foundation Phase, we strengthen literacy and numeracy today while laying tracks for tomorrow’s full Coding and Robotics implementation. Our commitment is to stay in the work: continuing partnerships with subject advisors and districts, expanding access to training, and getting the right materials into the right hands so that confidence grows where it counts – inside the classroom.
Celebrate big visions if you like. The real story is with a teacher who feels ready, a class that tries, a lesson that lands. That’s how progress looks, one routine at a time.
