On 19 October, the North Riding campus of Nova Pioneer school hosted their Cupcakes and Coding event at the school situated inside Jackal Creek Golf Estate.
The three-hour-long workshop taught teachers from all over Johannesburg the basics of Swift coding, which is a language used by some of the top application developers worldwide.
The idea was born after stakeholders at the school decided that they wanted to play an integral part in the sustainability of education on the African continent. This goal sparked the idea to offer the class, free of charge and was inspired by the school’s wish to equip learners with the skills needed for future jobs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has emerged as a buzz word in tech and education spaces worldwide. Initiatives such as this serve to pre-empt disparities in the education system which are suspected to widen as a result of the shift in how we engage with the world.
Chief academic officer of Nova Pioneer schools in South Africa Rahel Wondwossen was eager to speak about the event.
“In the next 50 years, there will be more young people in Africa than anywhere else in the world… How do we build a future for those young people and how do we get them ready for jobs that don’t exist yet?”
The school has implemented robotics and coding in their curriculum as early as Grade R and wished to share the knowledge with local educators through their Cupcakes and Coding event. The name came about to add an element of fun to the event and attendees were all given cupcakes.
The aim was for teachers to learn from the morning workshop, taught by Demi Naidoo of Think Ahead Education Solutions, and pass on their knowledge to their schools. This formed part of Nova Pioneer’s ideals of positive change beyond their role as a school and allowed for parents present at their open day to pop by and observe as they got a sense of the school.
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