Overview
Since 2017, the Canadian Federal government has invested $110m CAD through the CanCode initiative, which supports programmes, code clubs, teacher training and outreach workshops to support the development of digital skills, coding and computational thinking across all Canadian territories.
The CanCode initiative aims to base funding decisions on applicants which demonstrate how they are able to reach traditionally underrepresented groups such as girls, Indigenous young people and young people with disabilities or learning difficulties.
Many of the beneficiaries of CanCode funding have used grant funding to bring the micro:bit into Canadian classrooms and communities, with the support of Lighthouse Labs, Code Club CA and Newark Element 14.
Curriculum context
Responsibility for curriculum design and implementation is handled at the provincial government level, meaning that each of the 13 Canadian provinces, while done in consultation with each other, defines their curricular priorities to suit their needs.
Computing and digital skills are a firm part of the curricular agenda in Canada, and increasingly activities which begin to form the basis for these skills are being introduced from grade 1 (age 5-6) onwards, though this may vary province to province. Such skills are explored through unplugged activities and games as part of ICT lessons, with more formal block-based coding and computational thinking implemented from roughly grade 4 or 5 onwards (age 9+).
Code Clubs and after-school initiatives are increasingly popular at the local level, with many programmes offered as both extra-curricular and as part of community outreach work.