Discourses of Programming Teaching within Compulsory Education – Fixed or Changeable?

Knowledge linked to programming has recently been extensively strengthened in curricula and syllabi in the Swedish compulsory school. The introduction of this new content requires that teachers have to be trained in programming and programming teaching. The aim of this study is to investigate what content and values that emerge as important in a professional development course and in the participating teachers’ teaching in their classrooms. Data was collected by observation of the teaching sessions within the course as well as in three of the teachers ́ teaching, where notes were made continuously. By using a discourse analytical perspective, content and values that emerged as important within the teaching were identified. The findings show that the content knowledge in the teacher training course is taken for granted within the school context, as well as in itself. In addition, normative values and steering strategies have been identified within the teacher training course. In the classroom studies, similar values were identified among the teachers. A potential problem within the teaching practice was found in terms of a lack of progression of the content related to programming, as well as difficulties in relating the use of programming to relevant contexts.