Taking coding and AI education to the next level in K-12

Image: Westlake International School

“Trust Code School Finland. They are professionals, they know what they are doing.”
Bry Ern Low, Senior Teacher

Background

Westlake International School is a K-12 school located in Kampar, Malaysia. The school pivots strongly towards the skills of the future and actively implements coding, programming, and robotics modules in its primary curriculum.

Key facts about Westlake International School:

a fully-private school

around 600 students

uses The Cambridge Primary Curriculum

The challenge

The school wanted to incorporate full-on digital skills modules into their curriculum but did not have the means. Two of the participating teachers had zero experience in programming before starting their training (they later implemented two amazing projects). Senior teacher Bry Ern Low stated:

“To implement a change like this, you need a lot of resources which we did not have. It would have been very difficult to create this all by ourselves. The solution we were using at the time was The Applied Digital Skills Programme by Google. Our students were not engaged, it was too passive for them.”

Friction and doubts

As in any business situation, the management had different considerations. Given that Code School Finland applies Finnish educational philosophy, Bry Ern had reservations over the ability of Teachease to deliver results that fit the learning approach at Westlake.

“We had a number of concerns. Why would we use a solution by a relatively small business on the other side of the world? How would courses built on Finnish school philosophy fit our objectives? What if the final solution does not align with the needs of our teachers and students?”

Results

The implementation of Teachease has been smoothed than anticipated, especially when it comes to teacher qualification. It was a hands-off experience for management.

“Trust Code School Finland. They are professionals, they know what they are doing.”