Framing Computational Thinking and Digital Competence in Technology Education

Computational Thinking (CT) has developed as a worldwide priority area for compulsory school education since it was proposed as a central 21st century skill by Wing in 2006. CT and Digital Competence are highly visible parts of the European Union and Swedish discourse on strategic workforce development and the Swedish innovation agenda. This chapter explores the emerging role of CT and digital competence in the Swedish compulsory school curriculum. We focus on the subject of technology, its historical role in equipping generations of young Swedes for a career in the technology and engineering domains, and the development of the subject during the 20th century as a result of shifts in government policy, and under the influence of curricula reforms. We conclude that “Technology” is a natural home for CT and related skills such as systems design and development of programmed technical solutions in the current educational system, and propose that the relevance and identity of the technology subject be strengthened through systematic integration of a higher degree of CT into classroom practice.