Enrollment is focused on kindergartens, and teachers are ＂released＂ in a week … A survey of children’s programming training institutions
Although my son just entered the first grade of primary school this year, Xu Ying has started asking around about the registration of children’s programming. "Ignorance of programming is illiteracy in the new era", and the voice from the training institution made her feel anxious. Knowing nothing about programming, she was worried that her son would lose at the starting line and decided to take action as soon as possible.
The tuition fee, which starts at ten thousand yuan a year, is not a small sum for her, but it may not be able to get reliable teaching quality. The reporter’s investigation found that some institutions have very low requirements for franchisees’ teachers, and zero-based staff can take up their posts and teach after one week of training, and some even take as short as two or three days.
student recruitment
Kindergarten children with tuition fees of tens of thousands are "the most sought after"
Searching for "children’s programming" on the Internet, a variety of organization names appeared in front of Xu Ying. "Online and offline, most of the course contents include Scratch, Python, and robot programming, like me ‘ Layman ’ I really don’t know how to choose. " Under the entanglement, Xu Ying intends to conduct a field trip to the offline institutions closer to home.
"I thought I acted early, but I didn’t expect it to be ‘ Half a beat ’ 。” In the training institution, Xu Ying was surprised to see many children who just went to kindergarten. According to the course consultant, in the past, children’s programming was based on computer operation, and the starting point was relatively high. Generally, they had to go to primary school at least to get started. Nowadays, the Legou building block course, which focuses on construction, has been incorporated into the whole system as "programming thinking enlightenment", and children aged 3 to 6 have become the training objects of institutions.
In the investigation, the reporter also found that the trend of younger children’s programming is becoming more and more obvious. Take Chaoyang Joy City as an example. Within 1km of Fiona Fang, there are at least eight institutions offering children’s programming courses, and seven of them are for preschool children.
"Early exposure to these can exercise children’s logical thinking ability, and later learning higher-level programming has an advantage over others." In the consultation, the course consultant strongly recommended to the reporter, "Now, there are construction competitions in the kindergarten stage. After going to primary school, programming learning is more helpful for further studies. For example, at the beginning of junior high school, if you can have a certificate to participate in the competition, you can give priority to admission. In the middle school stage, there is also the Informatics Olympics, and programming can increase the weight of children entering prestigious schools. "
According to the course consultant, the institution currently provides two learning paths. One is based on hardware, focusing on the intelligent control of robots by programming. The other is software-oriented. At the age of 6, you can learn Scratch graphic programming, and at the age of 9, you can enter Python code programming. After that, there are courses specifically for informatics Olympics.
"The tuition fees are different at different stages, and the enlightenment stage is cheaper." According to the course consultant, there are usually 80 class hours in a school year, and each class is divided into 2 classes. Lego creative enlightenment for 3 to 6 years old is at least 8,400 yuan, while Scratch’s discount is at least 15,000 yuan, which is equivalent to 375 yuan per class.
survey
Send courseware to teach speech teachers a week "out of the oven"
In the online search for children’s programming, in addition to a variety of marketing advertisements, there are many joining advertisements for national investment promotion. The reporter immediately called a Beijing-based institution on the grounds of consulting and joining, and the staff said that the one-time fee was 106,000. There are not too many rigid requirements for franchisees except that the venue is suggested to be 150 square meters to 200 square meters and equipped with 3 to 4 classrooms.
When the reporter raised the concern that the teachers were not professional enough, the staff said that the programming course was divided into different stages and the requirements for teachers were different. Among them, the 4-to 7-year-old programming thinking enlightenment does not need to be carried out on the computer, as long as the teaching AIDS developed by the organization are used; From 7 to 12 years old, the first half is Scratch graphical programming, and the second half is Python code programming. From 12 to 18 years old, it is more advanced artificial intelligence and C++ algorithm. "The requirements for teachers in the enlightenment and Scratch stages of programming thinking are lower, as long as it is a college diploma or above. There is no restriction on majors. The key is to have affinity. You can start these two stages of courses first. When you go to an advanced course, you need a background in computer and other related majors, and it is not too late to recruit the right person. " The staff said that the recruited teachers will have a week of offline training at the Beijing headquarters, and even if they are zero-based, they can start teaching soon.
"Generally speaking, a single store only needs two or three teachers. Under the age of seven, a teacher can take six or eight students. If it is over 7 years old, a teacher can bring 8 to 10 students. " Aware of the reporter’s hesitation, the staff further stated that programming has been included in the new curriculum standard, which is a compulsory course. Primary and secondary schools have to study and take exams, which is linked to the college entrance examination, so the market potential is huge. "There is no strict requirement for pricing here at the headquarters, as long as it is reported in advance, it is not much worse. For example, in Beijing, there are 48 classes a year, and you can receive more than 10,000 yuan within the Fourth Ring Road. If the location is a little bit off, you can receive 8,900 yuan. In addition, it is different between districts, and Haidian is more expensive than Fengtai. "
When consulting another children’s programming organization headquartered in Beijing, the staff gave a low threshold for franchisees. "Most of the children’s programming on the market now begins at the age of six or seven. Our courses are specially designed for three to six years old. At this stage, the requirements for teachers are not so high, and kindergarten teachers are professional, which is somewhat similar to early education. Usually the training time is one week, but in the younger stage, two to three days is almost the same. We will provide courseware for teachers and also teach verbal skills. "
As for enrollment, the staff said that they can sell small class hours at the entrance of the kindergarten, preferably three or four in-depth audition classes, which is much higher than the conversion rate of free audition classes. "Three to six years old is a huge market. To put it bluntly, it is actually the function of drainage and water storage. When these children grow up, they are likely to learn a higher level of programming, so you are equal to occupying the students in advance. Many students have been taken away by other institutions before they start recruiting at the age of six. " The staff repeatedly stated that the headquarters does not charge the joining fee, but charges a one-time comprehensive service fee. The specific price depends on the city. "For example, there are 300,000 in the north, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, 200,000 in the new first-tier cities, and the lowest county is 135,000. Student fees are also graded. Beijing costs more than 10 thousand a year, and there are 36 classes a year, excluding winter and summer vacations. The cost is lower in the younger stage, and the more expensive it is. "
remind
Don’t be brainwashed to learn logic without writing code.
"At present, children’s programming education in the market has the problem of excessive hype to a certain extent. For children who are still in primary school or even kindergarten, there is actually no need for universal children’s programming education." Zhou Lizhu, a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology in Tsinghua University, said that from the perspective of programming learning itself, we should teach students in accordance with their personal interests and characteristics after their mental development is relatively mature. If indoctrination is carried out too early and the method is not scientific enough, it will not be conducive to the long-term development of children.
"Some training institutions claim that children can make small games and other works in a short time, and more are just gimmicks for commercial operation. Parents don’t have to blindly follow suit." In Zhou Lizhu’s view, instead of rushing to the so-called children’s programming training class, it is better to lay a solid foundation first. For example, learn Chinese well and shape good expression ability; Learn mathematics well and cultivate strict thinking habits; Learn foreign languages well and adapt to the increasingly open development environment. In addition, it is also very important to establish correct values and have good moral quality, which will affect personal growth more deeply.
"It should also be noted that logical thinking and programming are two different things, and the real logical thinking ability is not exercised in writing code." Zhou Lizhu said that programming is only a skill after all, and not everyone has to master it like painting. In order to really improve logical thinking ability, we need comprehensive training in many aspects, rather than simply expecting to get it in programming training.
"Some training institutions overemphasize the urgency of learning programming, and continue to develop towards younger age, which brings unnecessary anxiety to many parents. In fact, programming learning doesn’t need and shouldn’t be a competition for all people. Just like the Olympics, it is only suitable for some students who really have this talent and interest. Parents don’t have to blindly follow the trend and are led by the gimmicks made by training institutions. " Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the China Academy of Educational Sciences, said that at present, the children’s programming training institutions in the market are still immature, the teaching quality is uneven, the industry standards are chaotic, the curriculum system is lacking, and professional teachers are scarce. Parents should be extra cautious when choosing, and relevant departments should also conduct an inventory to eliminate those informal institutions that only want to "make quick money" in time.
"The propaganda that some training institutions wantonly link programming with further studies should also be rectified." Chu Zhaohui also said that according to the Advertising Law, advertisements for education and training should not contain explicit or implied guarantee commitments for further studies, passing exams, obtaining degree or qualification certificates, or for the effects of education and training.
Our reporter Zong Yuanyuan’s illustration Song Xi