This full research paper investigates upper-secondary students programming skills. In 2021, an initialsurvey assessed the programming skills of first-year upper-secondary school students, focusing on their ability to solveproblems using block and text-based programming languages.The survey revealed significant differences between students withmandatory programming education (Group TECH) and thosewithout (Group SCI), with Group TECH outperforming GroupSCI across all categories.
The follow-up survey in 2024 evaluated the same cohort tomeasure longitudinal changes in their programming knowledgeand skills. The results showed marked improvements in GroupTECH’s performance, particularly in more complex program-ming tasks involving loops and embedded conditional statements,while Group SCI also showed progress, albeit to a lesser extent.The study found that students who engaged more frequently inprogramming activities outside of school demonstrated higheraverage scores.
Overall, students in the study entered upper-secondary mostlyprepared for programming topics mostly related to math likevariables and conditionals in block programming languages. Stu-dents that left upper-secondary, after introductory programming,were better prepared to understand loops and complex problemsin text.