Canada · School curricula · Coding and computer science
Coding curriculum by province in Canada
Canada has no national school curriculum. Each province and territory writes or adopts its own, so "does my child learn coding at school?" has thirteen different answers. This page gives all thirteen in one table, taken from each government's own curriculum pages as they read on 22 October 2026: the ministry or department, where coding or computer science appears, and one fact we checked word for word. Several government sites were offline or blocked our requests that day. For those rows we say "not verified" and leave the cell empty of guesses, because a wrong course name is worse than a missing one.
Teaching live online since 2020 · 10,000+ students · every row checked against a government page, or marked not verified
In short
Each province sets its own coding curriculum. Ontario puts coding in Grades 1 to 8 math and offers ICS3U and ICS4U; BC uses ADST and Computer Science 11 and 12; Saskatchewan and Manitoba run computer science courses. Modern Age Coders teaches live online alongside any of them, in a batch or one to one, including its Ontario Computer Science Companion.
Learn alongside school
Three courses that sit next to a provincial curriculum
The first follows Ontario's senior computer science courses closely. The other two build the habits every province's coding expectations lean on, at two ages.
Coding and computer science in each province and territory
One row per jurisdiction. The ministry or department column uses the name printed on that government's own page. "Not verified" means we could not read a primary source on 22 October 2026; it does not mean the subject is absent there.
Coding and computer science in Canadian school curricula, from government pages read on 22 October 2026
Province or territory
Ministry or department, as its own page names it
Where coding or computer science appears
One verified fact
Status
Ontario
Ministry of Education
Grades 1 to 8 math (coding expectations); Grade 9 MTH1W; Grade 10 ICD2O; ICS3U, ICS3C, ICS4U, ICS4C
Every grade from 1 to 8 carries the same coding expectation: "solve problems and create computational representations of mathematical situations using coding concepts and skills".
Verified
Quebec
Ministère de l'Éducation
No stand-alone computer science course in the Secondary I to V subject list; college programs 200.C0 and 420.B0
Québec.ca lists "Computer Science and Mathematics (200.C0)" among the main pre-university college programs.
Verified
British Columbia
Education and Child Care
ADST modules in Grades 6 and 7; ADST 10 to 12 computing courses; Computer Science 11 and 12 under Mathematics
The Grade 6 Computational Thinking module names "visual programming", "for example, Kodu, Scratch".
Verified
Alberta
Alberta Education and Childcare
Draft Grades 7 to 9 curriculum names computer science; high school computing options not verified
The draft is being piloted "ahead of mandatory implementation in September 2027".
Partly verified
Saskatchewan
Ministry of Education
Computer Science 20 and Computer Science 30
The curriculum site files Computer Science 20 with "other science curricula".
Verified
Manitoba
Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning
Computer Science framework for the senior years
The framework covers "Senior 2 (20S), Senior 3 (30S), and Senior 4 (40S) Computer Science".
Verified
New Brunswick
Not verified (the provincial government site blocked us)
Computer Science 110 and 120, Cybersecurity 120, Cybersecurity and Technical Support 110, Technology 9
Computer Science 110: "Learners will gain a strong foundation in coding while demonstrating operational skills, using computational thinking".
Partly verified
Nova Scotia
Not verified (the curriculum site did not connect)
Computer Programming 12, offered through the Nova Scotia Virtual School
The virtual school lists "CodeHS: NSVS Computer Programming 12 (Java)."
Partly verified
Prince Edward Island
Not verified
Not verified
The government site was offline on 21 October and showed a bot check on 22 October 2026, so we stopped.
Not verified
Newfoundland and Labrador
Not verified
Not verified
The government site returned server errors on 21 and 22 October 2026.
Not verified
Yukon
Not verified
Not verified
yukon.ca refused our request with a security challenge. We make no claim about which curriculum Yukon uses.
Not verified
Northwest Territories
Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE)
Moving to an adapted version of BC's curriculum, including its design and technology learning
ECE says it is "partnering with the British Columbia Ministry of Education to start using that province's curriculum".
Verified
Nunavut
Not verified
Not verified
The territorial government site refused our request with a security challenge.
Not verified
How to read the status column: "verified" means the course names and the quoted fact came from a government or government-run curriculum page that we saved as a raw file on 22 October 2026. "Partly verified" means the course list came from a provincial curriculum or virtual-school page, but the ministry name or a wider picture did not. Course names and offerings vary by school board and by school, so a course on a provincial list may not be taught at a particular school.
Ontario: coding from Grade 1 math to Grade 12 computer science
Ontario has the most detailed published coding expectations in the country. Its 2020 elementary math curriculum puts coding inside the algebra strand for every grade, and each grade adds one idea to the last. The table quotes the expectation C3.1 as the ministry's curriculum service returns it.
What Ontario's C3.1 coding expectation adds in each grade (Mathematics, 2020), quoted from the Ontario curriculum service, read 22 October 2026
Grade
C3.1 asks for code that involves
In plain words (ours)
1
"sequential events"
Steps that run one after another
2
"sequential and concurrent events"
Two things happening at the same time
3
"sequential, concurrent, and repeating events"
Loops
4
"sequential, concurrent, repeating, and nested events"
A loop inside a loop
5
"conditional statements and other control structures"
If this, then that
6
"efficient code" with "conditional statements and other control structures"
The same result in fewer steps
7
"events influenced by a defined count and/or subprogram and other control structures"
Counted loops and reusable pieces
8
"the analysis of data in order to inform and communicate decisions"
Code that answers a question from data
Grade 9 and Grade 10
The de-streamed Grade 9 course MTH1W (issued 2021) keeps coding in math. Its course description says "Students will use mathematical processes, mathematical modelling, and coding to make sense of the mathematics they are learning", and expectation C2.3 asks students to "read code to predict its outcome, and alter code to adjust constraints, parameters, and outcomes".
In Grade 10 the current list adds ICD2O, Digital Technology and Innovations in the Changing World, issued in 2023 as an open course. Its description has students "investigate artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other emerging digital technologies", and its strands are "Computational Thinking and Making Connections", "Hardware, Software, and Innovations" and "Programming".
Grades 11 and 12
The senior courses date from 2008: ICS3U and ICS3C in Grade 11, ICS4U and ICS4C in Grade 12, university and college preparation respectively. ICS4U needs ICS3U first; ICS3U itself has no prerequisite. Our ICS3U help page takes that course strand by strand.
Two facts sit side by side and we do not join them: the 2008 curriculum PDF describes a Grade 10 course ICS2O, and the current course list on the ministry's site does not include it. Neither source says one course replaced the other.
Science has coding too. The 2022 Science and Technology curriculum asks Grade 6 students to "use coding in investigations and to model concepts, and assess the impact of coding and of emerging technologies on everyday life". And at graduation, computer studies is one of the subjects in the STEM group of the Ontario diploma's compulsory credits: Ontario.ca says "Of the 17 compulsory credits, you must complete 1 from the following group", and computer studies is on that list alongside business studies and cooperative education, among others.
Sources: Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum service (elementary math by grade, Science and Technology Grade 6, MTH1W, the computer studies course list) and Ontario.ca graduation requirements, read 22 October 2026.
British Columbia and the NWT
BC teaches coding through design and technology, and the NWT is adopting it
British Columbia files most of its coding under Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies (ADST), a subject of its own, and keeps a second, separate pair of computer science courses under Mathematics. The Northwest Territories has chosen to adopt and adapt the BC curriculum.
Coding and computing courses in the BC curriculum, from curriculum.gov.bc.ca (read 22 October 2026)
Stage
Course or module
What BC's page says
Grades 6 and 7
ADST modules
"Students will experience a minimum of three modules of Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies 6-7 in each of Grades 6 and 7."
Grade 6
Computational Thinking module
Content includes "simple algorithms" and "visual programming", "for example, Kodu, Scratch".
Grade 10
Computer Studies 10, Web Development 10
Listed among the ADST 10 to 12 courses.
Grade 11
Computer Programming 11
Computational thinking defined: "Key components are decomposition, patterns and generalizations, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking."
Grade 12
Computer Programming 12
Content includes "higher-level structures, such as functions, methods, or classes, that help improve the organization of source code".
Grades 11 and 12
Computer Information Systems 11 and 12, Robotics 11 and 12
Listed among the ADST 10 to 12 courses.
Grades 11 and 12
Computer Science 11 and 12 (under Mathematics)
Computer Science 11 includes decomposition: "dividing complex problems into parts that are easier to conceive, understand, and program".
Two routes to programming in BC high schools
A BC student can meet programming in ADST (Computer Programming 11 and 12) or in Mathematics (Computer Science 11 and 12). They are different courses in different subject areas on the curriculum site, and a school may offer one, both or neither.
For families, the useful question to ask the school is which of the two it runs, and in which language. The curriculum describes concepts, not a required programming language.
The Northwest Territories
ECE, the territorial department, says "Curriculum in the Northwest Territories is managed by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE)", and that it is "partnering with the British Columbia Ministry of Education to start using that province's curriculum", with every subject reviewed and adapted where needed.
Its reasons include that BC's curriculum "teaches students the ability to design, make, acquire, and apply skills and technologies". ECE also records that 2022-23 was the "final year that NWT students take the Alberta Achievement Tests (AATs)".
The Prairies: renewal in Alberta, named courses in Saskatchewan and Manitoba
The three Prairie provinces are at different points. Alberta is rewriting its curriculum grade band by grade band; Saskatchewan and Manitoba each publish computer science courses for the senior grades.
Alberta
Alberta Education and Childcare's curriculum history page says "By integrating topics like artificial intelligence, computer science and money management, Alberta's renewed curriculum will help students prepare", for the draft Grades 7 to 9 subjects, which schools may pilot in 2026/27 "ahead of mandatory implementation in September 2027". The page files the new K to 6 math under 2022/2023. We could not verify Alberta's high school computing courses from a primary source.
Saskatchewan
The Ministry of Education's curriculum site lists Computer Science 20 and Computer Science 30 as provincial curricula. On the Computer Science 20 page, the ministry notes that "teachers developed, adapted or identified resources/materials for Computer Science 20 and other science curricula", which places the course in the science family.
Manitoba
Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning publishes a Computer Science framework for "Senior 2 (20S), Senior 3 (30S), and Senior 4 (40S) Computer Science". The department also posted, on 14 September 2026, that two new Grade 9 math courses are in pilot for 2026/27, "with full implementation planned for school year 2027/28".
The course numbers follow each province's own system. Manitoba's framework spells its own labels out: Senior 2 is 20S, Senior 3 is 30S and Senior 4 is 40S. The Saskatchewan pages we read give course names without a grade beside them. We print the names exactly as the ministries do and leave the grade mapping to each school's course calendar, which is the document a student actually registers from.
Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador
East of Ontario the published picture is thinner, partly because of the curricula and partly because several government sites could not be read on the day.
Quebec
The Québec Education Program at secondary level, Québec.ca says, "comprises programs of study for students from Secondary I to Secondary V". Its subject list, read on 22 October 2026, groups mathematics with science and technology courses and names no stand-alone computer science course.
Programming appears formally at college. Québec.ca's list of pre-university programs includes "Computer Science and Mathematics (200.C0)", and its technical programs include "420.B0 - Computer Science Technology". Both are CEGEP programs that follow secondary school.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
New Brunswick's curriculum site lists Computer Science 110, Computer Science 120, Cybersecurity 120, Cybersecurity and Technical Support 110 and Technology 9. The Computer Science 110 page also mentions AI-assisted debugging tools alongside coding environments, one of the few provincial pages we read that does.
Nova Scotia's Virtual School describes Computer Programming 12 by its "Modules: Problem Solving in Computer Programming, Fundamentals of Programming, Applied Problem Solving, Project Development." and lists it on CodeHS in Java. The province's own curriculum site did not connect, so we cannot say how widely schools offer it.
Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador: not verified. On 21 October 2026 the PEI government site showed an offline notice, and on 22 October it put up a bot check, so we stopped rather than work around it. Newfoundland and Labrador's government site returned server errors on both days. We print nothing about either province's coding courses until a primary page can be read.
One task, two programs: what "efficient code" means in practice
Ontario's Grade 6 expectation asks students to "describe how changes to the code affect the outcomes and the efficiency of the code", and BC's Computer Programming 11 names decomposition, patterns, abstraction and algorithmic thinking. This example is ours, written for this page, and shows both ideas on a very Canadian data set: days that thaw by afternoon and freeze again overnight.
The task (ours). Given ten days of high and low temperatures, count the freeze-thaw days (high above zero, low below zero), then find the longest run of them in a row. We solve the run question twice, once slowly and once efficiently, and count how many checks each version makes.
Our solution in Pythonpython
# Our worked example: freeze-thaw days (written by Modern Age Coders)
highs = [3, -2, 4, 1, 0, 5, 2, -6, 1, 3]
lows = [-4, -9, -1, -3, -5, -2, 1, -11, -2, -1]
def is_freeze_thaw(high, low):
# above zero by day, below zero by night
return high > 0 and low < 0
def mark_days(highs, lows):
return [is_freeze_thaw(h, l) for h, l in zip(highs, lows)]
def longest_run_slow(flags):
longest, checks = 0, 0
for start in range(len(flags)):
run = 0
for i in range(start, len(flags)):
checks += 1
if not flags[i]:
break
run += 1
longest = max(longest, run)
return longest, checks
def longest_run_fast(flags):
longest, run, checks = 0, 0, 0
for f in flags:
checks += 1
run = run + 1 if f else 0
longest = max(longest, run)
return longest, checks
flags = mark_days(highs, lows)
print("freeze-thaw days:", sum(flags))
print("slow:", longest_run_slow(flags))
print("fast:", longest_run_fast(flags))
# a 120-day winter where every day is freeze-thaw
winter = [True] * 120
print("checks on 120 days:", longest_run_slow(winter)[1], "vs", longest_run_fast(winter)[1])
What it prints (run on 22 October 2026)text
freeze-thaw days: 6
slow: (2, 16)
fast: (2, 10)
checks on 120 days: 7260 vs 120
Both versions give the same answer, a longest run of 2, so the outcome is unchanged. The efficiency is not: on ten days the slow version makes 16 checks and the fast one 10. On a 120-day winter where every day freeze-thaws, the slow version makes 7260 checks, which is 120 x 121 / 2 (our arithmetic), against 120 for the fast one.
Where the four ideas show up
Decomposition: the job is split into three functions, one to judge a day, one to mark every day, one to find the run. Pattern: the same test runs on every day. Abstraction: is_freeze_thaw hides the rule, so changing "below zero" to "below minus two" touches one line.
Algorithm: the fast version keeps a running count and resets it on a non-freeze-thaw day, so it looks at each day once. That one idea is the difference between 7260 checks and 120.
How a student should study it
Predict the output before running anything. Then change one value, say the high on day 5 from 0 to 1, and predict again. Day 5 becomes a freeze-thaw day, days 3 to 6 join into one run, and the longest run jumps from 2 to 4 (we ran it: the slow version then makes 22 checks, the fast one still 10).
That habit, predicting and then checking, is close to what Ontario's MTH1W calls reading code "to predict its outcome", and it is how we teach in every class: think it through first, then let the computer confirm or correct you.
For parents
How to find out what your child's school actually teaches
A provincial curriculum says what may be taught. A school's course calendar says what is. Four steps, in the order we suggest them to families.
Find your row above and note the course names your province uses, exactly as written. Searching a school calendar for "coding" often misses a course called Computer Studies 10 or Computer Science 110.
Open the school's course calendar for 2026 to 2027 and look for those names, then check which grade they open in and what they require first. In Ontario, for example, ICS4U requires ICS3U.
Ask which language the class uses. Provincial pages describe concepts; schools choose Python, Java, JavaScript or a block language. Learning the same language at home saves a student weeks.
Match outside learning to the school's timing. A student who meets loops at home a month before the class does will find the course calmer. One who learns something unrelated may simply be busier.
What to work on at home, by grade band (our guidance, not any ministry's)
Grade band
What provinces commonly expect, from the pages above
What we suggest alongside
Grades 1 to 5
Sequences, loops and conditions, often in block code (Ontario C3; BC modules from Grade 6)
Short daily puzzles; explaining each step aloud before running it
Grades 6 to 8
Efficiency, subprograms, simple data (Ontario Grades 6 to 8; BC Computational Thinking)
A first typed language, usually Python, and small programs that answer real questions
Grade 9 and 10
Coding inside math (MTH1W) and first digital technology courses (ICD2O, Computer Studies 10)
Reading other people's code, and writing tests for their own
Grades 11 and 12
Named computer science courses: ICS3U and ICS4U, Computer Programming 11 and 12, Computer Science 20 and 30, 30S and 40S
Larger projects with structure: functions, classes, version control
What we could not check
The gaps in this page, listed openly
A reference page is only useful if its blank cells are honest. These are the claims we chose not to make, and why.
Not printed, because no primary source was read
Any coding or computer science course name for Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon or Nunavut. Any claim about which curriculum Yukon follows. The departmental names for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Alberta's Career and Technology Studies computing courses: the old provincial PDF now shows a "We've Moved" notice, the new curriculum site needs JavaScript to show any text, and the open-data host refused us.
Printed carefully, because sources only go so far
Ontario's ICS2O and ICD2O are given as two separate facts, without a claim that one replaced the other. Saskatchewan and Manitoba course levels are given as the ministries name them, without our own grade mapping in the main table.
We will update a row when its government site can be read. If you work in one of these systems and can point to the official page, the contact details at the foot of this page reach us.
Where a student starts
Four stages, whichever province you are in
Our stages, not a ministry's. The teacher uses them in the free class to decide where a new student begins.
From first steps to senior computer science (ours)
Stage
What it looks like
1. Following steps
Can run and change a block or typed program someone else wrote
2. Building small programs
Writes loops and conditions from a blank screen, with a little help
3. Splitting problems
Breaks a task into functions and tests each one
4. Designing software
Plans a program before writing it, and can explain why one version is faster
For parents
The provincial course name matters less than the stage. A Grade 9 student at stage 1 needs the same first months as a Grade 6 student at stage 1.
Stage 3 is the turning point for senior courses such as ICS3U or Computer Programming 11, which assume a student can split a problem up.
For students
Say what a program will print before you run it. Being wrong is useful: it shows you exactly what you misread.
Keep your old programs. Rewriting one a year later, faster and shorter, is the clearest proof of progress you will have.
The catalogue
Nine courses for Canadian students, from first code to university
Every course is taught live online by a regular teacher, in a batch or one to one, for students in any province or territory.
A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.
by Krish
Fees
Fees
The school course belongs to the school, and we do not replace it. Our classes are an extra, paid as a monthly fee for eight live classes a month, with no contract, so you can stop when the school course no longer needs support.
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Questions from Canadian families
Coding in Canadian schools: common questions
Is coding part of the school curriculum in Canada?
It depends on the province or territory, because each sets its own curriculum. Ontario includes coding in math for every grade from 1 to 8; BC teaches it through Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies and Computer Science 11 and 12; Saskatchewan and Manitoba publish computer science courses for the senior grades.
Which Canadian province teaches coding the earliest?
Among the curricula we could read, Ontario's is the earliest in writing: its 2020 elementary math curriculum includes a coding expectation from Grade 1, starting with code that involves sequential events.
What computer science courses does Ontario offer in high school?
The current Ontario course list shows ICD2O in Grade 10, ICS3U and ICS3C in Grade 11, and ICS4U and ICS4C in Grade 12. ICS4U requires ICS3U. Schools choose which of these they run.
Does BC have computer science in high school?
Yes. BC lists Computer Programming 11 and 12, Computer Information Systems 11 and 12 and Robotics 11 and 12 under Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies, plus Computer Science 11 and 12 under Mathematics. Computer Studies 10 and Web Development 10 come earlier.
Does Alberta teach coding in school?
Alberta's draft Grades 7 to 9 curriculum integrates computer science and artificial intelligence, with mandatory implementation planned for September 2027. We could not verify Alberta's current high school computing courses from a primary source on 22 October 2026.
Is there a computer science course in Quebec high schools?
The Québec Education Program subject list for Secondary I to V names no stand-alone computer science course. Computer science appears as a college program after secondary school, for example Computer Science and Mathematics (200.C0) at CEGEP.
Why do some rows say not verified?
On 22 October 2026 the government sites for Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and Nunavut were offline, returned errors or refused automated requests. We stopped rather than work around a block, and we print nothing we could not read at the source.
Can online classes count for school credit?
Not ours. We teach alongside the school course and do not grant Ontario credits or any other provincial credit. Credits come from the school, under each province's rules.
What language should my child learn to match their school?
Ask the teacher which language the class uses. Provincial curricula describe concepts rather than one language. Python is a common first typed language; Nova Scotia's virtual school course runs in Java.
When are your classes for families across Canada?
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. We confirm the time in your own province's clock.
Do you teach students to use AI to do their coding homework?
No. We teach students to reason a program through and then check it. AI tools can explain an error, but the thinking has to be the student's. ChatGPT needs a parent's permission for anyone under 18.
Elsewhere on this site
Related pages
More for Canadian families working out where coding fits.
Tell us the province and the course name on the school calendar. The first class starts from that course, and by the end the teacher can place the student on our four stages and suggest what to learn next.
Curious about the method before you book? Our teaching method page shows a lesson from the inside, and every syllabus sits in the full course list.
Classes are taught by our teachers in India over live video, so families anywhere from Victoria to St. John's join the same way, with no centre to visit.
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