Paying a subscription for micro:bit curriculum?
Our position, and other voices worth reading before you decide.
Our position
Do not. The free curriculum is already excellent and already covers what most vendors charge to unlock.
The Micro:bit Educational Foundation publishes a huge library of free, standards-aligned lessons at microbit.org/teach. Code.org's CS Discoveries includes free micro:bit units. MakeCode has built-in tutorials. Paying $200-$500 per teacher per year for 'premium' curriculum that largely overlaps the free material is a budget leak.
Other voices
Reputable sources worth reading before you decide. Labels reflect our honest read of each source's general stance, not direct quotes.
microbit.org/teach
Broadly agreesThe Foundation's own free library covers the full K-8 range with pacing guides, student-facing slides, and standards alignment. Comprehensive enough to be a full course on its own.
Code.org CS Discoveries
Broadly agreesA full middle-school CS course, free, with a dedicated micro:bit unit. Widely adopted, teacher-tested, includes PD support.
Teachers who prefer packaged curriculum
Nuanced / mixedSome teachers genuinely prefer a packaged 'here is your year' purchase over assembling free resources into a coherent scope. That is a time-versus-money tradeoff. Valid if the teacher cannot dedicate planning time; wasteful if they can.
Education-vendor marketing
Pushes backVendors pitch 'comprehensive,' 'aligned,' 'assessed.' Those claims are often accurate about the paid product and also accurate about the free alternatives. Assume marketing copy has a 70% overlap with free options by default.