Scratch Tactile: Tangible and inclusive programming for a barrier-free digital education

Scratch Tactile is an initiative by Sistema THEAD aimed at ensuring equitable access to digital skills from an early age through an accessible, inclusive, hybrid approach to tangible and digital coding. The project was created in response to a structural gap in digital and STEAM education: although programming and computational thinking are being progressively incorporated into curricula, many of the tools currently available still rely on screens, complex visual interfaces, or later-stage adaptations, which limits the full participation of part of the student population, especially children with disabilities, those in vulnerable contexts, or those in highly diverse classrooms.

Get to know the initiative

The initiative is built around an ecosystem composed of tangible coding resources and an accessible app, designed from the outset according to the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Human-Centred Design. This approach enables its use by learners with and without disabilities, in mainstream classrooms and in diverse educational settings, without the need for individual adaptations. Through physical coding blocks, children build logical and narrative sequences in a hands-on, intuitive, and collaborative way, developing computational thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills.

The project's key objectives are:

• Expanding equitable access to programming and computational thinking activities in early childhood, primary, and special education.
• Enabling the active participation of students with disabilities in shared digital learning experiences.
• Strengthening teachers' capacity to teach programming in an inclusive way.
• Consolidating a replicable and scalable model of accessible educational innovation.

Scratch Tactile also incorporates an open approach aimed at educational transfer: its educational resources, pedagogical guides, and open manufacturing designs are shared under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence. This approach facilitates adoption in diverse contexts, lowers barriers to entry, and strengthens the replicability of the model.

Progress made so far

The initiative has been validated through more than 80 pilots in early childhood, primary, and special education settings, involving over 500 students and more than 200 teachers. Through the broader Scratch Tactile ecosystem, the project has reached more than 5,000 teachers, directly trained over 2,000, and indirectly reached 25,000+ students. More than 500 kits have been donated to schools.

The international dimension of the project is particularly notable: the Scratch Tactile Schools programme has been implemented in 71 schools across four continents, with presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and 400 kits have been distributed to schools in countries including Spain, Romania, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Ghana, and India.

The initiative also integrates emerging technology: the accessible app includes a tangible code reader powered by AI, able to interpret sequences physically built by learners and transfer them into the digital environment. A first prototype was developed and tested in 2025 (TRL 4) and is currently being iterated.

Why is this a good practice?

The primary beneficiaries are children aged 4–10, with and without disabilities, in particular learners with visual, motor, or cognitive disabilities, those in vulnerable contexts, and students in diverse classrooms. The initiative also directly benefits early childhood, primary, and special education teachers, and indirectly supports schools and educational communities in adopting more inclusive digital learning practices.

Scratch Tactile has demonstrated strong international replication capacity, with uptake by educators in more than 70 countries. Its continuity is supported by a combination of earned income, institutional collaboration, and public and private funding, including support from the Scratch Foundation, Google.org, the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, and the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan. Resources are freely available, and the entire model is designed to be open, replicable, and sustainable.