Bringing Java Closer to Education: A Community-Driven Initiative

Over the past decades, Java has proven itself to be one of the most reliable, versatile, and widely used programming languages in the world. From enterprise systems to mobile applications and embedded devices, Java continues to evolve and adapt. Yet, one important area still holds enormous untapped potential: education.

This initiative was born from a simple but powerful idea: to aggregate Java-related educational content in a way that helps newcomers get started, supports educators, and encourages new Java initiatives focused on learning. By making Java more accessible and visible in educational environments, we strengthen not only the language itself, but the entire ecosystem around it.

The role of this GitHub repository

The "Java Education Catalog" Foojay GitHub repository represents the starting point of that initiative. The idea emerged from conversations within the Code Club Slack, where educators and community members discussed the lack of visible, accessible Java resources for educational contexts. From those discussions came a simple but meaningful realization: there is already valuable Java educational content available, but it is fragmented and hard to discover.

The repository intentionally starts small and evolves openly, serving as an initial hub to gather, organize, and curate Java-related educational materials in one accessible place. Rather than presenting a finished or centrally defined curriculum, it embraces a community-driven approach—collecting learning paths, project ideas, and practical examples, especially those aligned with Raspberry Pi and physical computing.

As the initiative grows through real usage and contributions, this shared space aims to lower the barrier to entry, reduce duplicated effort, and provide a clear starting point for mentors and learners interested in Java in education, while also helping demonstrate real impact over time.

Why Java in Education Matters

Java offers a unique combination of readability, strong typing, a vast ecosystem, and long-term stability. These characteristics make it an excellent language for teaching core programming concepts such as object-oriented design, concurrency, and software architecture, skills that naturally scale from beginner projects to real-world systems.

However, many educational programs today focus primarily on languages perceived as “simpler” or more fashionable, often overlooking Java’s long-term educational value. This initiative aims to change that by curating learning paths, tutorials, examples, and community-driven resources that lower the barrier to entry and highlight Java’s strengths for learners of all ages.

A Major Milestone: Java in CoderDojo

One of the key milestones of this initiative is to see Java become a natural and visible option within the CoderDojo ecosystem.

CoderDojo, now part of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and merged into Code Club, is one of the most influential global movements for teaching young people how to code. It has empowered millions of learners worldwide through free, community-led programming clubs and high-quality educational experiences.

Having Java strongly represented within CoderDojo would be a game changer:

• It would introduce Java to a new generation of learners early in their journey

• It would give mentors structured, high-quality Java content they can confidently teach

• It would position Java alongside other core technologies commonly used in educational contexts

It is important to clarify that CoderDojo and Code Club are community-led programmes and do not operate with a centrally mandated or officially prescribed curriculum for specific programming languages. There is no formal mechanism through which a language is “officially represented.” Instead, learning materials, project ideas, and educational pathways are created by the community and shared organically. A good example is the CoderDojo Belgium Google Drive which has a big collection of learning materials for different languages, electronics, robots, etc.

This model creates a valuable opportunity. If Java educational content is well designed, accessible, and appropriate for young learners and mentors, it can naturally gain traction within the CoderDojo ecosystem through real usage and community adoption.

Community Content vs. Official Raspberry Pi Foundation Material

It is also important to distinguish between community-created content and the educational resources officially developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation within the Code Club Paths. Materials commonly associated with Raspberry Pi education, such as Python or Scratch, are developed or commissioned internally by the Foundation’s education charity, based on specific learning goals, age ranges, and strategic priorities.

There is currently no open submission pipeline for new programming languages to become part of this official curriculum. For this reason, the most effective path for Java today is not formal inclusion, but the creation of high-quality, independently published educational resources that can be shared through community channels and adopted organically by mentors and learners.

Strong community adoption can, over time, help demonstrate impact, shift perceptions, and open doors for deeper collaboration in the future.

Impact on Raspberry Pi, Pi4J, and the Java Ecosystem

This initiative has the potential to unlock significant growth for Java on Raspberry Pi. With Java more visible and accessible in educational contexts, we would naturally see:

• Increased adoption of Java on Raspberry Pi devices
• Stronger visibility and usage of projects like Pi4J, which bridges Java and Raspberry Pi hardware
• More educational libraries, examples, and tooling focused on embedded and physical computing with Java

In the long term, this creates a powerful positive feedback loop: more learners lead to more contributors, more projects, and a healthier, more innovative Java ecosystem.

The Challenge with the Raspberry Pi Foundation

At present, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has not fully embraced Java as an official programming option within its educational programs. There appears to be a degree of hesitation when it comes to adopting or promoting Java alongside other supported languages.

This initiative exists precisely to help change that perception, not through confrontation, but through demonstration. By showcasing real educational content, strong community engagement, and practical results, the goal is to highlight Java’s value in learning environments and help build a compelling case for its inclusion in the broader educational ecosystem.

Connecting Existing Content Creators

Another important aspect of this initiative is recognizing that many people are already creating high-quality Java educational content around the world. Educators, developers, mentors, and enthusiasts are writing tutorials, recording videos, building sample projects, and sharing their knowledge independently.

This initiative helps connect these efforts by creating a stronger network where ideas, materials, and experiences can be shared. By bringing contributors together, we increase visibility, reduce duplicated effort, and significantly accelerate progress—allowing the community to achieve far greater impact together than any individual effort alone.

A Call to the Community

This initiative is not about a single organization or platform. It is about the community, educators, developers, mentors, and content creators, coming together to make Java more approachable and more present in education.

By aggregating content, sharing best practices, and supporting milestones like Java adoption in CoderDojo, we can ensure that Java remains not only relevant, but inspiring for future generations of developers.

If you believe in the power of education and in Java as a tool for learning, this is an open invitation: join the conversation, contribute content, and help shape the future of Java in education.

Together, we can grow Java where it matters most — at the beginning.

Recently, I had the pleasure of discussing this initiative in an interview on the Foojay Podcast You can listen to the episode #85 "Code, Community, and Opportunity: Making Tech Accessible for Everyone" here.

Links

https://github.com/foojayio/java-education-catalog

https://www.pi4j.com/

https://javapro.io/2026/01/15/java-25-jep-512-jbang-notebooks-graallpy-and-raspberry-pi-for-interactive-learning/

• Campaigns
• Java
• Java Beginner
• Java Core

Igor De Souza

Author

Igor currently works as a Software Engineer in a Data Engineer team. With over 20 years of experience with Java and over 10 years in the Big Data world, Igor had the opportunity to work with Hadoop and its ecosystem right when Hadoop was created. In his spare time, he enjoys playing with Raspberry Pi and is an active member of the Maker community, highly engaged with STEM and CoderDojo. Igor Organizes a Facebook group for Brazilian IT in Ireland with over 12k participants. He is currently working on a pet project where he uses a Led Strip to teach basic concepts of data structure e data streaming.