• Local robotics and coding teacher Nadine Smith has earned a prestigious international award recognition women educators in tech.
• The award from UC Berkeley in the US recognises young educators making the fields of science and technology more accessible to young people.
• Smith teaches for the ADvTECH group.

South African educator, Nadine Smith, is the only recipient from Africa to win the 2025 EDGE in Tech Athena Award for Early Career Leadership, recognising young educators on the come-up for work in making science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education more accessible.

A private school educator for the ADvTECH group, Smith received the award from the University of California, Berkeley’s Banatao Institute.

Smith, a coding and robotics teacher, is just one of four global recipients of the award which “celebrates individuals leading the charge in creating more diverse, equitable, and impactful technology ecosystems,” ADvTECH explains.

“I believe every child deserves to see themselves in STEAM. Through coding and robotics, I strive to ignite confidence, curiosity, and creativity in learners, especially those who don’t yet realise they belong in tech,” Smith said, reflecting on her win.

“This award is not just a personal milestone, but a reminder of the importance of creating inclusive learning spaces where all young minds can dream, build, and lead.”

Smith also trains fellow teachers in integrating emerging technologies such as coding and robotics.

She joins Susan Lyne, co-founder and managing partner of BBG Ventures (executive leadership), Isabel Montañez, Distinguished Professor and Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, and Zhe Fu, Doctoral Student in Transportation Engineering, UC Berkeley (graduate student leadership) as this year’s winners.

“It is incredibly important to recognise the people doing the difficult work of expanding access to essential tech fields,” said Jill Finlayson, managing director of the CITRIS Innovation Hub, which oversees the awards.

“Those who champion on-ramps into STEM, fair workplaces and welcoming cultures are critical to the development of innovative technologies and help ensure that new solutions will work well for everyone.”

South Africa’s embrace of coding and robotics at schools

As of 2020, coding and robotics is a part of the South African public school curriculum. Learners can begin taking classes in these subjects from as early as Grade R all the way up to matric. Private schools have also embraced the subjects as a means towards the often remarked upon fourth industrial revolution, which is expected to be a digitally-focused one.

However, teachers across South Africa are still facing challenges in the teaching of this section of the curriculum, mainly because many are not well-versed in the subjects, often due to never having access to information technology. Added to this is the complication of South Africa’s many languages, which continue to present challenges to the embracing of more STEM subjects at SA’s schools.

[Image – Photo by Robo Wunderkind on Unsplash]