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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">INFEDU</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Informatics in Education</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2335-8971</issn>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1648-5831</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>VU</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">INFEDU.2504.011</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.15388/infedu.2504.011</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>The Hands-Up Problem and How to Deal With It: Secondary School Teachers’ Experiences of Debugging in the Classroom</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>GALE</surname>
            <given-names>Laurie</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:href="mailto:lpg28@cst.cam.ac.uk">lpg28@cst.cam.ac.uk</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_INFEDU_aff_001" />
          <xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1" />
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>SENTANCE</surname>
            <given-names>Sue</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:href="mailto:ss2600@cst.cam.ac.uk">ss2600@cst.cam.ac.uk</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_INFEDU_aff_001" />
        </contrib>
        <aff id="j_INFEDU_aff_001">Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom</aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <author-notes>
        <corresp id="cor1">
          <label>∗</label>Corresponding author. Email: lpg28@cst.cam.ac.uk</corresp>
      </author-notes>
      <volume>25</volume>
      <issue>1</issue>
      <fpage>109</fpage>
      <lpage>136</lpage>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>15</day>
        <month>03</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
        <copyright-holder>The Author(s)</copyright-holder>
        <copyright-statement>© 2026 L. Gale, S. Sentance. Published by Vilnius University and Tallinn University</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="open-access">
          <license-p>Open access article under the CC BY license.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>Debugging is a vital but challenging skill for beginner programmers to learn. It is also a difficult skill to teach. For secondary school teachers, who may lack time or programming experience, honing students’ understanding of debugging can be a daunting task. Despite this, little research has explored their perspectives of debugging. To this end, we investigated secondary teachers’ experiences of debugging in the classroom, with a focus on text-based programming. Through thematic analysis of nine semi-structured interviews, we identified a common reliance on the teacher for debugging support, embodied by many raised hands. We call this phenomenon the ‘hands-up problem’. While more experienced and confident teachers discussed strategies they use to counteract this, less confident teachers discussed the negative consequences of this problem. We recommend further research into debugging-specific pedagogical content knowledge and professional development to help less confident teachers develop approaches for supporting their students with debugging.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <label>Keywords</label>
        <kwd>Debugging education</kwd>
        <kwd>Secondary teachers</kwd>
        <kwd>Computing education</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
