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Computing at School A year in the life...

Computing at School A year in the life. Simon Peyton Jones Microsoft Research. An amazing year. ...a rapidly evolving landscape, and a lot to do. A quick reminder of how far we have come in the last 12 months. 2008 CAS starts 2008-2011 chug chug chug And then.

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Computing at School A year in the life...

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  1. Computing at SchoolA year in the life... Simon Peyton Jones Microsoft Research

  2. An amazing year... ...a rapidly evolving landscape, and a lot to do

  3. A quick reminder of how far we have come in the last 12 months • 2008 CAS starts • 2008-2011 chug chugchug • And then...

  4. A quick reminder of how far we have come in the last 12 months "I was flabbergasted to learn that today computer science isn't even taught as standard in UK schools," he said, "Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it's made.“ August 2011

  5. BETT, Jan 2102 We’re encouraging rigorous Computer Science courses “The new Computer Science courses will reflect what you all know: that Computer Science is a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject. Long after today’s pupils leave school and enter the workplace – long after the technologies they used at school are obsolete – the principles learnt in Computer Science will still hold true.”

  6. Royal society report CAS founded 2008 RS founded 1660 “Every child should have the opportunity to learn Computing at school, including exposure to Computer Science as a rigorous academic discipline.”

  7. GCSEs • 2010: zero GCSEs in Computer Science • Sept 2010 OCR introduces pilot GCSE in Computing • We have been meeting with all the awarding bodies regularly for some time; they have been supportive and welcoming... but non-committal • Jan-Mar 2012: announcements from • AQA (launch Sept 2012) • Edexcel (launch Sept 2012) • WJEC (launch Sept 2012) • CIE (launch Sept 2013)

  8. Amazing • media coverage • e.g Observer • 1 April 2012

  9. EBacc “So I am also announcing today that, if new Computer Science GCSEs are developed that meet high standards of intellectual depth and practical value, we will certainly consider including Computer Science as an option in the English Baccalaureate.” Michael Gove Jan 2012 Big Deal: Head Teachers (well my HT anyway) pay a lot of attention to EBacc

  10. ICT Programme of Study • ICT PoS will be dis-applied. Our submission gave evidence that this might lead to schools withdrawing from ICT & Computing. • Monday of this week: “As a clear statement of the importance that it attaches to ICT education, the Government has decided that ICT will continue to be a National Curriculum subject, with new statutory Programmes of Study at all four key stages, from September 2014.” • Contrary to the Report of the Expert Panel on the National Curriculum

  11. What has CAS been up to?

  12. Membership 2.5x since last year

  13. On the ground • Now 30 hubs • 40 meetings/training sessions since Jan; over 900 teachers involved • New Primary School Task Force • Recognised by Council for Subject Association as the subject association for computer science. • ...zillions more things I don’t know about

  14. Martin Saunderswww.computingplusplus.org

  15. www.computingplusplus.org

  16. IT Pros and you • There are hundreds of IT professionals, who WANT TO HELP. (Goldman Sachs, Ocado...) • Do you want them? • How can they help you? • Can you give me some examples of how working with a non-school-teacher professional has worked out for you?

  17. Big Push for the Spring • Send a substantial Strategic Information Pack to the Head of every state secondary in England. www.bcs.org/csteachingexcellence • Wales soon; independents by email; further education colleges soon; Scotland using it for raw material. • Big effort to get it written and sent; please use it! • Main “ask”: join the Network of Excellence. This is our Big Push for the coming year.

  18. Our friends... we love you Technocamps Apps for Good YouSrc Code Clubs cs4fn Hack to the future Coding for kids Codeacademy Young Rewired State NextGen skills campaign Games Britannia

  19. Bottom line • Situation unrecognisable compared to 12 months ago. The ice has melted. Everything is in flux. • The DfE is treating ICT/CS as a guinea pig. They are consciously “standing back” to allow “the community” to sort it out. (PS: that means us.)

  20. Bottom line • National impact. CAS has moved from being a guerrilla group to an organisation with national impact. • DfE, Ofsted, Training Agency • Awarding bodies • BCS, IET, RA Eng • Grass-rooted. All this is only possible because of the innovative teaching that you are doing in your classrooms

  21. Opportunity – and danger • Opportunity: to make a decisive lasting change that establishes computer science a proper school subject, on a par with maths or chemistry. • Danger: raised expectations not met, enthusiasm leaks away It’s not enough to hope that someone else will do it. Start a hub. Run a hack day. Upload a scheme of work. Join the Primary Task Force. Whatever. But something. There is only us.

  22. The challenge for 2012/3:The Network of Excellence • Goal: to equip you and your colleagues to teach brilliant computer science at school • The need: a national programme of CPD for computing teachers • The means: • Universities deliver CS CPD to their local schools • Master teachers develop classroom materials, to help other less confident teachers • Share through hubs, web site • Coordination: Simon Humphreys, Mark Dorling, Tom Crick • Work with new Teaching Schools initiative • The challenge: to keep the excitement, commitment, and fun, while scaling up to national scale

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