Professional Documents
Culture Documents
computing education
in UK schools
Contents
Executive summary 6
Recommendations 8
Introduction 12
What is the school subject of computing? 16
Computing education in the UK 17
Our evidence gathering 19
Cover image
© Highwaystarz-Photography
4 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive summary
Data and digital technologies promise However, a majority of teachers are teaching Though many of the great pioneers of computing qualifications at age 16 and there is a risk that
revolutionary transformational changes across an unfamiliar school subject without adequate were women, across the UK computer science there will be a drastic drop in the number of
the full range of industry sectors and spheres support. Moreover, they may be the only teacher is an overwhelmingly male-dominated subject pupils studying computing as ICT is phased
of life. This unprecedented digital revolution in their school with this task. Governments must and workforce. At GCSE, there is a 20% uptake out7. The qualification landscape needs urgent
will impact everyone. It will have extraordinary address a severe and growing shortage of from girls, while Scotland also had a 20% attention to ensure the broadest range of pupils
implications on the range of skills that today’s computing teachers. From 2012 to 2017, England female uptake at National 5 in 2017. At A level, become equipped with relevant digital skills.
young people will require in every aspect of their met only 68% of its recruitment target1. Since there is only a 9% uptake from girls, and this
Understanding the pedagogies and assessment
lives. Computing education must enable young 2005, Scotland has also seen a 25% decrease in has not changed for many years. Scotland
methodologies that underpin computing
people to continue to keep up with the pace of the number of computing teachers2. has a similar picture with 14% female uptake at
education helps teachers improve pupil
technological change so that they can remain Advanced Highers. Although Information and
In our survey, 44% of secondary school teachers outcomes. Our literature reviews show that a
effective, well-informed and safe citizens. Communication Technology (ICT) qualifications
only felt confident teaching the earlier stages of majority of the research in computing education
fared better, they still only had 36% female
However, our evidence shows that computing the curriculum where there is less of a computer relates to higher education and the volume of
uptake at A level5.
education across the UK is patchy and fragile. Its science focus. Despite this lack of confidence, education research in computing is much smaller
future development and sustainability depend 26% of the secondary school teachers we Making computing education compulsory will than in subjects such as physics or mathematics.
on swift and coordinated action by governments, surveyed indicated that they had not undertaken not automatically lead to a higher proportion
With the emergence of computing in schools,
industry, and non-profit organisations. Neglecting any computing-related professional development of young women choosing to study the subject
and organisations such as the Education
the opportunities to act would risk damaging activities in the past year3. once it becomes optional at 14. Compulsory
Endowment Foundation seeking to grow the
both the education of future generations and mathematics and physics to age 16 has not
evidence base in attainment in education, there
our economic prosperity as a nation. To truly transform computing education, teachers significantly improved the gender balance in
is an ideal opportunity for the UK to conduct
need unhindered access to a structured these subjects in post-16 education or higher
research to develop computing pedagogies
There is much to celebrate and there are many and ongoing programme of professional education. In order to meet the current and
and assessment. However, the capacity of the
pockets of excellence. The broad subject of development. The programme must support future skills needs in the UK, governments,
current research base is limited and needs
computing – covering the three vital areas of teachers in all schools across the country. The employers and schools must prioritise changing
further support if the UK is to lead the world in
computer science, digital literacy and information existing university-based Computing At School the gender balance in computing. This is a
computing education research for schools.
technology (IT) – has become mandatory in Network of Excellence has been successful challenge that requires people to take innovative
English schools from ages 5 to 16. In Scotland, with minimal resources through a model built on approaches and draw on lessons learned in The Society’s 2012 report, Shut down or restart?
we have seen the implementation of the enthusiastic volunteers developing a mutually other disciplines. The way forward for computing in UK schools,
Significant Aspects of Learning, a framework supportive community of practice. However, found that the delivery of computing education
Today, 70% of students in England attend
where computing is broken down into distinct the current level of resourcing and approach in many UK schools was highly unsatisfactory8.
schools offering GCSE computer science, which
areas of knowledge. In Wales, the Digital to execution is not sufficient to meet the The recommendations we made then paved the
is a positive development. However, although
Competence Framework is bringing computing challenges we have identified. A fully resourced way for schools to introduce computing into the
the overall number of entries continues to grow,
in schools to the forefront, while Northern Ireland national professional development programme curriculum; but this was only the first step. This
only a disappointing 11% of all students take
has continued to deliver a comprehensive building on the Network of Excellence requires new report provides a snapshot of the changes
GCSE computer science6. Moreover, the range
computing framework. From ages 5 to 14, pupils a tenfold increase in funding from government that have taken place since 2012 and examines
of qualifications on offer does not reflect the
typically have one hour per week of computing and industry. This would provide computing the impact of these changes across the UK. We
full breadth of computing. It should be possible
lessons, and some schools take opportunities to teachers with a comparable level of support have identified a number of urgent challenges
to study computer science or information
teach computing within other subjects. to mathematics and the sciences4. that governments, industry and school leaders
technology (or both). GCSE ICT makes up 55%
need to address in order to safeguard our future
of the total entry numbers of all computing
efficacy in the digital world.
1. House of Commons Education Committee 2017. Recruitment and retention of teachers: Fifth Report of Session 2016 – 17.
2. Computing At School Scotland. 2016. Computing Science Teachers in Scotland 2016. 5. JCQ. 2017. Examination results: A, AS and AEA results, Summer [2017].
3. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. See https://www.jcq.org.uk/examinationresults/gcses/2017 (accessed 125 August 2017).
4. For example, the Maths Mastery Programme was introduced in 2012 to provide a professional development network 6. GOV.UK. 2017. Find and compare schools in England. See www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables (accessed 10 July 2017).
for mathematics teachers (See https://www.mathematicsmastery.org, accessed 11 October 2017.), the Stimulating 7. JCQ. 2017. See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/gcses/2017 (accessed 24 August 2017).
Physics Network supports physics teachers through an extensive CPD programme (See http://www.stimulatingphysics.
org, accessed 11 October 2017.) and STEM Learning provides CPD support for science teachers. (See https://www. 8. The Royal Society. 2012. Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools.
stem.org.uk, accessed 11 October 2017.) See https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/computing-in-schools/report/ (accessed 15 February 2017).
6 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 7
RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations
COMPUTING FOR ALL IMPROVING GENDER BALANCE TEACHER SUPPLY
To realise the ambition of recent To improve gender balance To ensure there is a strong supply of computing teachers entering the profession.
curriculum and qualification reforms. in computing.
In England, school governors Research projects on pedagogy Governments should introduce Higher education providers
and Ofsted should monitor and curriculum development quality-assured computing need to promote careers in
whether and how schools are in computing should also conversion courses for existing computing education to a wide
teaching computing to all pupils. investigate how to improve teachers, equivalent to those range of students.
female participation. in physics and mathematics.
RECOMMENDATION 2 Individual teachers or schools RECOMMENDATION 8
Ofqual and the government RECOMMENDATION 4 should not have to contribute Industry and academia should
should work urgently with the Government and industry-funded to the costs of this training. support and encourage braided9
learned societies in computing, interventions must prioritise careers for staff who want to teach
awarding bodies, and other and evaluate their impact on RECOMMENDATION 6 as well as work in another setting.
stakeholder groups, to ensure improving the gender balance Governments should work with
that the range of qualifications of computing. higher education providers and
includes pathways suitable for the British Computer Society
all pupils, with an immediate to develop and accredit pre-
focus on information technology service subject content courses
qualifications at Key Stage 4. to enable more people from a
wider variety of backgrounds to
The learned societies in become computing teachers.
computing should establish an
curriculum committee, to provide Existing initiatives to support
government with ongoing advice and develop computing degree
on the content, qualifications, courses with qualified teaching
pedagogy, and assessment status should be continued and,
methods for computing. if successful, expanded.
9. A braided career describes someone who is working in two sectors simultaneously. For example, working part-time
in an academic position and part-time in an industry position.
8 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 9
RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS
Governments and industry Industry and non-profit Education research funders, The Economic and Social
need to play an active role in organisations need to work with researchers, teachers and Research Council (ESRC) and
improving continuing professional and through the British Computer policymakers should develop a other funders of education
development (CPD) for computing Society and STEM Learning strategic plan that achieves: research should work to address
teachers, as exemplified by to provide a coherent offer of the research priorities identified
the Network of Excellence. teaching support to teachers • the establishment of the in this report.
Investment in a national network and schools. long-term research agenda
needs at least a tenfold increase for computing education in
to expand the reach, and to have schools;
rigorous evaluation measures
in place to strengthen the offer • a
commitment to this
of such networks. Importantly programme by a number of
financial support should be made stakeholders;
available to schools to release
staff to attend professional • the development of UK
development opportunities. capacity to conduct the
research; and
10 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 11
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
Recommendation 2
In 2012, the Royal Society published Shut down During the past 18 months, the Society has The Government should set targets for the In England, the Government set new targets
or restart? The way forward for computing in reviewed the impact on computing education number of computer science and information and funded bursaries for computing teachers.
UK schools – a review of computing education of policy changes made since 2012. This technology specialist teachers, and monitor Recruitment levels have missed set targets,
in the UK10. Despite the near ubiquity of report explores how governments, industry, recruitment against these targets in order to so this remains an area of major concern.
technology, the Society found that there was schools and others can build on these allow all schools to deliver a rigorous curriculum.
a dwindling interest in computing in schools changes to ensure that the promise of our In Scotland, 17% of schools have no computing
and identified a number of actions to address original recommendations is realised. Table 1 Education Scotland should ensure that the specialist to deliver the experiences and
this issue. summarises the progress made against those declared entitlement of all learners to third-level outcomes for the subject.
recommendations. outcomes in computing science is implemented
in all schools for all learners using appropriately
qualified teachers.
TABLE 1
Recommendation 6
Review of the recommendations made in Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing The Department for Education should remedy The English national curriculum introduced
in UK schools. the current situation, where good schools are computing as a new subject and
dis-incentivised from teaching computer science, removed ICT. The Government reformed
Achieved by reforming and rebranding the current ICT qualifications, with new computer science
curriculum in England. Schemes of work should qualifications replacing old ICT and
Recommendation 1
be established for ages 5 – 14 across the range computing qualifications. However, new
The term ICT as a brand should be ‘Computing’ is now used to describe
of computing aspects, eg digital literacy (the disincentives are now impacting computing
reviewed and the possibility considered of the subject that includes digital literacy,
analogue to being able to read and write), education, particularly at ages 14 – 16. There
disaggregating this into clearly defined areas information technology and computer
information technology and computer science. remain concerns about the information
such as digital literacy, information technology science. In England, the current computing
technology qualifications.
and computer science. curriculum covers all three strands and differs These should be constructed to be
from the previous ICT curriculum, which implementable in a variety of ways, including a
placed far more emphasis on information cross-curricular approach for digital literacy at
technology and digital literacy. primary and early secondary school. Schools
may prefer not to impose a timetable or
Recommendation 5 separately staff these elements at this age, but
Suitable technical resources should be Schools have not received ring-fenced the existence of separately-defined learning
available in all schools to support the funding for technical resources to experiences will ensure that each strand is
teaching of computer science and information complement computing curricula. However, always properly developed – unlike at present.
technology. These could include pupil-friendly there are a number of new, free software A timetable distinction should then be in place
programming environments such as Scratch, resources available. Hardware has also been from the age of 14, allowing pupils to make a
educational microcontroller kits such as provided at a low cost from Raspberry Pi well-informed choice to study for recognised
PICAXE and Arduino, and robot kits such as and micro:bit, which has made a substantial qualifications in information technology and/or
Lego Mindstorms. impact in schools. computer science.
12 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 13
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
Partly achieved and a source for concern (continued) Not achieved but not a priority
Recommendation 10 Recommendation 4
Awarding organisations should consult with Consultation was limited between the School infrastructure service providers, Schools are managing the implementation of
the UK Forum (see recommendation 11) and awarding organisations and the now working with others, should prepare a set of school IT infrastructure on their own. Some
HE departments to develop rigorous Level 3 disbanded UK Forum for Computing Education off-the-shelf strategies for balancing network schools have reported difficulties in achieving
academic qualifications in computer science. known as UKForCE. This has resulted in a security against the need to enable good balance between network security and an
subject that some schools view as difficult and teaching and learning in computer science and environment suitable for teaching, however it
only offer to high-performing pupils. information technology, and should encourage has not been a major issue overall.
schools to discuss and adopt them with their
service providers.
Not achieved and a source of concern
Recommendation 3 Recommendation 8
Government should set a minimum level Governments have taken a passive role in The UK Forum should advise awarding Hosted by the Royal Academy of Engineering,
of provision for subject-specific CPD for ensuring there are minimum levels of CPD organisations on appropriate assessment the UK Forum for Computing Education was
computing teachers, should seek support from that teachers are required and supported to methods for qualifications in digital literacy, formed shortly after the launch of Shut down
business and industry to make that provision, undertake. Scotland continues to require that information technology and computer science. or restart? The way forward for computing in
and should ensure that the provision is well teachers undertake 35 hours of CPD a year; UK schools. However, in 2016 a decision was
coordinated and deepens subject knowledge however, the CPD doesn’t have to be subject- Recommendation 9 made to disband the forum and support the
and subject-specific pedagogy. related. The UK Forum should put in place a work of Computing At School and the Royal
framework to support non-formal learning in Society’s Computing Education Project.
Overall, there are large disparities in the CPD
computer science and to support teachers.
hours undertaken by computing teachers, with
Considerations include after-school clubs,
some teachers not receiving any CPD at all.
school speakers and mentoring for teachers
in developing their subject knowledge. Bodies
Recommendation 6
such as the Science, Technology, Engineering
The schools inspectorates should monitor the School inspectorates need to put further
and Mathematics Network (STEMNET) will
implementation of this change to ensure that measures in place to ensure that inspectors
have a role to play in implementing this.
the problems of the ICT curriculum are not are monitoring the subject appropriately and
replicated. effectively.
Recommendation 11
The computing community should establish
Recommendation 7
a lasting UK Forum for joint working
In order to redress the imbalance between Awarding bodies have developed computer
and coordination between the many
academic and vocational qualifications in this science qualifications. However, there are
computing bodies, in order to progress the
area – and to ensure that all qualifications no qualifications for IT. Subsequently, this
recommendations within this report. The forum
are of value to those who take them – the has caused computing qualifications to be
should provide regular progress reports on the
departments for education across the UK narrow and schools are only offering it to high-
implementation of the recommendations.
should encourage awarding organisations to performing pupils. In England, schools need
review their current provision and develop further support to teach the non-assessed part
Key Stage 4 (KS4) qualifications in computer of the computing curriculum at Key Stage 4.
science in consultation with the UK Forum (see
recommendation 11), universities and employers.
14 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 15
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
What is the school subject of computing? Mathematics, the social sciences, arts and Computing education in the UK nations include the skills, knowledge and
Computing in schools is a wide-ranging design all underpin computing. Computing Education policy is devolved in the UK and understanding in information technology,
subject composed of three strands: qualifications may cover one or more of the each of the four nations has its own curriculum. digital skills and computer science varies, as
information technology, digital literacy and three strands, and qualifications in other The way the school curricula across the UK does the level of detail provided (see Box 2).
computer science (see Box 1). A complete disciplines may cover aspects of computing.
curriculum ensures that all three strands are Some components of digital literacy may be
covered. Computational thinking is a core taught to all pupils in other lessons, such as BOX 2
component of a computing curriculum, and is Personal, Social and Health Education, but “Here in the UK, it’s
not only important in coding, but can also be not examined. Curricula across the UK clear to me that
an important life skill for solving problems11. computer science has
England Scotland a great future with the
talent, educational
New National Curriculum for computing, Curriculum for Excellence – Technologies
BOX 1 institutions and
introduced from September 2014. (refreshed as part of the 2016 Digital Learning
passion for innovation
and Teaching Strategy for Scotland).
we see all around us.”
Terminology • T
he new computing curriculum is non-
prescriptive and there are no specified • T
he Scottish Government introduced the Google CEO Sundar
In this report, we use and develop the the morality and ethics of the personal and coding languages, software or hardware Curriculum for Excellence in 2010 – 2011. Pichai, November 2016
terminology used in our previous report, societal implications of digital technologies. to use. This set out to help children and young
Shut down or restart? The way forward These are the skills that secondary school people gain the knowledge, skills and
for computing in UK schools. teachers of other subjects should be able • F
rom age 5, pupils are taught the attributes needed for the 21st century.
to assume that their pupils have, as an principles of information and computation
Computing as a school subject analogue to being able to read and write. and how digital systems work. They go on • T
he Technologies area sets out
encompasses three strands: information to learn how to put this knowledge to use experiences and outcomes for pupils in
technology, digital literacy and Computer science should be interpreted through programming. Building on this, a range of contexts spanning: business;
computer science. as referring to the scientific discipline of pupils are equipped to use information computing science; food and textiles; and
computer science, covering principles technology to create programs, systems craft, design, engineering and graphics.
Information technology means the such as algorithms, data structures, and a range of content.
assembly, deployment and configuration programming, systems architecture, • F
rom 2013 to 2014, the Scottish
of digital systems to meet user needs for design and problem-solving. • A
t Key Stage 4 (equivalent to GCSE), all Qualifications Authority introduced new
particular purposes. pupils must have ‘the opportunity’ to study qualifications to align with the Curriculum for
Inevitably, there will be topics that test the aspects of information technology and Excellence that included computing science.
Digital literacy means the basic skill or ability extent to which the three areas above can computer science.
to use a computer confidently, effectively be effectively disaggregated – there will • A
s part of the 2016 Digital Learning
and safely, including the ability to use office always be some blurring at the boundaries. • A
s part of a wider programme of and Teaching Strategy for Scotland,
software such as word processors, email and Nevertheless, we maintain that it is useful to qualifications reform, revised AS and A the Scottish Government has refreshed
presentation software, and the ability to use make these distinctions as an aid to effective levels in computer science have recently the experiences and outcomes in the
a web browser and internet search engines. communication between stakeholders. been introduced into schools. GCSE Technologies area of the Curriculum for
Digital literacy also includes understanding qualifications in ICT have been withdrawn. Excellence. This includes discrete units
covering (among others): digital literacy,
computer science and technological
developments in society (including
business education).
16 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 17
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
12. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p18.
13. There are approximately 21,000 primary schools and 4,000 secondary schools in the UK.
18 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 19
Chapter one
Computing for
our pupils
Left
© kali9.
14. UK Commission for Employment and Skills. 2017. The Labour Market Story: Skills for the Future. p24.
See www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/344441/The_Labour_Market_Story-_
Skills_for_the_Future.pdf (accessed 4 July 2017).
15. Future of Tech. The importance of keeping cyber security skills sharp. See www.futureoftech.co.uk/cyber-security/
theimportance-of-keeping-cyber-security-skills-sharp (accessed 3 July 2017).
16. The Royal Society. 2017. Machine learning: the power and promise of computers that learn by example. p62.
See https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/projects/machine-learning/publications/machine-learning-report.pdf
(accessed 28 June 2017).
22 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 23
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
The range of roles that will require computing Computing in primary and early secondary Governments have changed school curricula BOX 3
expertise is varied. Sammy Elwardany works Getting the curriculum right is the first step since 2012. Computing is now a mandatory
in a non-IT role, and his case study shows why needed to ensure that pupils leave school, subject in the national curriculum in England Computational thinking
an understanding of computing is useful for a college and university well equipped to embark to age 16. Scotland has also refreshed the
wide range of jobs. on successful professional careers and to Technologies area of the Curriculum for The phrase computational thinking is
become astute and responsible citizens. To Excellence to reflect the changing digital shorthand for the thought processes
Sammy says Amazon is a digital company do this, governments and school leaders must landscape, with computer science given as involved in formulating problems and their
that doesn’t pre-date computing, therefore make sure that school curricula include all three a technologies outcome at broad general solutions. Computational thinking can be
having a computer science background aspects of the computing curriculum, including education. In Wales, the Government is used to create working, useful and usable
means he can function in the company digital literacy, information technology and introducing a new Curriculum for Life, with computational systems to understand and
knowing and understanding how and why computer science, and that children begin to elements of computer science, and the reason about both natural and artificial
they use technology. study computing at the earliest age possible17. Northern Ireland Department of Education is systems and processes18,19.
embedding ‘Using ICT’ across the curriculum
to engender informed and responsible At its core is the idea that the solutions to
CASE STUDY 2 users of technology. many problems are not easily quantified
as direct answers but rather as algorithms
Sammy – computing skills in non-IT roles The new primary school computing curricula that lead to the answer; solutions to
should help pupils to build foundational whole classes of problems encoded in
Sammy Elwardany works in a non-IT role. His time at Ford was all about the application skills, such as computational thinking, and a set of instructions that can be followed
He is a senior programme manager in the of computer systems to manage a process gain an understanding of the technological by computers or humans. In addition,
department of product imaging at Amazon to meet business needs. Sammy believes world in which they live. Starting computing it encompasses the idea that by using
UK, responsible for the photography of all his computer science background in education in primary school has the potential algorithmic techniques, computational
products that go on this electronic shopping programming was a necessary part of his to encourage more pupils to take it to a systems can model many phenomena,
website. However, working at Amazon – a education. “You can’t work effectively in higher level and reduce the proportion from climate change to the way our
company that relies on IT – is not entirely this business environment without some of pupils that perceive computing as ‘not brains work and the working of cancer
separated from his previous work experience technical grounding. You need to understand for them’. In addition, when computing is cells. Computational thinking allows the
or the need for a computer science programming and how software is built in embedded within other subjects in primary development of practically useful algorithmic
background. Prior to this job, Sammy spent order to use IT systems effectively, and to be school, there is potential to give pupils an solutions even for very complex problems.
13 and a half years years at Ford Motors in comfortable to discuss any issues and ask understanding of the subject’s relevance
Brentwood, Essex, in a variety of IT roles. He the right questions of the technical teams”. and its potential applications.
studied computer science with business at
the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). At Amazon, Sammy leads a team of In secondary education, school timetables The computing curriculum
programme managers, who are based in need to allow sufficient time for classes to One major change in the English computing
The course at QMUL, he says, was brilliant Japan, the US, Germany and India, and cover the three strands of the computing curriculum has been a new emphasis on the
because it was practical and relevant. who initiate and plan the launch of any new curriculum. Schools that only provide one hour principles and concepts of computer science,
“The idea that you can take a technology category of images online. This involves a week or a fortnight for computing at 11 – 14 alongside digital literacy and IT. This means
and apply it to solve a problem relevant everything from finding or building a do not provide teachers with enough time students gain the skills needed to represent
to everyday life, or use it to improve the suitable studio, through to training staff, and to ensure the subject is adequately covered real-world problems in a form amenable to
quality of life, is what really interests me”. delivering the product images online. It’s (as indicated by 40% of surveyed secondary computational investigation, together with the
working with people from different parts of schools). In upper secondary, pupils also need skills needed to explore those representations
Sammy went from QMUL to Ford, where the world and with diverse skill sets that he access to high-quality computing qualifications to develop algorithmic solutions, and practical
he worked in a number of IT roles in enjoys most about his job. “To launch new and we discuss these in the next section. experience of writing computer programs
logistics and sales. He eventually moved products and new studios online, I need to implementing those solutions. The way
into digital marketing, where he was work with people from IT, logistics, retail and of thinking about and solving problems in
responsible for developing part of Ford’s marketing, as well as with reports and analysis computer science is often referred to as
global network platform. – it is truly cross-functional and global”. ‘computational thinking’ (see Box 3).
18. Computing At School. 2015. Computational Thinking – A Guide for Teachers. (See www.computingatschool.org.uk/
computationalthinking, accessed 7 August 2017).
17. Kind A. 2015. Computing Attitudes: Will Teaching 2nd Grade Students Computer Science Improve their Self
-Efficacy and Attitude and Eliminate Gender Gaps? Rising Tide 8, 1–34. (See http://www.smcm.edu/mat/educational- 19. Wing, J. 2010. Computational Thinking: What and Why? The Link, Spring 2011. pp. 20–23. (See http://www.cs.cmu.
studiesjournal/a-rising-tide-volume-8-summer-2015/, accessed 15 September 2017). edu/sites/default/files/11-399_The_Link_Newsletter-3.pdf, accessed 15 September 2017).
24 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 25
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
26 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 27
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
20. The Royal Society. 2012. Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools.
See https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/computing-in-schools/report/ (accessed 15 February 2017).
21. Wellcome Trust. 2017. Young people’s views on science education. Science Education Tracker Research Report.
See https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/science-education-tracker-report-feb17.pdf (accessed 14 March 2017).
22. Wellcome Trust. 2017. Young people’s views on science education. Science Education Tracker Research Report
See https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/science-education-tracker-report-feb17.pdf (accessed 14 March 2017).
23. GOV.UK. 2017. Find and compare schools in England. See www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables (accessed 10 July 2017).
24. Kemp P, Wong B, and Berry M. 2016. The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.
25. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
28 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 29
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
CASE STUDY 3 How well do computing qualifications work? is whether A level entries have also increased,
The Society’s previous report – Shut down and by this measure, the introduction of
Lauren – having to make up for a lack of computing in school or restart? The way forward for computing computer science appears successful. At
in UK schools – recommended a review of A level, the number of qualifications has also
Lauren is currently Lauren’s skills training is done in 1 – 2 week computing and ICT qualifications that included gone up each year and in 2017, 8,299 pupils
doing a one-year, blocks in between work experience. “By the increasing the range of qualifications available took a computer science A level in England,
level 3 software time I apply for my next job I will not only for pupils. There were concerns about the Wales and Northern Ireland, up around a third
development have a useful qualification but I will have diversity and confusion presented by the compared to 201626. In Scotland, there were
apprenticeship at gained real know-how in my chosen career”, range of ICT qualifications on offer. Some of 641 entries to the Advanced Higher Computing
Viridian Housing she enthuses. the qualifications did not seem to be valued, Science in 2017, slightly up from the 485
Association in either as prerequisites for further education entries in 2016.
South-West London. Lauren left school at Lauren has learned a range of programming and training, or by employers as proof of
16 with eight good GCSEs, despite protests languages and operating systems. As part an individual’s ability or potential to fill a The current trend in A level participation
from her teachers, who saw her future of the course, she must also do three in- role. There had also been a drift away from is positive, however for many pupils, the
underpinned by A levels and a university depth projects, which require some research computer science qualifications. possibility of a one-year AS-level in computing
degree. “My main goal was to go to work”, and independent learning. She has just Since 2012, the qualification suite in England, was a bridge that sometimes led to a full A
she says. “I was, and still am, driven by my completed her first one, which involved Wales and Northern Ireland has been level. Many schools are no longer offering AS
passion for working”. designing a survey to assess the company’s refined, with the intention of making it more levels, and without this pathway, pupils must
training programmes. On a day-to-day basis, coherent. In 2013, the Scottish Qualifications make decisions one year earlier. Changes to
She first went to the local FE college to she works with SQL Server, writing the code Authority (SQA) introduced the new National the post-16 funding model are also likely to
do a one-year, level 2 course in business that is needed to gain access to stored Qualifications courses that replaced the decrease the number of AS and A levels that
administration, and then picked up a one-year data and information on the company’s previous intermediates. The new National pupils study. The Government must monitor
apprenticeship with the skills development business portfolio. Qualifications in computing science and the impact of these policy changes on A level
organisation City & Guilds to get the level 3 subsequent changes to Higher and Advanced computer science participation.
qualification in the same subject. This route Lauren sees her job as being very creative Higher have a stronger focus on computing
allowed her to gain a qualification while in a forever-expanding industry. One of the and move away from ICT. It is now appropriate Increasing 14 – 16 participation
getting invaluable work experience, she says. most rewarding aspects of her job, she says, to examine what progress has been made, In Shut down or restart? The way forward for
is her growing confidence and ability. “When and what more might need to be done. computing in UK schools, we recommended
At the end of her training she was offered I started my apprenticeship, I had only basic that a timetable distinction should be in place
a full-time job at City & Guilds (C&G), taking ICT skills. But I have learned so much in The English, Welsh and Northern Irish from the age of 14, allowing pupils to make a
on various admin roles. During this time, she a short space of time and can now be set awarding bodies have introduced a new GCSE well-informed choice to study for recognised
worked for the Head of Learning Technology a task and be confident in the software I in computer science. The number of entries qualifications in information technology and/or
Development, and it was in this role that she am producing”. for the new GCSE have increased slightly computer science. The 2016 post-16 Skills Plan
became interested in software development. from 60,146 taking the qualification in 2016, to published by the Department for Education
“At C&G they were always looking to use Looking back at her career pathway so far, 65,205 pupils in 2017 (see Table 2). Since the promises a common core for all technical
new technology to help learners and I Lauren says her careers advice could have introduction of the new National Qualifications pathways that includes English, mathematics
thought I would like to be involved in similar been better. “My strongest subjects at school in Scotland, the numbers for National 5 and digital skills27. Many T levels will also
development projects. From that time, I knew were IT and maths, I loved doing puzzles computing science have remained stable require some level of computing expertise.
that software development was the industry and this is really what software development with 7,442 entries in 2017 (see Table 3). If schools do not teach the skills required in
that I wanted to be in”. is all about – but no one ever said that those these new technical pathways from ages 14
skills might be good in an IT role. I strongly The natural progression from the GCSE is – 16, the new T level technical and vocational
Lauren decided to take a risk: she opted for believe children should be encouraged in A level computer science, although the GCSE qualifications will not fulfil their potential. In
voluntary redundancy being offered by C&G what they are good at and shown the host will also prepare pupils for future opportunities England, a number of factors are impacting
and applied for an apprenticeship in software of alternative routes to university education in computer science. One measure of success the availability, take-up and effectiveness of
development through QA Apprenticeships. that exist”. of the introduction of GCSE computer science computing education for 14 – 16 year olds.
Her application was successful and she was
put forward for her current apprenticeship
at Viridian.
26. Kantar Public. 2017. The Royal Society: Computing Education Strand 1 report. Note that the A level qualification title
has changed from computing to computer science.
27. Department for Business Innovation & Skills, Department for Education. 2016. Post-16 Skills Plan.
30 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 31
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
32 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 33
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE
34 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 35
Chapter two
Widening access
Left
© Geber86.
Widening access
Introduction In this chapter, we consider the diversity FIGURE 3
of pupils who study computing and how
• C
omputing in the UK is a male-dominated computing can be made accessible to all Gender balance percentage at GCSE for computing, ICT, mathematics, physics and chemistry
subject and actions need to be taken to under-represented groups, including female (all UK 16-year-old candidates).
improve the gender balance. pupils, pupils from low socio-economic
backgrounds, and ethnic minorities. We also
KEY
• U
rban schools are more likely to offer consider the inclusion of pupils with SEND.
computing. Pupils in rural schools need 20%
Male
greater opportunities to study the subject. Computing in the UK is a male-dominated 39% Female
49% 50% 50%
subject, and a male-dominated career
• P
upils with special educational needs and Increasing the proportion of girls and young
disabilities (SEND) can benefit greatly from women studying computing in schools,
computing, and more research will enable colleges and universities would go a long way
teachers to understand best practice for to addressing computing skills gaps in the UK. 80%
involving these pupils. When compared to physics, ICT, mathematics
61%
and chemistry, computer science has the most 51% 50% 50%
gender-skewed entries for qualifications.
It is vital that all young people have
opportunities to take computing. At the In 2017, as shown in Figure 3, only 20% of GCSE
stage where the subject becomes a choice computing candidates were girls. Although Computing ICT Mathematics Physics Chemistry
however, the cohort of computing pupils is not better, the related subject of ICT was also
representative of the pupil population. Gender gender-skewed, with a 39% uptake by girls32.
Note: JCQ uses the category ‘computing’ to include all GCSE qualifications in computing and computer science.
is the most significant diversity issue within the Mathematics has a strong correlation with Source: JCQ.
subject. However, there are also equity issues computing participation, but has a less gender-
for other groups. Computing skills cannot be skewed profile as 49% of GCSE mathematics
limited to a narrow demographic if we want to candidates were female33. In Scotland, the
Higher education reflects this trend as outlined We used the Wellcome Trust Science
ensure that the next generation have equal female uptake at National 5 is similar, at 20%
in 2016’s Shadbolt Review of Computer Education Tracker (SET) to explore the
opportunities to succeed, and for the country in 201734.
Sciences Degree Accreditation and Graduate reasons why girls chose not to study computer
to make best use of its pool of potential talent.
Employability. Within this review, women only science at GCSE level36. Figure 4 shows
represented 13% of the total number of first- that girls were more likely to attribute lack of
degree entrants at publicly funded English interest, not needed for career plans, and the
higher education institutions (HEIs) for full-time perception of the subject’s difficulty or their
computer science degrees, compared with lack of confidence in studying it, as reasons
32% female entrants for other STEM degrees35. for not studying computer science. About a
third of both boys and girls said their school
did not offer computer science, which is also
very significant.
35. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and Higher Education Funding Council for England. 2016.
32. JCQ. 2017. See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/gcses/2017 (accessed 24 August 2017). Shadbolt Review of Computer Sciences Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability. p33.
See www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518575/ind-16-5-shadbolt-review-
33. JCQ. 2017. See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/gcses/2017 (accessed 24 August 2017). computer-sciencegraduate-employability.pdf (accessed 25 May 2017).
34. Scottish Qualifications Authority. 2017. Statistics 2016. See www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/63001.8312.html 36. Wellcome Trust. 2017. Young people’s views on science education. Science Education Tracker Research Report.
(accessed 29 September 2017). See https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/science-education-tracker-report-feb17.pdf (accessed 14 March 2017).
38 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 39
CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER TWO
FIGURE 4 TABLE 6
Cited reasons for not studying computer science at GCSE level. Uptake of GCSE computing within English schools where at least one pupil completed
GCSE computing.
Thought it would 11% In common with previous research on physics Female pupils who pursue computing do
be too difficult / participation by girls37, we found that single-sex at least as well as, or outperform, their
lacked confidence 6%
schools had a positive impact on the uptake of male counterparts overall39. The Roehampton
Timetabling / 4%
computing at GCSE. As shown in Table 6, the Annual Computing Education Report used
didn’t fit with uptake at girls’ schools was 12.3% compared the Department for Education’s National
other subjects 5%
to just 3.4% at mixed schools. In physics, Pupil Database (NPD) to extract individual
the Institute of Physics found that girls in a pupil examination and characteristic data to
Teacher(s) advised 2%
single-sex school were nearly 2.5 times more understand how girls performed in computing
me not to 2%
likely to study A level physics than in a mixed compared to boys. The analysis uncovered
school38. Boys were equally likely to take evidence that girls have achieved proportionally
computing in single-sex and mixed schools. more A* – B grades in computer science at
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
This suggests that in the right environment, both GCSE and A level (see Figure 5 and
Percentage of responses
more girls will choose to study computing. Figure 6). This could be the result of less able
Source: Wellcome Trust SET Tracker. Researchers, teacher trainers and curriculum students choosing not to take computing due
developers should investigate if anything can to lack of confidence or their perception of
be learned from the teaching practices and the subject’s difficulty.
learning environment in single-sex schools.
37. The Institute of Physics. 2015. Opening Doors: A guide to good practice in countering gender stereotyping in
schools. See www.iop.org/publications/iop/2015/file_66429.pdf (accessed 26 November 2016).
38. The Institute of Physics. 2012. It’s Different for Girls: The influence of schools. See www.iop.org/education/teacher/
support/girls_physics/file_58196.pdf (accessed 18 September 2017).
39. Kemp P, Wong B, and Berry M. 2016. The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.
40 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 41
CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER TWO
FIGURE 5 FIGURE 6
2015 GCSE computer science gender results: the total and proportion of females and males 2015 A level computing gender results: the total and proportion of females and males
achieving GCSE grades A* to E and ungraded (U). achieving A level grades A* to E and ungraded (U).
Grade
1123 82
C C
6076 1056
Grade
704 94
D D
4095 973
386 49
E E
2418 628
181 10
F U
1496 197
94
G
996
0 250 500 750 1000
97
U Number of candidates
803
4% KEY
A*
3%
Gender proportional distribution Male
17%
A Female
KEY 13%
9%
A*
6% 22%
B
Male 20%
19%
A
Grade
15% Female 20%
C
24%
24%
B
21% 23%
D
22%
21%
C
22% 12%
E
14%
Grade
13%
D
15% 2%
U
4%
7%
E
9%
3% 0 5 10 15 20 25
F
5% Percentage of candidates
2%
G
4% Source: The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.
2%
U
3%
0 5 10 15 20 25
Percentage of candidates
42 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 43
CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER TWO
Can we improve the gender balance Unconscious bias in curriculum resources, in BOX 6 Where you live matters
in computing? teaching and in school policies may contribute Whether you have the option to study
Historically, for STEM subjects and careers to the male dominance of computing. Our Barclays IT Girls Allowed computing aged 14 and beyond varies
that have been gender-skewed, the skew has most promising avenue comes from work depending on where you live. This variation
been very hard to shift. Including computing undertaken by the Institute of Physics (IoP)41. The Barclays IT Girls Allowed event was disadvantages pupils in some areas of
as a core subject for all pupils from the age Coupled with subject-level initiatives, the designed to demonstrate that computing the country and may limit the capability
of five may help, but we cannot rely on this. Institute trialled a whole-school approach to careers are accessible to girls and to inspire of sectors reliant on computing and data
Mathematics and physics are still gender- combat gender bias within schools (against them to consider this as a subject choice skills to be based in these areas. New or
skewed despite being part of the primary both boys and against girls) through their in the short term, and as a career choice in growing companies may be reluctant to
school curriculum for over 20 years. Opening Doors Project. This project created the long term. The event provides pupils establish themselves in an area with low
an environment that applies good practice in Years 8 and 9 with activities that include provision of computing qualifications and
Our approach has been to consider research to counter gender stereotypes, including insights into cryptography, programming available graduates.
about the factors influencing young people’s a culture that does not tolerate sexist and robots, design and hardware.
decisions, to explore what we can learn from gendered language. It is curious that, while 70% of pupils attend
the approaches taken to address gender-skew schools which offer GCSE computer science,
in other subjects and to seek out computing The researchers found that school culture this only represents 46% of secondary
interventions that aim to address gender played a key role in influencing how pupils schools. This means that the remaining 54%
imbalance in school computing education. view and choose certain subjects. The Evaluating impact of secondary schools have only 30% of the
researchers also found that providing pupils Through some of our case study schools, and country’s pupils on the roll. The difference in
The ASPIRES research programme40 looked with careers guidance at an early age, and our wider evidence gathering, we have found proportions is the result of smaller schools,
at young people’s attitudes towards science promoting a gender champion from the senior a number of initiatives that seek to increase with fewer pupils, being considerably less
over a five-year period through surveys and leadership team, could have a positive impact the proportion of girls and young women likely to offer GCSE computer science. Just
interviews. This research found that while most on gender biases. The work undertaken by studying computing. However, we have found 1.7% of schools with a GCSE cohort size of
young people had high career aspirations, the IoP is very promising and the Government very little robust evidence of the impact of 1 – 11 pupils and 10.5% of schools with a cohort
their desired career paths were highly should consider funding further research to these projects that could enable teachers to size of 12 – 89 offered the subject, compared
influenced by their ‘science capital’. explore whether the model has potential for transfer lessons learned to every school. with 51.9% of schools with a GCSE cohort
computing and other gender-skewed subjects. size of more than 200 pupils42. Therefore,
A young person’s ‘science capital’ refers to pupils who live in areas where there are
how much science features in their everyday RECOMMENDATION predominantly smaller schools are less likely to
lives, whether it means having family members RECOMMENDATION Government and industry-funded have access to a school that offers computing.
with qualifications in science who can Research projects on pedagogy
influence their understanding and knowledge
interventions must prioritise and
of science, or social activities such as the
and curriculum development in evaluate their impact on improving CASE STUDY 4
regularity with which they may visit a science computing should investigate the gender balance of computing.
museum. The ASPIRES research suggests how to improve female Craigmount High School
that science capital can play a strong role in
participation.
developing a young person’s understanding Craigmount High School, West Edinburgh
of the natural sciences and their perceptions would like to encourage more pupils to take
of the subject. Researchers should investigate computing at S3, particularly girls. To help
whether the ASPIRES methodology results in with this, the school takes part in the UK-
similar findings for computing, engineering wide extracurricular club, Tech Future Girls,
and mathematics. in which pupils participate in activities such
as making up their own dancing algorithm
and then creating an animation of the dance
using the Scratch programming language43.
40. Department of Education & Professional Studies, Kings College London. 2017. ASPIRES: Young people's science and
career aspirations, age 10–14. See www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/ASPIRES/ASPIRES-final-
report-December-2013.pdf (accessed 17 July 2017). 42. Kantar Public. 2017. Royal Society: Computing Education Strand 3 technical report. p14.
41. The Institute of Physics. 2015. Opening Doors: A guide to good practice in countering gender stereotyping in 43. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
schools. See www.iop.org/publications/iop/2015/file_66429.pdf (accessed 26 November 2016). Annex 1: Case Study Schools. p21.
44 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 45
CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER TWO
The Roehampton Annual Computing Education In an analysis of English local authority data, TABLE 8
Report has shown that schools in urban areas we found the percentage of Key Stage 4
are more likely to offer the subject than schools pupils in local authorities undertaking GCSE 2015 GCSE computing provision by all urban and rural categories.
in rural areas (Table 7). This may relate to our computer science ranged from 4% to 23%,
finding that large schools are more likely to while the percentage of local authority schools Average
offer the subject than smaller schools, as rural offering the subject ranged from 18% to 71%. Total Total Subject Providers Subject Pupils Cohort
schools tend to be smaller. The Roehampton Walsall, Calderdale, Blackburn with Darwen, Type Schools pupils providers % pupils % Size
report indicated that in 2015, 29.5% of urban Rutland, Shropshire, Tower Hamlets, and
Urban city and town 2,318 286,985 721 31.1 16,757 5.9 23.2
English schools offered GCSE computing, while Kensington and Chelsea are local authorities
in rural schools this dropped to 22.7%44. that have been identified as key opportunity Urban major
areas where there is low offering of the subject conurbation 1,759 208,516 467 26.5 10,948 5.3 23.4
The data is even starker when regional areas and a low uptake of pupils undertaking GCSE Rural town and fringe 381 51,898 115 30.2 2,583 5 22.5
are broken down further as indicated by Table computer science. Despite Tower Hamlets Urban minor
8. In rural hamlets and isolated dwellings, and Kensington and Chelsea being in urban conurbation 162 21,078 63 38.9 1,363 6.5 21.6
only 11.2% of schools offered GCSE computer areas, the data shows that they have smaller
Rural village 164 11,533 28 17.1 488 4.2 17.4
science, while 31.1% of schools in urban city Key Stage 4 cohorts, in line with our findings
and town areas offered the subject. regarding cohort size. Details are available Rural hamlet and
in the appendix, Table 20. isolated dwellings 188 11,530 21 11.2 339 2.9 16.1
Location not only affects whether there is an Rural town and fringe
opportunity to study computing, but also the and a sparse setting 35 3,805 11 31.4 268 7 24.4
amount and type of extra support a school can Urban city and town
access. Extracurricular activities tend to cluster in a sparse setting 7 1,375 3 42.9 48 3.5 16
in urban areas, and support from relevant Rural village in a
employers and universities is more readily sparse setting 10 540 3 30.0 14 2.6 4.7
found in urban areas45.
Rural hamlet and
isolated dwellings
in a sparse setting 11 367 1 9.1 16 4.4 16
TABLE 7 Totals 5,035 596,727 1,433 28.5 32,824 5.5 22.9
2015 GCSE computing provision by aggregated urban and rural categories. Source: The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.
Average
Total Total Subject Providers Subject Pupils Cohort The impact of disadvantage premium intake at 19%, while all subjects had
Type Schools pupils Providers % pupils % Size The impact of disadvantage on pupils’ an aggregated 26.6% pupil premium intake46.
Urban 4,246 517,054 1,254 29.5 29,116 5.6 23.2 participation and attainment in computing is
unclear. Our pathway analysis showed that The best way for governments to increase
Rural 789 79,673 179 22.7 3,708 4.7 20.7
measures of deprivation such as IDACI (Income the proportion of disadvantaged pupils
Totals 5,035 596,727 1,433 28.5 32,824 5.5 22.9 Deprivation Affecting Children Index), individual taking computing may be to ensure that
eligibility for free school meals, and percentage more schools in disadvantaged areas offer
Source: The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report. of pupils in the school eligible for free school computer science47. As we will see in the next
meals, did not have an impact on the uptake of chapter, schools face significant challenges
computing at GCSE. However, the Roehampton offering the subject because there is a shortfall
Annual Computing Education Report for 2015 of computing teachers. Where schools are
showed that those on pupil premium were unable to find a suitable computing teacher,
under-represented compared to other subjects. they can either find a non-specialist to teach
In 2015, computing had the seventh-lowest pupil the subject or decide not to offer it at GCSE.
44. Kemp P, Wong B, and Berry M. 2016. The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.
46. Kemp P, Wong B, and Berry M. 2016. The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report. p51.
45. Wohl B. 2017. The Conversation. See https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-computing-rural-schools-are-at-
risk-ofbeing-left-behind-57861 (accessed 26 June 2017). 47. Kantar Public. 2017. The Royal Society: Computing Education Strand 3 technical report. p15.
46 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 47
CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER TWO
The impact of ethnicity Maximising opportunities for pupils with SEND Conventional styles of teaching or resources Conclusion
Our pathways analysis shows that Chinese It is important that computing in schools is may not be suitable for SEND pupils as Computing needs to reflect the diversity that
pupils and pupils from other Asian backgrounds as inclusive as possible. Pupils with special resource developers have focused on is prevalent in society and become a valuable
were significantly more likely than white pupils educational needs and disabilities (SEND) creating resources for mainstream education. subject for female pupils and disadvantaged
to study computing GCSE. Black pupils on the are disproportionately likely to miss out on Technology itself can be highly inaccessible groups including pupils from low socio-
other hand were significantly less likely to take educational opportunities48. and may become more so as more complex economic backgrounds and ethnic minorities.
computing than white and Asian pupils. tools and interfaces are developed. For Improving the gender balance should remain
In our meetings, concerns raised by teachers example, partially sighted pupils need screen a priority and will help increase the number of
Although Asian pupils were more likely to included the academic nature of computing, readers to work with programming tools if young people with skills in computing. Schools
take computing at GCSE, our analysis showed particularly the higher order computational they are to be able to learn to program. While need to ensure that the learning environment
that they were less likely than white pupils to thinking skills and sensitivity of syntax, traditional text-based languages work naturally does not allow stereotypical perceptions to
continue with the subject at Key Stage 5. At A potentially making much of the curriculum in with screen readers, tools such as Scratch Jr., have a negative influence on pupils’ subject
level, university degrees will influence subject secondary schools inaccessible for less able which are popular as a primary programming choices. Ultimately, widening the pool of
choices and Table 9 shows that Asian pupils pupils and those with learning difficulties. language, use explicitly visual metaphors and, young people choosing to study computing
will tend to study subjects such as chemistry, therefore, do not necessarily transfer. will require a range of approaches. Computing
biology and mathematics. teachers must address biases and provide
opportunities for all pupils.
Table 10 further supports this, showing that in
higher education, Asian pupils are more likely
to study subjects such as medicine.
TABLE 9 TABLE 10
A level subjects taken by major ethnic groups in England (base: Key Stage 5 pupils in year 12 Full-time HE student enrolments for selected subjects by ethnicity 2015/16.
and year 13 in 2014 – 2015).
Unknown
White Mixed Black Asian Chinese Other Course involves… White Black Asian Other ethnicity
Mathematics 79,562 5,077 5,428 18,224 2,413 2,153 Business and 91,680 15,280 24,005 8,310 1,285
12.7% 15.1% 12.0% 21.7% 49.8% 19.6% administrative studies 10.0% 17.9% 17.6% 11.5% 10.0%
Biology 57,822 3,752 4,573 15,049 947 1,648 Medicine / 25,790 1,275 9,815 2,675 475
9.2% 11.1% 10.1% 17.9% 19.6% 15.0% Dentistry 2.8% 1.5% 7.2% 3.7% 3.7%
Chemistry 42,762 3,112 4,396 14,716 1,205 1,608 Subjects allied 100,390 14,855 18,585 5,990 1,015
6.8% 9.2% 9.7% 17.5% 24.9% 14.6% to medicine 11.0% 17.4% 13.6% 8.3% 7.9%
Physics 35,189 2,036 1,555 5,138 860 671 Computer 39,705 4,195 9,310 2,890 545
5.6% 6.0% 3.4% 6.1% 17.8% 6.1% sciences 4.3% 4.9% 6.8% 4.0% 4.2%
Computing 7,082 357 288 869 135 99 Creative arts 104,030 5,625 5,335 7,140 940
1.1% 1.1% 0.6% 1.0% 2.8% 0.9% and design 11.4% 6.6% 3.9% 9.8% 7.3%
Totals 626,639 33,693 45,260 84,102 4,842 11,010 Totals 915,030 85,275 136,585 65,410 9,755
48. Tes. 2016. SEND pupils don't get enough support because of limited funding and training, school staff say.
See www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/send-pupils-dont-get-enough-support-because-limited-funding-and
(accessed 31 July 2017).
48 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 49
Chapter three
The importance of
confident, well-qualified
computing teachers
Left
© sturti.
32%
preparation time.” a greater drop in the number of computer it, and to acquire the necessary subject and teachers are learning together52. One group of teachers we identified are
science teachers (25%) than the drop in the knowledge and pedagogy to succeed. confident in teaching computing and are
Head of ICT and number of secondary school pupils (11%). To understand how computing is being taught quite favourably inclined to the new English
Computer Science,
However, shifting from computing curricula in the UK we surveyed 341 primary school computing curriculum. These teachers typically
Secondary School of primary teachers
• E
ngland has not met its recruitment dominated by information technology to new teachers and 604 secondary school teachers hold qualifications in computer science at
feel more confident
targets for computer science and this curricula with a stronger computer science with some responsibility for computing secondary school and generally have ample
teaching the earlier
was the biggest shortfall of all the English focus is a difficult transition to make. Many education over a two-month period53,54. opportunities to undertake continuous
stages of the
Baccalaureate subjects. teachers feel that computing was introduced professional development courses. These
curriculum than
with insufficient guidance and support for Despite efforts to obtain an unbiased view, teachers are often driving the subject within
the latter.
• In England, existing teachers have been teachers51. They are working extremely due to the self-selecting nature of a survey, a their schools and providing support to other
asked to teach the new computing hard, but they often have no background in significant number of the responses were from teachers who may not be as confident as them.
curriculum, with minimal support.
52. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p35.
53. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p18.
49. Department of Business, Innovation & Skills. 2010. Science and mathematics secondary education for the 54. There are approximately 21,000 primary schools and 6,000 secondary schools in the UK.
21st century. Report of the Science and Learning Expert Group. London: DBIS.
55. Department for Education. 2017. School workforce in England: November 2016. See https://www.gov.uk/
50. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p12. government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016 (accessed 22 September 2017).
51. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p14. 56. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p43.
52 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 53
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
FIGURE 7 Pedagogies for computing are less developed Who teaches computing?
than those for other subjects, as computing Specialist knowledge is vital to a subject such
Teacher confidence at different stages of the curriculum, presented as a series of contrasts. education research in the past has focused as computing. The teachers who completed
on higher education59. The lack of evidence- our survey had a wide mix of educational
Lightest: more confident earlier Middle: no difference Darkest: more confident later based advice on how to teach computing can backgrounds. In our sample, 36% of computing
fundamentally undermine teacher confidence. teachers in secondary schools were computer
In Chapter 5, we discuss how research to science graduates (see Figure 9). Our sample
KS1 versus KS2 93 130 60 develop improved computing pedagogies was self-selecting, so we also examined the
is essential to supporting effective teaching DfE workforce dataset. The DfE workforce
England
KS3 versus KS4 294 189 43 and the work and well-being of teachers. data shows that 30% of ICT teachers hold a
relevant ICT degree or higher. It should be
There is an additional challenge in that noted that the overlap between an ICT-related
AS versus A Level 137 320 2
teachers may perceive that their pupils are degree (for example business studies) and
more confident with technology than they a computing degree may be quite limited,
First versus Second 7 24 2 are60. Through our discussion groups, some which means an ICT-related degree may not
Scotland
7 24 2 teachers felt that many of today’s pupils cover the relevant computer science aspects
have grown up with technology embedded of the new computing curriculum necessary
Third / Fourth versus Senior 25 16 4
25 16 4 in their lives which creates the image of a to teach it. This suggests that the sample
tech-savvy generation. However, while prolific responding to the survey had a different range
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% users of technology, this does not mean they of backgrounds to the wider population of
understood that technology or the computer computing teachers.
Source: Pye Tait.
science behind it, or even that they could use
it outside narrow boundaries. For comparison, in 2016, 51% of physics
teachers and 46% of mathematics teachers
Teacher confidence When comparing confidence ratings at held a relevant degree or higher61. In Scotland,
As part of the survey we asked teachers to different stages of the curriculum, perhaps computing teachers are required to hold a
rate their confidence at each stage of the unsurprisingly it is evident that teachers are computer science degree or have studied
curriculum on a 10-point scale, with 1 being more confident with the earlier stages than a related subject at university.
the least confident and 10 being the most with the later stages where the subject can
confident. 48% of the surveyed teachers gave have a greater focus on computer science. Similarly, 7% of primary school respondents
a score below 7 and were asked to provide had a background in computing, which is larger
explanations for the low confidence scores. This was further demonstrated when we asked than the proportion of primary teachers with
A common response from these teachers was teachers for their confidence in delivering specialist mathematics or science degrees
that they were lacking sufficient theoretical specific aspects of computing education. (3% and 5%, respectively)62. At the primary
and technical knowledge of computing that Many indicated that they were most confident level, the most common highest qualification
included aspects of programming and coding57. with the elements of the curriculum that were teachers held was in education (41%), reflecting
inherited from the previous ICT courses, for the generalist nature of the role63 (see Figure
example using technology safely, responsibly 8). This also suggests there may be a slight
and securely, and creating digital content for bias in the sample of teachers towards those
a given audience58. with stronger computing backgrounds.
59. Hubwieser P, Magenheim J, Mühling A, Ruf A. 2013. Towards a conceptualization of pedagogical content knowledge
for computer science. In Proceedings of the ninth annual international ACM conference on International computing
education research. pp1–8. ACM.
60. ComputerWeekly.com. 2017. Teachers unprepared for 2014 computing curriculum. See www.computerweekly.com/
news/2240207786/Teachers-unprepared-for-2014-computing-curriculum (accessed 8 June 2017).
61. Department for Education. 2017. School workforce in England: November 2016. See www.gov.uk/government/
statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016 (accessed 8 September 2017).
57. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p44. 62. The Royal Society. 2014. Vision for Science and Mathematics Education.
58. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. pp34–35. 63. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. pp37–38.
54 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 55
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
FIGURE 8 FIGURE 9
Share of highest qualifications by discipline – primary schools. Share of highest qualifications by discipline – secondary schools and colleges.
Business and
Other 13% administrative studies 12%
ICT (including
Computer science 7% Business with ICT) 10%
Education 7%
Biological sciences 5%
Other 6%
Social studies 5%
Mathematical
Historical and sciences 6%
philosophical studies 5%
Engineering and
Mathematical technology 6%
sciences 5%
Physical sciences 4%
Physical sciences 5%
Creative arts
and design 3%
Business and
administrative studies 4%
Mass communications
and media 3%
Languages 4% Historical and
philosophical studies 2%
Creative arts
3%
and design Social studies 2%
Engineering and
1%
technology Biological sciences 2%
Mass communications
1% Languages
and media 1%
Law 1% Law 0%
Agriculture and Architecture, building
0% 0%
related subjects and planning
Architecture, building Agriculture and
0% 0%
and planning related subjects
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Base: 372 responses Base: 717 responses
Source: Pye Tait. Source: Pye Tait.
56 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 57
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
What are the backgrounds of computing CASE STUDY 5 Although computing may be the primary In an analysis for this report conducted by
teachers? subject that a teacher is responsible for, TeachVac, 489 computing/IT teacher job
The backgrounds of primary and secondary Swanwick School and Sports College computing teachers often have responsibilities advertisements in England were identified
teachers in our sample tended to be in other subjects. Some surveyed teachers and from the period 1 September 2016 to 21 March
different. A large number of secondary Matthew Parry, Head of Computing at discussion group participants felt there is a 2017. Of these jobs, 235 (48%) required an IT
school computing teachers had industry Swanwick School and Sports College, danger of an ‘expectation’ or ‘inevitability’ that qualification that was a degree or higher.
experience, having previously worked in an Derbyshire, has an industry background computing will be taught by non-specialists66.
IT role (42%), while a further 20% had worked in computer programming. In surveyed secondary schools, business Scotland is also facing a similar problem with
in industry in a non-IT role. We found that 40% studies (23%), mathematics (16%) and design teacher recruitment. The number of computer
of primary school teachers had some form of To make the most of Matthew’s expertise, and technology (12%) were the top three science teachers has decreased from 802
industry experience64. other members of staff at the school subjects outside of computing that computing in 2005 to 598 in 2015. This is a decrease of
focus on teaching aspects of ICT, to free teachers also taught. 25% over the last ten years, disproportionate
up Matthew’s time to deliver the core to the 11% decrease in secondary school pupils
elements of computer science. Matthew Are we recruiting enough new over that same period. This has resulted in 17%
secured a £5,000 grant from the British computing teachers? of secondary schools having no computing
Computer Society which funded the Finding skilled and enthusiastic computing subject-specialist69.
purchase of PicoBoards (interface for the teachers is a challenge that many schools
Scratch programming language) and Lego face. When the Government introduced the Due to the technical nature of computing,
Mindstorms kits. Other resources have computing curriculum, the initial teacher prospective teachers must have a strong level
been obtained from Computing At School65. training community had to adapt quickly. Since of subject knowledge in advance so that their
2013/14, universities have offered the new training can focus on pedagogy and curriculum
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) knowledge. However, there are not enough
in Computer Science, rather than ICT, and four candidates with this subject knowledge
FIGURE 10 cohorts of teachers have emerged from these who want to become computing teachers.
universities. However, these numbers have not In England, pre-service subject knowledge
Position prior to teaching. been reaching the targets required. enhancement courses are currently available
to prospective teachers; however, there are
12.5% KEY In England, the Government met only 68% some concerns regarding the quality of these
Worked in industry –
computing role 42.4% of its recruitment target for new entrants to courses leading to teachers with inconsistent
Primary school
Secondary school
computing postgraduate and undergraduate knowledge. An accreditation mechanism is
27.3% initial teacher training courses from 2012 to needed to ensure quality.
Worked in industry –
non computing role 201767. This was the biggest shortfall of all the
20.3%
English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) subjects68.
In education 53.4%
(working towards
own qualification) 33.1%
6.8%
Other
4.2%
Percentage of respondents
Base: Primary (88 respondents) and Secondary (118 respondents)
58 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 59
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
FIGURE 11 FIGURE 12
Mix of other subjects taught by computing teachers – secondary schools and colleges. Percentage of recruitment against Teacher Supply Model* targets.
100%
3% Biology 115%
KEY
5% History 112%
Business Studies
9% 23%
Chemistry 99%
Mathematics
Design and Technology
English 98%
9% Other
Sciences Modern Foreign
95%
Arts and Media (inc. English) Language
16% Humanities
Mathematics 84%
11%
Languages
Physical Education Physics 81%
12% 12%
Classics 78%
Non-EBacc
Base: 811 responses. 75%
subjects
Primary 100%
* The Teacher Supply Model is used to estimate the number of teachers needed in the system and therefore the
recruitment targets for initial teacher training.
Source: House of Commons Education Committee.
60 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 61
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
0
UCAS Teacher Training applications at End of Cycle 2016. teachers, but these could help increase the
pool of computing teachers.
quality-assured computing
3500
conversion courses for existing
UCAS admissions data for teacher training teachers, equivalent to those Teacher Subject
applications in 2016 (see Figure 13) show Specialism Training
3000 in physics and mathematics.
that applications for computing (computer courses available
studies) courses are significantly lower Individual teachers or schools for computing.
2500
than other subjects, including mathematics, should not have to contribute
Number placed
65
English, chemistry, and biology70. to the costs of this training.
2000
93
0
Computer Biology Chemistry English ICT IT Mathematics Physics Science to enable more people from a
Studies
Subject wider variety of backgrounds to
Note: Subject classifications are based upon the course title. become computing teachers. Teacher Subject
Source: UCAS.
Existing initiatives to support Specialism Training
and develop computing degree courses available
for mathematics.
courses with qualified teaching
FIGURE 14
status should be continued and, Source: Department for
Percentage of full-time first-degree leavers working in education post-graduation by subject area
if successful, expanded. Education, Institute of Physics.
(2011/12 to 2015/16).
20
18.84%
18
16
14
12.16%
Percentage
11.73%
12
10.65%
10
6 5.65%
4 3.15%
0
Engineering and Computer Physical All Mathematical Biological
Technology Science Sciences Subjects Sciences Sciences
Subject 70. UCAS. 2016. UTT monthly statistics: Applications. Report B: UCAS Teacher Training applications at End of Cycle 2016.
See www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-releases (accessed 5 July 2017).
Source: HESA.
71. General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). Freedom of information request response, dated 28 October 2016.
62 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 63
CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER THREE
Some consequences of qualified teacher Graduates who enrol on teacher training The roles and responsibilities of business Conclusion
shortages courses drop out for a variety of reasons. and academia The shortage of computing teachers is
The shortage of qualified teachers has also Some find that teaching is more challenging The whole computing community has a extremely worrying and the recruitment of new
made it difficult for initial teacher trainers to than they anticipated73. The pressures of initial role to play in recruiting and supporting teachers into the profession is not meeting
find suitable placements for their students training can put a strain on any trainee due to teachers. There are not enough teachers demand. Governments need to do much more
where there are sufficiently trained and the heavy workload of planning, delivery and with computing expertise, but there is a strong to address the shortages if pupils are to gain
knowledgeable mentors in situ. Some schools assessment. However this isn’t isolated to just level of expertise in businesses and industry the computing skills required.
in their area may not even offer GCSE and computing and is a problem experienced by around the country. Teachers responding
A level computer science, providing further those teaching other subjects. Teachers need to our survey indicated that they would Despite the challenges computing teachers
challenges for initial teacher trainers in support to reduce their workload once they welcome more collaboration opportunities are facing, they have shown remarkable
finding placements. start teaching to ensure that they stay in the with subject specialists, industry experts resilience and willingness to adopt computing
profession for longer than just a year or two. and computer science graduates in order as a subject. To bridge this gap from the
This shortage of qualified teachers limits to improve their knowledge75. Schools and old ICT curriculum, governments must
the ability of schools to teach computing Figure 14 indicates that only 6% of computer teachers need ready and easy access to the commit significant investment to the existing
and tends to have a disproportionate effect science graduates have embarked on a career expertise in industry and academia. They teachers, so they can gain the knowledge and
on schools in disadvantaged areas. Some in education, compared with 11% for physics and need computing experts to give them advice confidence they need to teach the subject
schools have been unable to offer computing 12% for mathematics. More initiatives need to about the curriculum. They need people willing effectively. Gaining knowledge will not happen
qualifications as they cannot find a suitable be put in place to promote a teaching career to to spend time in the classroom, supporting overnight and there needs to be a recognition
computing teacher. computer science students in higher education. their teaching. that teachers cannot learn the subject in a few
days or even months.
Why is it difficult to recruit and retain new The impact of reduced teaching time
computing teachers? for computing RECOMMENDATIONS
The skills needed to teach computing are A further challenge that teachers face is the Higher education providers
widely sought after; this makes it necessary reduction of teaching hours dedicated to
for schools to compete with other employers computing. Our survey indicated that 30% of
need to promote careers in
and with each other when they try to attract secondary schools had seen a decrease in computing education to a
computing teachers. total teaching time for computing education, wide range of students.
while 22% saw an increase74. Schools that
Current incentives in England to recruit new have reduced the time allocated to computing
teachers into computing with bursaries and place additional stress on teachers who must Industry and academia should
scholarships, including the availability of a non- still meet the requirements of the curriculum support and encourage braided
taxable scholarship award of up to £25,000, and qualifications. careers76 for staff who want
have had limited impact72. Due to the tax-
free nature of the bursaries, when trainees A further effect of reduced teaching time is
to teach as well as work in
transition from the bursary to a taxable salary that teachers gain less hands-on experience another setting.
when they secure a teaching role, they often of teaching the new subject. This will
see their real income fall; this has led to some disproportionately affect teachers with
completing training then returning to, or taking lower confidence or those less familiar with
jobs in, industry. However, due to a shortage of computing. A reduction in teaching hours will
computing teachers, newly qualified computing also make on the job experience harder to
teachers face few issues finding employment gain for new teachers.
and can get multiple job offers, which allows
them the luxury of being selective.
72. National College for Teaching and Leadership. 2017. Initial teacher training bursary guide Academic year 2015/16.
See www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501510/Training_Bursary_Guide_
AY_2015-2016.pdf (accessed 29 June 2017).
75. Pye Tait (2017). After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p.48.
73. The Royal Society. 2017. Computing Initial Teacher Training round table note.
76. A braided career describes someone who is working in two sectors simultaneously, for example working part-time
74. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p57. in an academic position and part-time in an industry position.
64 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 65
Chapter four
Continued professional
development, resources
and the broader context
Left
© AJ_Watt.
Continued professional
development, resources
and the broader context
Introduction Passionate groups and individuals with the 3. Professional development should include From our survey there are three noticeable
intention of improving the subject and raising collaboration and expert challenge; gaps in professional development provision
• Continued professional development (CPD) its profile have championed many of these for computing teachers: mentoring, action
needs to be sustained over time, and resources. This chapter explores the resources 4. Professional development programmes research, and self-study:
computing teachers cannot be expected and professional development support should be sustained over time; and
to deliver a new subject with only a few available to teachers, with a view to identifying • Mentoring can play an important role in
hours of training. priorities for further action. 5. Professional development must be a teacher’s professional development
prioritised by school leadership. and provides teachers with opportunities
• S
ince the introduction of the computing Teachers need high-quality CPD to learn from experts who can provide
curriculum in 2014, there has been an Computing as a school subject is new and Points 1 to 4 are underpinned by, and require, guidance and support when required.
abundance of resources available; continues to evolve. Teachers across the UK point 5.
however, some teachers have found urgently need to have access to, and to take • Action research empowers teachers
this to be overwhelming. part in, CPD. As described in Chapter 3, these If schools and the Government apply these to investigate changes in teaching and
teachers may need to gain expertise in the standards to professional development learning and measure the impact of those
• O
pportunities are available beyond the subject knowledge included in the computing for computing they should help to changes, rather than having them dictated
classroom for pupils to enhance their curriculum and in the pedagogical approaches maximise the impact of their investment to them during an inset day formal delivery
experience of computing. to teaching this curriculum. in computing teachers. session. It enables teachers to gain
confidence in decision-making, based upon
In computing, teachers are teaching a new The Department for Education’s standard for To understand the range of professional the needs of their pupils and schools78.
subject in the school curriculum. Since the professional development recognises that development provision in computing, we
introduction of computing in England in 2014, effective teaching requires both considerable asked survey respondents what types of • Self-study provides teachers with time
and the curriculum changes for computing knowledge and skill that develop as teachers’ activity they had participated in. Teacher to read around the subject, improve
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the careers progress77. The standard also network meetings were the most popular pedagogical knowledge, further their
volume, richness and diversity of resources identifies that effective teacher professional form of CPD undertaken with both primary understanding of concepts such as
and professional development opportunities development is dependent on strong and secondary teachers, closely followed abstraction, logic and algorithms, and to
for teachers have grown. partnerships between head teachers, teachers by external training courses (see Figure 15). practise their programming skills79. Helping
and providers of professional development The difference in uptake between primary teachers identify proven reading materials
Good teaching resources are essential to expertise. To ensure these partnerships are and secondary teachers with respect to and the best places for programming
help teachers deliver a comprehensive effective, there are five supporting aims: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) support is crucial to any teacher’s
computing education to their pupils. These was larger than any other form of CPD. professional development.
resources include educational programmes, 1. P
rofessional development should have
online media, support networks and lesson a focus on improving and evaluating
plans. These resources can help to enhance pupil outcomes;
the learning experience for students
while allowing teachers to improve their 2. Professional development should
subject knowledge. be underpinned by robust evidence
and expertise;
78. Burbank M. 2003. An Alternative Model for Professional Development: Investigations into effective collaboration.
Teaching and Teacher education. 19, pp499–514.
77. Department for Education. 2016. Standard for teachers’ professional development. 79. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p48.
68 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 69
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
Lesson 13%
observations BOX 7
16%
Peer review
9% Computing At School and the Network of Excellence
8%
Computing At School (CAS) is the subject Using universities as regional centres,
CAS toolkits 8%
(for example association for computer science and part the NoE works with schools and teachers
Quickstart) 13% of the British Computer Society (BCS). CAS in the local area to promote and support
develops and articulates a vision for the relevant teacher engagement and CPD
CAS Master 7%
subject of computing at the national level. activities82. The Network has certified over
Teacher training
11% CAS is also a grassroots community of 470 Master Teachers as subject experts,
Massive Open professional practice, which brings teachers to deliver this support in collaboration with
5%
Online Courses together as professionals who help one the universities83.
(MOOCs) 30%
another develop and share good practice.
5% In England, through DfE core funding, CAS
Other runs the Network of Excellence (NoE) in
25%
computing, which is recognised by the
1% Government as a key part of their digital
BCS toolkits
skills strategy81.
4%
Percentage of respondents
Base: Primary (221 respondents) and Secondary (420 respondents)
70 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 71
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
Collaboration and expert challenge BOX 8 In our Birmingham teacher meeting, a teacher development courses for local schools at
Collaborative learning can help teachers to spoke of his interest in becoming a Master least once a term. However, these courses
continually develop and build knowledge about PLAN C Teacher. Unfortunately, he was unable to are not centrally structured, and because the
their subject84,85. Collaborative learning groups take on the role, as his head teacher was Master Teachers are volunteers, the focus
involve teachers working together, reviewing Launched in 2013, PLAN C (Professional unable to release him to provide support to of the courses varies across the country.
and working on their subject, reflecting on their Learning and Networking in Computing) local teachers. Without support from senior The Network of Excellence and other
practice between lessons and the learning that was developed in collaboration with the leadership teams, it would prove too difficult professional development providers could
took place86. Collaboration also helps those British Computer Society and Computing for others in similar situations to become use our survey results to prioritise topics for
who might feel isolated in their roles to know At School Scotland with a focus on Master Teachers. future programmes.
that they are part of a community. Collaborative providing continuous professional
learning groups need support from experts. development for computing teachers Sustained professional development Our survey results point to wide variations
This expertise may be internal or external, throughout Scotland88. Teachers need to gain a background in all in the amount of computing-related CPD
but will typically involve higher education three aspects of computing, and attending a undertaken in 2015/2016. In primary schools,
institutions, professional learning providers, PLAN C provides a free set of sustained one-day course simply cannot achieve this. 29% indicated having undertaken zero hours
industry, and other schools and colleges87. professional learning opportunities We have found it hard to assess the extent of CPD during this period, and over 60% had
while also enabling teachers to have to which computing teachers are taking less than nine hours. In secondary schools
The Network of Excellence regional centres more collaborative methods of teaching part in sustained professional development. 26% of the respondents indicated that they
aim to develop strong relationships with through local hubs. Rather than training Through the university-led regional centres, have undertaken zero hours of CPD, and over
schools. In addition, they seek to facilitate teachers in specific technologies, PLAN Master Teachers run ongoing professional 40% had less than nine hours (see Figure 17).
the building of strong relationships between C aims to develop computational thinking
schools and higher education providers, skills and pedagogical knowledge.
while also providing opportunities for FIGURE 16
The hubs also allow teachers to share
formal training. learnings and teaching materials in a CPD banded hours in 2015/16 – primary schools.
collaborative environment89.
CAS Master Teachers are expert teachers
40%
who volunteer to support others as part of the
Network of Excellence. They receive sustained 35% 34%
training to become experts in computing need to recruit many more Master Teachers.
education through up to 120 hours of guided Governments in the devolved nations also 30% 29%
learning within the first year, depending on need to support CAS and grow the Network
their subject knowledge needs. In their second across the UK. 25%
% respondents
year, they receive mentoring and coaching
opportunities. There are over 470 current In the current model, Master Teachers 20%
Master Teachers, but they cannot be expected require significant support from their school 16%
to support all of the 4,000 secondary schools leadership. Unlike similar models for physics 15%
and 21,000 primary schools in England. For the and mathematics, schools do not receive
10%
Network to support all the teachers required to additional funding to release Master Teachers 10%
teach the new subject of computing, it would for their training, or to support other teachers. 7%
5%
2%
1% 1%
0%
0
0 hours 1–9 10 – 19 20 – 24 25 – 49 50 – 99 100 – 149 150 – 249 250+
hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours
84. Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education. 2016. Professional Learning for all teachers of mathematics. p10. Base: 340 respondents
85. Wenger E. 2000. Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organisation. 7(2). pp225–24. Source: Pye Tait.
86. In the academic literature these are often referred to as professional learning communities. See Vescio, Ross and Adams
2008. A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning.
Teaching and Teacher Education 24(1).
87. Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education. 2016. Professional Learning for all teachers of mathematics.
88. Cutts Q, Robertson J, Donaldson P. and O'Donnell L. 2017. An evaluation of a professional learning network for
computer science teachers. Computer Science Education, 27(1).
89. About PLAN C. 2017. Computing At School Scotland. See www.cas.scot/plan-c/ (accessed 12 September 2017).
72 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 73
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
FIGURE 17 The high proportion of teachers who Investing in a national infrastructure for
undertake little or no computing-related CPD computing CPD At Western Primary
CPD banded hours in 2015/16 – secondary schools. is very concerning, especially for a subject The Network of Excellence for computing School in Harrogate,
recently introduced into the curriculum. teachers has proved itself effective, despite North Yorkshire,
30%
Scottish teachers are required to undertake operating within the constraints of its limited head teacher Cheryl
26% 35 hours a year of CPD, though this does not budget. For example, secondary schools Smith supports her
25%
have to be subject related. reached by the Network generally have computing teachers
larger student cohorts taking computer in undertaking CPD
20% as and when required,
Teachers based away from city hubs can feel science at GCSE, and they achieve higher
% respondents
17%
isolated, making it harder for them to attend grades than schools not reached by the to maintain and build
15% 14% 14% their computing
12% CPD courses and networking meetings where Network91. To truly transform computing
expertise.
they could connect with other teachers. education over the next five years, a
10% 9%
Similarly, teachers with caring responsibilities, significantly scaled-up training network
“CPD training is vital.
5% disabilities or other commitments may not be is required and this should build on the
5% First and foremost it’s
2% able to realise the full potential of the support existing infrastructure. about boosting the
1% that is on offer to them. MOOCs are proving
0
confidence and ability
0 1–9 10 – 19 20 – 24 25 – 49 50 – 99 100 – 149 150 – 249 250+
popular, with 30% of our surveyed secondary Within the existing funding constraints, the of the computing
hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours school teachers accessing them, but they do current model of professional development teachers.”
Base: 599 respondents not necessarily enable collaboration. Isolated does not have adequate regional coverage Suzanne Brooke –
Source: Pye Tait. teachers require other ways of connecting to and is largely reliant on volunteer support. Year 5/6 Teacher92
support networks. Schools and teachers are not funded to take
part in the training programme, CAS Master
The Further Mathematics Support Programme Teacher support is voluntary and entirely
FIGURE 18
(FMSP) is an example of another subject which unfunded, and this has limited the possibility
Computing-related CPD banded hours in 2015/16 – Scotland. does provide support to pupils and teachers in of participation in the Network. The Network
isolated areas. FMSP Area Coordinators cover currently is not funded to evaluate its impact
the whole of England to provide training and on student outcomes, making it difficult to
40% KEY
36.96% support to other teachers while also arranging improve the support it provides since current
Primary school further mathematics tuition for students without evaluation is reliant on publicly available
35%
Secondary school access to the subject90. The Government could school-level GCSE data. As the programme
consider a similar model for computing. expands, it will need to maintain strong links
30%
28.21% 28.21% with universities, while maintaining the ethos
26.09%
of a community of practice, and seek funding
25%
% respondents
15%
10.87%
10% 8.70%
Source: Pye Tait. 90. Furthermaths.org.uk. 2017. The Further Mathematics Support Programme. See www.furthermaths.org.uk/
(accessed 29 June 2017).
91. British Computer Society. 2017. Evaluating the impact of the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.
See https://community.computingatschool.org.uk/files/8772/original.pdf (accessed 19 September 2017).
92. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
Annex 1: Case Study Schools. p21.
74 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 75
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
The existing budget of £1.2 million a year Prioritisation by school leadership Finding and choosing classroom resources New assessment tools
allocated by DfE to upskill existing primary The amount of investment a school makes Despite the best of intentions, teachers can Automated tools are now available to help
and secondary teachers will not cover the in CPD indicates the priority placed on find the landscape of computing resources teachers understand pupil progression. For
costs of training over 8,000 secondary professional development by its school hard to navigate. A common refrain in the example, teachers can use Dr. Scratch to save
teachers that need significant upskilling in leaders. When asked about school investment responses from teachers was that they felt time and mark pupils’ work. This tool allows
order to successfully deliver GCSE computer changes between 2013/14 and 2015/16, 30% of overwhelmed by the abundance of resources users to upload Scratch projects and it will
science. Based on the figures for comparable respondents in secondary schools indicated and were often unsure of their suitability95. It is provide feedback for users to improve their
programmes in mathematics93, funds of £60 that there had been a decrease in investment important that resource developers and others coding skills. Other online quiz tools such
million over five years are needed to train in CPD, and 37% experienced a decrease in provide teachers with evidence of the impact of as Kahoot and Socrative enable teachers
that many secondary computing teachers. time allocated for CPD. teaching resources to enable them to select the to run class quizzes to informally test pupil
best quality resources available. understanding and progression.
Schools with shortages of expert computing
RECOMMENDATION teachers cannot easily provide for teachers
Governments and industry undertaking CPD during school hours, so it is FIGURE 19
not surprising that the results indicated that
need to play an active role in teachers are undertaking CPD in their own
Investment change between 2013/14 and 2015/16 – secondary schools and colleges.
improving continuing professional time. The average time spent on computing-
Budget (£, apart from salaries) KEY
development (CPD) for computing related CPD in personal time was 22 hours for
allocated to computing
7.3% 37.2% 48.5% 7%
secondary school teachers and six hours for
teachers, such as exemplified Increased
primary during 2015/1694. It is not acceptable Investment (£) in
by the Network of Excellence. for teachers of a brand new subject to have computing equipment
15.6% 31.8% 42.9% 9.7% Stayed the same
93. The DfE-funded Maths Mastery Programme will retrain 8,000 primary teachers by 2020 to teach the new
mathematics curriculum, at a cost of £40 million over four years. The DfE is currently tendering for a new Level
3 mathematics support programme that will train post-16 teachers to teach new core mathematics and A level
curriculum. The budget allocated by DfE for this programme is currently £16 million over two years.
94. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p54. 95. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges. p65.
76 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 77
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
The Barefoot Computing project96 was The Tes website provides an extensive TABLE 11
originally funded by the DfE for English online catalogue that enables teachers to
primary schools in 2014, before being upload and download shared resources. Top 10 supporting organisations as indicated by surveyed teachers.
adopted by BT, and is now available free of Further demonstrating the goodwill of
charge to primary schools in all UK regions. the community, many of these resources Primary Secondary
are created by teachers themselves. With
Barefoot 17.7% Computing At School 36.5%
The project provides computer science approximately 13,000 resources tagged
teaching resources for primary teachers as ‘computing’, there is an abundance Computing At School (CAS) 15.3% OCR 5.2%
with no prior expertise, which are of lesson plans and guides available. Scratch 11.4% TES 5.2%
designed to be cross-curricular, and most Tes provided a list of their most popular
Rising Stars 6.5% Teach ICT 4.1%
of the resources are unplugged to be resources and this included:
as accessible as possible. The project Purple Mash 5.3% PG Online 3.4%
also provides free workshops for schools • C
omputing Planning for 2014 National Code.org 2.9% Facebook Groups 3.3%
to showcase the resources, which are Curriculum
Espresso 2.9% BBC (Micro:bit / Bitesize) 3.1%
delivered by volunteer IT professionals.
• 6
-Week Key Stage 2 Scratch Primary Code Club 2.7% Zig Zag 2.1%
To date over 40,000 primary teachers across Scheme of Work Switched On Computing 2.7% Code Academy 1.8%
the UK have benefited from the project.
Hour of Code 2.4% Raspberry Pi 1.7%
According to an independent Ipsos MORI • Primary ICT Curriculum / Scheme of Work
survey97 of 400 primary schoolteachers, Source: Pye Tait.
96% of teachers felt their pupils’ learning in Compared to other subjects, computing
numeracy improved as a result of Barefoot ranked 25th out of 75 subjects in terms of
resources, and 69% of teachers felt their resources available. The top subjects are
pupils’ learning in literacy improved. English, mathematics and history.
98. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
Annex 1: Case Study Schools. p37.
96. Barefoot Computing. 2017. Computing At School. See www.barefootcas.org.uk (accessed 12 September 2017).
99. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
97. BT and Ipsos MORI. 2016. Tech Literacy: A new Cornerstone of Modern Primary School Education. Annex 1: Case Study Schools. p15.
78 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 79
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
102. Department of Education & Professional Studies, Kings College London. 2013. ASPIRES: Young people's science
100. Oates T, Coe R, Peyton Jones S, Scratcherd T. and Woodhead S. 2017. Quantum: tests worth teaching to. and career aspirations age 10–14. p13. See www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/ASPIRES/
See http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/files/7256/original.pdf (accessed 25 April 2017). ASPIRES-final-report-December-2013.pdf (accessed 17 July 2017).
101. BBC. 2017. The BBC micro:bit. See www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4hVG2Br1W1LKCmw8nSm9WnQ/ 103. Pye Tait. 2017. After the Reboot: The State of Computing Education in UK Schools and Colleges.
the-bbc-micro-bit (accessed 4 August 2017). Annex 1: Case Study Schools. p16.
80 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 81
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
TABLE 12 BOX 14
Daily/ Every Every The Raspberry Pi Foundation A study conducted by the National
Activity type twice Twice 2–3 4–6 The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based Foundation for Educational Research
(and Base respondents) weekly Weekly monthly Monthly months months Annually charity that aims to advance computing (NfER) to assess the impact of attending
Computing clubs / education through the Raspberry Pi, a credit- Code Club, was the first randomised
code clubs (93) 10% 80% – 2% 4% 2% 2% card-sized, low-cost computer that allows control trial of an after-school computing
Visits to other computing- pupils to learn how to program. programme. It showed a significant positive
related events (40) – – – – 5% 18% 78% impact on children’s programming ability
Cross-curricular Complementing the Raspberry Pi is an in all of the languages used. Teachers
projects (33) – 6% – 9% 18% 15% 52% abundance of educational resources for reported improvements in children’s skills
pupils and teachers, which includes lesson and confidence in programming, general
Guest talks in school (28) – – – – 4% 11% 86%
plans that provide cross-curricular learning ICT skills and problem-solving, and wider
Entrants to computational with other subjects. school impacts. The study didn’t show any
thinking challenges (23) – 4% – 9% – 4% 83% effect on the Bebras test, which was used
Visits to industry (20) – – – – – 5% 95% They also run a number of outreach to assess computational thinking.
Whole school ‘super programmes, such as the Raspberry Jam,
learning days’ (20) – – – – 15% 5% 80% a regular meetup for pupils to learn more In 2015, Code Club merged with Raspberry
about using the Raspberry Pi. In collaboration Pi to create more opportunities for young
University Ambassador
with Computing At School, the Raspberry Pi people to learn how to code and create.
Schemes (11) 9% 9% – 9% 9% 9% 55%
Foundation launched Hello World in 2016, a
Source: Pye Tait. magazine for educators to share experiences CoderDojo
and learn from each other. Joining Raspberry Pi and Code Club in 2017,
CoderDojo is a grassroots-led organisation
Code Club that focuses on providing volunteer-led
TABLE 13 Founded in 2012, Code Club provides pupils programming clubs, called dojos, for young
with further opportunities to code through people to learn more about programming
Frequency of extracurricular computing activities – secondary schools / colleges. extracurricular sessions typically held in outside the classroom and to be exposed to
after-school hours, with approximately 6,000 the subject at an early age. Started in 2011,
Daily/ Every Every code clubs across the UK for 9–13 year olds. CoderDojo has now expanded to over 1,100
Activity type twice Twice 2–3 4–6 Volunteer IT professionals originally led the Dojos in 63 countries104.
(and Base respondents) weekly Weekly monthly Monthly months months Annually organisation, but teachers are increasingly
Computing clubs / leading clubs and using the resources.
code clubs (93) 22% 71% 3% 1% 2% 1% 1% Volunteers make a minimum commitment
Visits to other computing- of 12 weeks and they typically stay in the
related events / exhibitions (40) – – – – 14% 15% 72% programme for around 1.5 years.
Entrants to computational
thinking challenges (120) 1% 1% 1% 2% 5% 17% 74%
Visits to industry (120) – – – 3% 8% 15% 74%
Guest talks in school (119) – – 2% 2% 8% 30% 58%
Cross-curricular projects (96) 1% 13% 2% 4% 15% 15% 51%
University Ambassador
Schemes (64) – 2% – – 13% 17% 69%
Whole school ‘super learning
days’ (55) – – – – 6% 6% 89%
82 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 83
CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FOUR
84 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 85
Chapter five
Improving computing
education through
research
Left
© xijian.
Unplugged
Pedagogy
Cross-curricular
Pedagogy
109. British Educational Research Association. 2015. The BERA Observatory of educational research. Final report. Source: Lr. 2.
See www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BERA-Observatory-FINAL.pdf?noredirect=1 (accessed 27 July 2017).
110. The Royal Society. 2014. Vision for science and mathematics education.
111. The Royal Society. 2014. Vision for science and mathematics education. 112. Lr. 2.
88 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 89
CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER FIVE
Research into learning models and Physical computing devices are becoming Research into effective assessment Some research studies assess the
instructional techniques more popular with pupils and teachers. Many techniques for computing effectiveness of different assessment
Models of learning and theories of instruction different devices are available and the BBC One of our literature reviews focused on instruments. For example, rubrics, which
should be central to any programme of micro:bit initiative saw the delivery of nearly assessment, identifying a range of different provide teachers with a set of marking criteria
computing education research. Although a million small programmable devices for studies specifically relating to assessment in for assessing programs, can be highly effective
research in these areas is limited, there have children in 2016. Although there is not a large computing. The review did not include studies when assessing projects. The use of rubrics
been some attempts to model the learning body of research into physical computing, on particular aspects of summative assessment also allows pupils to recognise the standards
process, such as representing the stages it is an area where research is emerging. as these are country specific and can change required for their work.
involved for understanding programming113. This relates directly to use in schools and with updates to the curriculum or qualifications.
Researchers have evaluated various models of engagement in and out of the classroom. Formative assessment, also known as Due to their increasing popularity, research into
instruction including worked examples, tracing There are also unplugged resources that assessment for learning, is essential to enable the effectiveness of automated assessment
and reading code, and the use of discourse enable pupils to learn aspects of computing teachers to monitor and guide progression tools for assessing programming tasks and
for understanding. Some of this research has without hardware. and learning. The review highlighted that computational thinking is growing. Most of
taken place in school but the large majority there is broad agreement among researchers these studies are at an individual school level,
is focused on higher education. Research into programming languages that teachers need to take a multi-faceted so there is a need for more large-scale studies,
The reviewed evidence base that focused on approach to formative assessment118. particularly around assessing conceptual
Research into context teaching and learning programming languages understanding and computational thinking120.
Research on the environment or structure focuses on the transition from block-based The review summarises the evidence on a
in which learning can best take place helps programming such as Scratch and Kodu to text- wide range of assessment strategies including Our literature reviews suggest that a number
teachers to structure their classroom and based languages that are widespread across concept maps, self and peer assessment, of other strategies might be useful in
decide which physical resources to use. primary and secondary computing classes. rubrics and multiple-choice questions. formative assessment of pupils’ understanding
An example included in our literature review114 While most of the research focused on of computing concepts. Concept maps
features a class using a programmable toy Research into student engagement undergraduates in computer science, many graphically represent pupils’ knowledge by
to deepen understanding about geometry, Research into pupil engagement examines of the findings are relevant to schools. mapping how they organise and represent
or creating a computer game that draws how learners can be active participants in knowledge. Research has identified that
upon history topics to create cross-curricular teaching and learning. Evidence indicates that Research into assessment approaches concept maps are also useful for teachers
learning opportunities. This research suggests learning computing in an active environment tends to focus on self-assessment or peer to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge121.
that using games to learn how to programme benefits pupils beyond the impact on their assessment and where computing teachers
can be highly motivational115,116. formal attainment; for example, it can help can use them. Evidence from self-assessment
create an inclusive learning environment that research has revealed that pupils tend to work
encourages the participation of a more diverse harder and are more motivated when self-
group of pupils in computing. assessment is used119.
113. Lr. 2.
114. Lr. 2.
115. Kafai, Y B & Burke, Q 2015 Constructionist gaming: understanding the benefits of making games for learning. Educ.
Psychol. 50, 313–334. Repenning, A et al. 2015 Scalable game design: a strategy to bring systemic computer science 118. Lr. 3. p40.
education to schools through game design and simulation creation. ACM Transactions Comput. Educ. (TOCE) 15, 11.
119. Lr. 3. p10 cited by Garcia-Beltrán and Martinez. 2006.
116. Repenning, A et al. 2015 Scalable game design: a strategy to bring systemic computer science education to schools
through game design and simulation creation. ACM Transactions Comput. Educ. (TOCE) 15, 11. 120. Lr. 3. p26.
117. Lr. 1. p5. 121. Lr. 3. p32.
90 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 91
CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER FIVE
The computing research base in the UK group was formed to encourage discussion BOX 16
With the introduction of a mandatory computing between teachers and academics interested
curriculum for maintained schools in England, in research. And the Teaching Inquiry in
Examples of emerging school-based computing education research in the UK
teachers might expect that UK researchers Computing Education (TICE) project, funded
would be investigating computing pedagogies by Microsoft and Google from 2015 to 2016,
Stride and programming language research in this field across Scotland to develop a
in order to improve pupil outcomes for ages provided teachers with the opportunity to carry
The Greenfoot team (Michael Kölling coherent approach for future research.
5 – 16. However, this is rarely the case, as out small-scale action research projects of
and colleagues, King’s College London) The centre aims to have a single academic
computing education research has not been their choice.
have worked in the area of programming discipline of computing science and to share
a funding priority.
tool development for the past 15 years best practice within the community.
Box 16 gives examples of current and recent
(previously at the University of Kent) and
The UK's computing education research UK research projects and these illustrate the
developed Greenfoot and Blue J for novice PRIMM
community is small. There are just two named breadth of research that is already underway
programmers. They have now developed an There is currently little research in the UK
professors of computer science education in in the UK despite the limited capacity.
innovative ‘frame-based’ editor called Stride around pedagogy specifically, but this new
the UK, and no professors of computer science
to support progression from block-based project from King’s College London builds
education in the education departments of the Several conferences and journals relate to
languages. on existing research in the field and focuses
UK’s higher education institutions122. computing education but not many specifically
on a scaffolding framework for teaching
focus on computing education in schools.
ScratchMaths and mathematical programming to children, independent of the
In comparison, there are currently 27 active However, a new UK-based journal, the
programming tool or environment used.
professors of mathematics education in International Journal of Computer Science
This three-year EEF-funded research project
England alone123, most of whom are located Education in School (IJCSES)126, is an open-
completes in 2018. Through this project, The Roehampton Annual Computing
in education faculties. Basing computing access peer-reviewed journal that aims to
research resources teach mathematics in Education Report
education researchers in computer science publish computing education research that
primary school through programming have This project aims to report annually on the
departments may restrict the capacity available is also accessible to teachers.
been developed and rigorously evaluated at diversity of pupils choosing to take computer
to undertake educational research, but it may
University College London (UCL). science as a GCSE subject. Over time, this
also be an opportunity124. A new strategy for computing
will provide valuable information to assist
education research
Torino research in increasing uptake of computing
A systematic review of over 2,000 computing New research in computing education
There has been much development in by under-represented groups.
education papers internationally from 2005 to could help solve some of the problems
the UK relating to physical computing
2014 revealed that most of the research was this report has identified. For example:
devices, including Raspberry Pi, the BBC Supporting computer science curriculum
from the USA, with 1,231 papers, while the UK
micro:bit, and .NET Gadgeteer, that has been reform in Wales
had only produced 128 during this period125. • G
ender imbalance in computing
used to research the benefits of physical As part of their work on developing computer
Within this review, the majority of school-level (see Chapter 2);
computing in the classroom. Torino is a new science education and a Digital Competence
research was from the USA with 170 papers,
development by Microsoft Research that Framework in the new Curriculum for Wales,
while the UK only produced 24. • Aspiration and image of the subject; and
focuses on helping visually impaired children researchers at Cardiff Metropolitan University
learn computer programming. (Professor Tom Crick and Professor Gary
Despite the small number of computing • T
eacher recruitment and retention
Beauchamp) and Technocamps based in
education researchers in the UK, there is (see Chapter 3).
The Centre for Computing Science Swansea University (Professor Faron Moller),
a growing community of teachers with an
Education have been working on computational thinking,
interest in computing education research. These problems are difficult to solve and
Based in Glasgow University, the Centre for effective pedagogies for programming and
The Computing At School research working require broad-ranging interdisciplinary effort.
Computing Science Education has been interventions to support teacher confidence
established to bring together researchers and capability.
92 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 93
CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER FIVE
RECOMMENDATION A future research agenda Subject-specific pedagogies and assessment Computing for all
Education research funders, For research to have a high impact on Teachers require teaching methods that Improving gender balance in computing
educational outcomes for all pupils, it is embed pedagogy and practical strategies must be a priority and understanding how to
researchers, teachers and important for teachers, school leaders and so they are able to understand the make the subject more attractive for girls is
policymakers should develop policymakers to be involved in discussions interrelatedness between them. Research an important area of research. A multitude of
a strategic plan that achieves: about research challenges, and for researchers needs to be accessible to teachers to social factors can affect uptake of computing
to share their findings with teachers and enable them to make informed decisions and pupil engagement. Further research into
policymakers. Research requires the active when planning lessons for different stages these social factors to improve engagement
• the establishment of a involvement of schools and teachers and the of the curriculum. Teachers and examiners within schools would be highly beneficial for
long-term research agenda establishment of infrastructure to achieve are assessing a new subject with very the subject. We need to understand how the
for computing education research goals. little evidence to support decisions about views, aspirations and experiences of young
appropriate assessment methodologies. people affect their attitudes towards computing
in schools; Based on the gaps and emerging research and their decision to study it. The forthcoming
strengths identified in literature reviews, and There are a number of research questions Royal Society and British Academy report on
• a
commitment to this the challenges identified within the evidence to address in order to provide teachers with education research should identify computing
gathered for this project, we have proposed advice. A substantial research programme education and gender balance in STEM
programme by a number
a framework to guide discussions about is required to address these, and other subjects as priority research areas.
of stakeholders; computing education research priorities with questions, so that computing education
teachers, school leaders, researchers and pedagogies and assessment methods are Teacher education in computing
• the development of UK policymakers. Our proposed framework has further developed. Some of the research As mentioned previously in the report (see
four strands: questions that might be addressed include: Chapter 3), computing education is struggling
capacity to conduct the to develop a strong pool of computing
research; and 1. S
ubject-specific pedagogies and • W
hat is the most effective, best-evidenced teachers. More research is required to
assessment; curriculum framework for computing? understand how to make computing teaching
careers more appealing, especially when the
• the effective sharing of
2. Computing for all; • W
hich specific instructional techniques incentives within industry are so strong.
knowledge between and teaching strategies are most effective
researchers, teachers 3. Teacher education in computing; and for raising attainment in computing? For Research in teacher education is also required
and teacher trainers. example, does teaching in situated contexts to support in-service teachers. As outlined
4. Understanding the impact of computing such as physical computing or unplugged in Chapter 4, teachers need sustained CPD
education over time. computing improve pupil knowledge, skills opportunities and understanding best practice
and understanding? for delivering CPD would be highly beneficial.
This framework should be underpinned by Research on the effectiveness of different
research into learning models for computing, • W
hich pedagogical approaches facilitate CPD activities would help teachers improve
which may benefit from drawing on existing engagement, interest and motivation in their subject knowledge and supporting
science and mathematics education computing? organisations to understand the most
research. It is important that new computing beneficial activities.
education research is established in a strong • H
ow can measures and rubrics for formative
theoretical framework. assessment play a role in identifying pupils’
levels of learning and misconceptions?
• H
ow do high-quality and reliable
assessment instruments and tasks align
with the learning objectives of the new
computing curriculum?
94 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 95
CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER FIVE
Understanding the impact of computing Building research capacity Providing more opportunities for training In the longer term, a centre for computing
education over time This should be an exciting time to be in social science and interdisciplinary education research could help foster a critical
Given the increasing impact of data and involved in computing education research opportunities for research would be mass of expertise, and systematically involve
computing in our society, understanding due to the emergence of the subject in advantageous in incentivising more teachers in the co-creation and dissemination
the long-term impact of the subject on the schools. The opportunities provided by new computer science graduates to consider of research.
curriculum and on pupils is essential. Funders computing curricula coupled with advances in educational research.
need to commission longitudinal studies technologies and analytical tools with which Conclusion
(at least five years127) to understand pupil to mine big datasets, and the increasingly Moreover, education departments can We need to increase the capacity of the
progression over time. Most of the studies interdisciplinary nature of educational begin to create structures to accommodate existing computing education research base
identified in our literature reviews were research, offer enormous scope for advancing computing education research in the for the UK to produce high-quality research
only conducted over a short period. computing teaching and learning. same way that they do for other science for schools. Without this research, the ability
and mathematics education research. and speed with which we can advance our
At some stage in their education, pupils However, computing education research is Scholarships and other PhD funding could understanding of pedagogies and assessment
have to choose whether to study computing. nascent, and there is insufficient research be made available to encourage computing for computing is limited130. Research will
Research into the factors that affect the capacity for establishing a sound evidence education research housed in education provide a strong theoretical base to improve
uptake of the subject would help teachers base128. To build capacity, multidisciplinary departments. Doctoral training partnerships pupils’ learning outcomes.
and others understand how to make the teams with expertise in workforce planning, could also provide new interdisciplinary and
subject more engaging to those pupils who diversity and inclusion, and economics, could cross-institutional opportunities in computing We have outlined an ambitious, strategic
might think otherwise. Understanding pupils’ be established to tackle some of the problems education PhDs. programme for computing education research.
career choices and aspirations can provide outlined in a new strategy for computing The Society’s 2014 report, Vision for Science
insights into their decision to continue with education research. However, pedagogic Another contributing factor for the lack of and Mathematics Education, called for greater
computing or not. research requires an understanding of the school-level research is due to a focus on collaboration between education researchers,
discipline of computing. higher education, as schools previously teaching professionals, policymakers and the
did not teach computing. Since the subject public. Those involved in computing education
RECOMMENDATION It seems clear that the UK must find ways of has become mandatory in English schools need to collaborate on the research agenda,
The Economic and Social improving the pipeline of computing education up to age 16, there is a great opportunity to setting out clear priorities and strategies for
researchers in order to increase the capacity undertake school-level research. delivering the required evidence in order to
Research Council (ESRC) for computing education research. People meet the programme’s demands.
and other funders of education enter education research from a diverse range Teachers can have insights that researchers
research should work to address of previous careers. In existing subjects, such may not have. It is therefore useful for them to Funding for computing education research
as science and mathematics, it is common for work together to develop in-depth research needs to increase now that computing has
the research priorities identified
education researchers to have been subject- that benefits pupils over the long term. It become a core component of the UK’s
in this report. specialist teachers with a strong grounding also has another proven benefit of providing education systems. This requires governments
in their discipline. Clearly, that model does teachers with CPD129. and employers to recognise that computing
not work immediately for research in a new skills are now essential for life and are
school subject, and this is not likely to change The model of researcher-teacher collaboration inextricably linked to economic prosperity.
in the short term. Currently, there are few found in many of the projects funded by Without research, the teaching of the subject
incentives or opportunities for those in taught the Education Endowment Foundation lacks a strong theoretical base to develop
higher education courses in computer science involves a process in which teachers are further and drive other initiatives. We cannot
to adopt a more interdisciplinary position. trained and supported to conduct the overlook the importance of research, as it
Knowledge of social science methods and research themselves, which is then evaluated will drive the future progress of the subject
educational theory are not commonplace independently by academic researchers. We in schools.
in either postgraduate taught or research need a robust research programme where
computer science courses. teachers are working with academics on
education research in computing.
127. Technopolis. 2017. The role of EU funding for UK educational research. Case study for the Royal Society. (Forthcoming.) 129. Sentance S, Sinclair J, Simmons C. Csizmadia A. 2016. Teacher research projects in Computing.
128. The Royal Society. 2014. Vision for Science and Mathematics Education. p22. 130. Lr. 1.
96 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 97
Appendices
Left
© DGLimages.
Appendices
Working Group members Royal Society staff
The members of the Working Group involved in this report are listed below. Members acted in Staff from across the Royal Society contributed to the production of this report.
an individual and not a representative capacity, and declared any potential conflicts of interest.
Members contributed to the project on the basis of their own expertise and good judgement.
The Royal Society staff
Dr Claire Craig CBE Director of Science Policy
Chair
Dr Rosalind Mist Head of Policy, Education
Professor Steve Furber CBE FREng FRS ICL Professor of Computer Engineering,
David Do Quy Computing Project Leader
School of Computer Science,
The University of Manchester Rebecca Veitch Senior Policy Adviser
Working Group Dr Adam Wright Senior Policy Adviser
Andrew Buddie ICT Co-ordinator, The Royal Masonic Ryan Mercer Policy Adviser
School for Girls and former Chair of Naace David Montagu Policy Adviser
Professor Peter Buneman MBE FRS The Laboratory for Foundations of
Jennifer Panting Policy Adviser
Computer Science, School of Informatics,
University of Edinburgh Previous Royal Society staff who contributed to the development of the project
Dr Alexandra Burch Head of Exhibitions, Learning and Outreach, Kimberley Birkett Project Coordinator (until August 2016)
Natural History Museum Marcus Shepheard Project Coordinator (until March 2017)
Professor Paul Curzon Professor of Computer Science,
Queen Mary University of London
Review panel
Dr Robert Harle Senior Lecturer, University of Cambridge
This report has been reviewed by a panel of experts, before being approved by the Officers of
Peter Marshman Head of Computer Science and IT, the Royal Society. The Review Panel members were not asked to endorse the conclusions or
Leighton Park School recommendations of the report, but to act as independent referees of its technical content and
Dr Bill Mitchell Director of Education, British Computer Society presentation. Panel members acted in a personal and not a representative capacity, and were
Dr Rhys Morgan Director of Engineering and Education, asked to declare any potential conflicts of interest. The Royal Society gratefully acknowledges
The Royal Academy of Engineering the contribution of the reviewers.
100 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 101
APPENDICES APPENDICES
Commissioned research
Types of career young people are interested in.
To provide an evidence base for the report, three literature reviews, a school survey
and an analysis of government data were commissioned and are available at
royalsociety.org/computing-education All young people % Males % Females %
Medicine* 27 14 44
Reference in report Title Author Engineer* 24 34 10
Lr. 1. Computing Education: An Overview Professor Tom Crick MBE Computer scientist* 11 17 3
of Research in the Field Psychologist* 8 3 16
Lr. 2. Pedagogy in teaching Computer Science Jane Waite
Teacher / lecturer* 7 5 10
in Schools: A Literature Review
Veterinary science* 6 3 10
Lr. 3. Assessment in Computer Science Courses: Maria Kallia
A Literature Review Sports science /
physiotherapist 5 5 4
Pye Tait After the Reboot: The State of Computing Pye Tait
Education in UK Schools Chemist 5 4 5
Kantar Public The Royal Society: Computing Education Kantar Public Civil engineering / design 5 6 2
Analysis of administrative education data Biologist 4 3 6
Forensic scientist 4 1 7
Physicist 3 3 2
Armed forces 2 3 2
Other science career 13 12 14
Non-science career* 16 18 12
Unweighted base 1,495 807 683
102 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 103
APPENDICES APPENDICES
Key Stage 2 mathematics profiles of 2016 GCSE subject cohorts. 45 largest subjects.
Subject Mean SD
Biology 4.67 0.52 Design and Technology: Product Design 4.13 0.78
Statistics 4.34 0.72 Design and Technology: Resistant Materials 4.05 0.80
English Language 4.28 0.73 Design and Technology: Food Technology 3.97 0.82
Applied Engineering 4.24 0.73 Health & Social Care 3.85 0.76
English Literature 4.24 0.75 Home Economics: Child Development 3.77 0.77
Religious Studies 4.23 0.75 English Language and Literature 3.58 0.87
D&T Graphics 4.21 0.75 Source: Kemp P. 2017. The Royal Society Computing Project.
Mathematics 4.16 0.77
104 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 105
APPENDICES APPENDICES
TABLE 16
ICT and Computing qualifications taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2007 – 2016).
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Entries for academic qualifications*
ICT (full GCSE) 99,656 85,599 73,519 61,022 47,128 53,197 73,487 96,811 111,934 84,120
Computing (full GCSE) – – – – – – – 16,773 35,414 62,454
ICT (GCSE short course) 96,056 80,840 61,443 44,891 29,931 15,223 11,908 8,215 6,221 5,466
ICT (GCSE double award) 27,656 16,062 9,158 5,810 3,383 1,998 2,393 1,844 1,379 656
Total academic
qualifications 223,368 182,501 144,120 111,723 80,442 70,418 87,788 123,643 154,948 152,696
* Source (academic qualifications): JCQ examination results (GCSE and entry-level certificate results Summer [YEAR]). Level 2
See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/gcses (accessed November 2016). BCS: Includes Certificates, Awards, Diplomas, NVQs in IT User Skills, IT Application Skills, Creative Digital Media.
* Source (vocational qualifications): Ofqual Vocational qualifications dataset, 2006 to present – England, Wales and Northern City & Guilds: Includes NVQs for IT Users, Communication technologies practitioners, Contact centre operations,
Ireland. See www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vocational-qualifications-dataset (accessed November 2016). IT Practitioners.
Level 1 / 2 OCR: Includes NVQs for IT Users, IT Practitioners, Contact centre operations; National Award, Certificate, First Award,
Cambridge International: Includes Level 1 / Level 2 Certificates in ICT and computer science. First Certificate, Short Course Award in ICT; Award, Certificate, Diploma, Extended Certificate in IT user skills and
systems and principles for practitioners; Award in ICT systems and principles for IT professionals; Cambridge Technical
OCR Cambridge National: Includes Level 1 / Level 2 Cambridge National Certificate, Award and Diploma in ICT.
Certificate, Diploma, Extended Certificate in IT; Principal learning in IT; Diploma in ICT Professional competence.
106 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 107
APPENDICES APPENDICES
TABLE 17
Level 3 ICT and Computing qualifications taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2007 – 2016).
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Entries for academic qualifications*
Computing (GCE A level) 5,610 5,068 4,710 4,065 4,002 3,809 3,758 4,171 5,383 6,242
ICT (GCE A level) 13,360 12,277 11,948 12,186 11,960 11,088 10,419 9,479 9,124 8,737
Applied ICT (GCE A level
single award) 12,076 13,618 13,580 12,291 11,045 9,594 8,753 7,384 6,283 5,481
Applied ICT (GCE A level
double award) 3,051 2,609 1,835 1,328 833 587 472 356 267 202
Total academic
qualifications 34,097 33,572 32,073 29,870 27,840 25,078 23,402 21,390 21,057 20,662
* Source (academic qualifications): JCQ examination results (GCSE and entry-level certificate results Summer [YEAR]).
See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/gcses (accessed November 2016).
* Source (vocational qualifications): Ofqual Vocational qualifications dataset, 2006 to present – England, Wales and Northern
Ireland. See www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vocational-qualifications-dataset (accessed November 2016).
108 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 109
APPENDICES APPENDICES
TABLE 18
Comparison of percentages of entries to Computing and ICT A levels with entries to selected
science A levels across the UK by gender (2002 – 2016).
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Computing (%)
Male 86 87 88 89 90 90 91 90 91 92 92 93 92 92 90
Female 14 13 12 11 10 10 9 10 9 8 8 7 8 8 10
ICT (%)*
Male 65 66 65 65 64 63 62 61 62 61 61 62 64 64 64
Female 35 34 35 35 36 37 38 39 38 39 39 38 36 36 36
Mathematics (%)
Male 63 63 61 62 61 60 60 59 59 60 60 61 61 61 61
Female 37 37 39 38 39 40 40 41 41 40 40 39 39 39 39
Physics (%)
Male 77 77 78 78 78 78 78 78 78 79 79 79 79 79 78
Female 23 23 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 21 21 21 21 21 22
Chemistry (%)
Male 49 48 49 51 51 50 51 52 52 53 53 52 52 51 50
Female 51 52 51 49 49 50 49 48 48 47 47 48 48 49 50
Source: JCQ examination results (A, AS and AEA results, Summer [YEAR]).
See www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels (accessed November 2016).
110 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 111
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National 4 Higher
2015 2016 2017 2015 2016 2017
Entries % Entries % Entries % Entries % Entries % Entries %
Male 2,765 80 2,353 81 2,225 83 Male 1,010 85 3,711 83 3,818 85
Female 691 20 540 19 470 17 Female 172 15 743 17 658 15
112 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 113
APPENDICES APPENDICES
TABLE 20
Bottom 5 Local Authorities with the lowest percentage of total Key Stage 4 pupils
undertaking GCSE computer science
Source: The Department for Education. 2017. Find and compare schools in England.
(see www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables, accessed September 2017).
114 AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS AFTER THE REBOOT: COMPUTING EDUCATION IN UK SCHOOLS 115
APPENDICES
Glossary
A level GCE Advanced Level MOOCs Massive Open Online Courses
AQA
Assessment and Qualifications NoE Network of Excellence
Alliance
NPD National Pupil Database
BBC
The British Broadcasting
OCR Oxford, Cambridge and RSA
Corporation
Examinations
BCS British Computer Society
Ofqual Office of Qualifications and
C&G City & Guilds Examinations Regulation
CAS Computing At School Ofsted Office for Standards in Education,
Children’s Services and Skills
CPD Continuing Professional
Development PGCE Postgraduate Certificate in
Education
cs4fn Computer Science for Fun
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
DfE Department for Education
PLAN C Professional Learning and
EBacc English Baccalaureate
Networking in Computing
EEF Educational Endowment
QMUL Queen Mary University of London
Foundation
SEND Special educational needs and
ESRC Economic and Social Research
disabilities
Council
SET Science Education Tracker
FE Further Education
SQA Scottish Qualifications Authority
FMSP The Further Mathematics Support
Programme SQL Structured Query Language
GCSE General Certificate of Secondary STEM Science, technology, engineering
Education and mathematics
HE Higher education STEMNET Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics Network
HEIs Higher education
institutionstinued) Tes Times educational supplement
ICT Information Communication TICE Teaching Inquiry in Computing
Technology Education
IDACI
Income Deprivation Affecting UCAS The Universities and Colleges
Children Index Admissions Service
iDEA The Duke of York Inspiring Digital UCL University College London
Enterprise Award
UKForCE UK Forum for Computing Education
IJCSES International Journal of Computer
Science Education in School
IoP Institute of Physics
IT Information Technology
JCQ Joint Council for Qualifications
ISBN: 978-1-78252-297-3
Issued: November 2017 DES4633