Mark Harrison, Director of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has sent a link to the ICT Programme of study which has just been published.
The letter that Naace, ITTE and MirandaNet have written to Gove about their concerns about staffing the new ICT Curriculum in schools and in teacher education can be found Here
Here are some headlines from the 19th October Guardian on this topic….
Graduates to be offered £20,000 to train as computer science teachers
Michael Gove announces new courses designed with help from Facebook, Microsoft and IBM to improve basic, boring school lessons. Graduates are to be offered £20,000 scholarships to train as computer science teachers in an initiative launched by the government and backed by companies including Microsoft and Facebook.
The move is part of a package of reforms aimed at overhauling computer science education, giving children the skills to write programs rather than simply focusing on word processing skills.
The education secretary, Michael Gove, announced on Friday that current information and communications technology teacher training courses will be axed from next year. Instead, ministers will offer scholarships worth £20,000 to attract high-achieving graduates to train as computer science teachers. Read more…
MirandaNet Members comments are welcome on mirandalink@mirandanet.ac.uk where other members can see this.
Christina asked us all for comments on the draft curriculum. Mine are organised by section below.
Aims & Principles: Include ‘safely’ in Can critically evaluate and apply information technology (including new or unfamiliar technologies) confidently, responsibly, collaboratively and effectively to solve problems and work creatively.
Don’t understand purpose of including “Learn to see problems in computational terms” here.
KS1: Deep concern that “Understand what algorithms are and that these are implemented as programs on digital devices; use knowledge of algorithms to write simple programs.” is inappropriate language for both KS1 and their teachers – introducing pupils to logical sequencing and floor turtles, other toys is as far as I would go. If this is all that is actually intended then that needs to be said.
KS2: Concern re what would need to be taken out of the KS2 curriculum in order to spend the time that would be necessary to teach programming to the detail specified – there is too little at KS4 and too much here – more thought as to progression from child’s perspectives and abilities needed please.
KS3: a clearer approach though uncertain as to what complex goals might be in “select, use and assemble multiple applications across a range of devices to achieve complex goals” . Should it be “Recognise the impact of digital and mobile technologies on society ?
KS4: Surprise as to “ethical, moral, legal and environmental aspects of information systems” in KS4, the differences between ethical and moral are nuanced and usually beyond me let alone a teenager – do we mean ‘ethical and social’ which is the more common phrase?
General concern throughout that without context and examples teachers will feel threatened by the new terminology and start teaching programming from non-age appropriate textbooks tentatively and badly. I am not seeing a ‘pupil voice’ in this – how can I show others what can I do with a computer, mobile phone etc.