BCS calls on Head teachers to ensure their school offers a great computing education

30 Jun 2016 04:07 PM

Head teachers need to take an active part in ensuring that their school offers a great computing curriculum - according to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

The call was made at a conference for head teachers hosted by Birmingham City University, one of the 10 Universities working with BCS as part of the Computing At School (CAS) Network of Excellence in Computer Science.

Bill Mitchell, Director of Education, BCS said: “Schools have made huge progress since Computing became part of the curriculum, but we know that there’s a lot more to do to ensure all young people have the skills and education that will truly benefit them in the future. Research from the National College of Teaching & Leadership¹shows that head teachers have a crucial role in leading curriculum development in their schools. BCS wants all head teachers to get involved and lead the development of Computing for the benefit of all young people.”

Speaking at the conference Sir Mark Grundy, Executive Principal of Shireland Collegiate Academy said, “Introducing Computing has been a challenge, but with strong leadership it’s a challenge schools can face and we’ve seen the impact on our students' motivation and results.”

To help address these challenges, BCS with support from Microsoft, is developing a ’toolkit’ to help head teachers across the country to deliver high-quality computing education for their students. This toolkit will include practical advice, guidance, case studies and action plans to assist teachers and their senior leadership teams.

There will be a set of one page guides for key members of staff on how to implement computing, as well as short case studies from leading schools. A self-review tool will also be available to help schools identify the progress they have made and what they need to do next along with information about where they can get further help. The toolkit will be available from September via:computingatschool.org.uk

^1. For example, Freedom to lead: a study of outstanding primary school leadership in England; National College of Teaching & Learning July 2014

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