Leading the way with Teach secondary computing

Our first graduate of the Teach secondary computing certificate, Karishma Aubeeluck, tells us about her experience of continuing her professional development with the NCCE.

As a graduate of the Computer Science Accelerator, I chose to enroll on the secondary certificate as it gave me the opportunity to continue to develop my career and to get involved in extra-curricular activities.

Being the only computing teaching in my current school, I wanted to explore and experience other facets of computer science, above and beyond the academic side.

My main focus was participating in professional development as I was already engaging in other activities which supported my progress. One of the online courses I chose was Programming pedagogy in secondary schools. Although I enjoy teaching Python programming, I was looking to develop my teaching and gain new approaches to develop my student’s computational understanding.

After completing the course, I felt better equipped to deliver key concepts to my students remotely. The resources and pace of the course was good and it offered me the opportunity and time to complete some of the other activities.

The remote courses were delivered via an online platform, which was easy to use and navigate. The course facilitators delivering these courses were experienced teachers, the content was easy to follow and understand, and the course materials were helpful as well. As the remote learning was conducted over different sessions/days, I could easily fit them in my busy day-day teaching schedule allowing time to complete gap tasks.

With online learning there is even more flexibility - it works around your busy schedule. More of the sessions start at the start of the week when you could go over it at your own pace and complete the end of week activities. The course content was good and easy to follow. It has a mix of videos and theory.

The certificate itself was a complement to the training I had already engaged in through the NCCE. The Computer Science Accelerator covered the academic aspect of computer science and has helped me teach the subject better while giving me the opportunity to think about getting more involved in extra-curricular activities. The secondary certificate opened the doors for me to further opportunities, such as registering with the Gender Balance in Computing programme and developing my practice.

I was delighted to be the first teacher to complete the secondary certificate, and to see all my hard work had paid off. I will continue to advance my knowledge in teaching by taking part in courses offered by the Teach Computing, as it will help me with my professional development.

I would strongly recommend teachers to complete the secondary certificate as it offers lots of opportunities to develop your teaching practice and apply the skills in the real world.

To find out more about the secondary certificate, visit teachcomputing.org/secondary-certificate.