Your guide to teaching secondary computer science this spring
On a summer holiday in Scotland we visited Chanonry Point near Inverness, famous for dolphin sightings. They came out to play on the day before and day after our visit, but not while we were there. Secondary teachers will be hoping to catch a glimpse of a similarly rare sight in spring term, a space in their timetable known as “gained time”. Many speak of it, some have experienced it, but even those who see it agree, it’s fleeting and gone too soon.
Hopefully you have some gained time this month to think about next year, and with this blog you’ll gain advice on how the National Centre for Computing Education can help you with planning and improving your subject knowledge ready for January.
Utilise the Teach Computing Curriculum
Whether you are planning the whole curriculum or just updating some tired units, make sure you take full advantage of the Teach Computing Curriculum (TCC). The TCC contains nearly 300 lessons in over 40 units for key stages 3 and 4, so there really is a TCC unit for every need.
There are also secondary question banks for assessment, available as Google Forms and Microsoft Forms which you can duplicate and use as your own, editing as necessary. The TCC also includes a full key stage 4 computing pathway for those students not taking GCSE Computer Science, as mandated by the National Curriculum and mentioned by Ofsted in the 2022 Research Review. For more ideas on how to meet this national curriculum requirement you can read this blog post, which explains the requirement and signposts you to the ‘Computing for All’ online short course tailored for teachers at key stage 4.
Whatever you choose to take from the TCC, you can trust the research-informed progression framework that underpins it and even cite this in your curriculum documentation.
Explore the free online platform for students and teachers
You can also supplement your curriculum with Isaac Computer Science, the free online platform for students containing a full course for all GCSE and A level Computer Science specifications and many hundreds of practice questions which can be organised into gameboards. Why not create a gameboard every week on the topic you are studying, and use the results to re-teach the parts on which they performed worst? The Isaac Computer Science platform also runs regular student booster events aligned to the content on the curriculum, which have proved to be highly popular with young people studying computer science this year.
Book your 2025 CPD
The National Centre for Computing Education certificates now come with a choice of pathways suitable for teachers with different strengths and experience. You can choose a pathway for yourself and your staff and drop it straight into their professional development plan for the year. The Key stage 3 and GCSE Computer Science subject knowledge certificate is suitable for all teachers, while computing leaders can take the Teach secondary computing certificate.
Courses are free and subsidised for all state schools and affordable for private institutions, and you can read more about fees and funding here. As well as courses there are Pedagogy Quick Reads, including PRIMM programming and Semantic Waves – why not incorporate a quick read into your department meetings next year?
Finally, if you are planning to improve gender balance in your GCSE courses, we have a large programme of support under the I Belong programme. Now available for both key stage 2 and key stage 3 teachers, there are
Find tailored-to-you support
Computing Hubs across the country are there to support you, I recommend you get in touch with a local Hub and find out what they can do for you, including advice, needs analysis, bespoke support and the loan of equipment. With the Hubs, you could borrow some micro:bits for a STEM day or talk to the Hub about embarking on The Computing Quality Framework (CQF), our flagship school certification programme helping schools to deliver an exemplary computing curriculum. Why not set a target for next academic year to obtain the Computing Quality Mark (CQM) for your school?
Whether you have sight of the fabled “gained time” or you’re just muddling along in your usual PPAs, the National Centre for Computing Education has everything you need to get ready for the new term. Meanwhile, I’ll have to settle for some excellent professional photos of the Moray Firth dolphins, and hope for better luck next year!
About the author
Alan Harrison is the Computing Professional Development Lead for the National Centre for Computing Education