Pupils up and down the country will benefit from the UK’s
first National Centre for Computing Education led by
British experts, it can be revealed today.
A consortium made up of STEM Learning, the British
Computing Society and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, has been
chosen as the provider for the project, which is backed by
£84million of government investment.
The Centre will work with the University of Cambridge,
while Google will also support the project with a further
£1million.
Minister for School Standards said:
As our digital industry makes an increasingly significant
contribution to our economy, it is important that our
computer science teachers are trained to teach the latest
digital skills, ensuring young people benefit from a high
quality computing education.
The new computer science GCSE has more challenging
content such as computer programming and coding. This new
National Centre for Computing Education, led by some of
the UK’s leading tech experts, will give teachers the
subject knowledge and support they need to teach pupils
the new computing curriculum. This is part of this
Government’s drive to raise academic standards so that
pupils have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed
in our outward looking and dynamic economy.
The Centre will start working with schools across England
later this year, improving teaching and driving up
participation in computer science at GCSE and A-Level.
The Centre will operate virtually through a national
network of up to 40 school-led computing hubs to provide
training and resources to primary and secondary schools,
and an intensive training programme for secondary teachers
without a post A-Level qualification in computer science.
Paul Fletcher, Chief Executive, British Computer Society
said:
It is vital that every child in every school has access
to world-leading computing education, and this means that
every computing teacher has access to the support that
they need. The subject of Computing was only introduced
four years ago and is still new for schools and that’s
why it’s important to build on the energy and enthusiasm
of the many teachers who are already committed to the
success of this subject. We are delighted to form part of
the consortium and to continue to work with the community
of Computing teachers.
Yvonne Baker, Chief Executive, STEM Learning said:
High quality, knowledgeable teaching of computer science
is the cornerstone of achieving our aims. Evidence tells
us this is fundamental to raising attainment and driving
up participation, particularly for girls. We warmly
welcome this investment which will be instrumental in
preparing young people for the increasingly technological
world they will grow up in, and strengthening the UK
economy.
Philip Colligan, Chief Executive, Raspberry Pi said:
This level of investment is unprecedented anywhere in the
world for teacher training in the field of computing and
computer science. It is a once-in-a-generation
opportunity to transform the way that computing and
computer science is taught.
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