Future of Computing Education, Part 4 - The Scottish Perspective May 8, 2007
Posted by Mark Tennant in : Computing, Subject Support, future of computing , trackback
The second main talk of the day came from Terry Carr, HMIe in Computing. He spoke about the current picture in Scotland, How we got here, and what HMI has said about computing and ICT. Lastly he went on to list some examples of good practice he had seen.
The current picture
In S1 and S2 computing is usually delivered as part of a whole-school ICT course, with the amount of time and contact varying greatly. It is fair to say that Computing as a discreet subject does not really exist in pre-Standard Grade education in Scotland. Terry made a number of further observations about the curriculum:
- There are often poor links with Primary School
- The level of skills taught in Primary Schools is often underestimated
- Some schools show evidence of preparing pupils for SG Computing, but not many
- Skills the pupils can use school-wide are seen as a driving force for ICT
- There has been a trend towards certification of some sort recently
- Some schools have begun moving Standard Grade down a year, beginning in S2.
In S3 and S4 most schools are still delivering Standard Grade Computing, though Int1 and Int2 courses are being introduced, making the picture more complex. Some schools are also offering more vocational courses, from PC Passport to the Cisco Courses.
- The boy/girl split is approximately 65/35 in Computing. Interestingly, Administration is almost a mirror image of this!
- Most schools now use Visual Basic for Programming
- however the manner in which they use the language and the tasks carried out has changed little since the 1980s
- One school done some interesting work with JavaScript
- The recent changes in the subject are good, but come with a big overhead in terms of resources and training.
In S5 and S6 it is an even more complicated picture. The subject is split into the two higher still subjects, with the majority still taking Computing. The introduction of Information Systems proved complicated and problematic in terms of teacher understanding and training, but was well intentioned.
From 2003 onwards there is sign of a slight decline in Computing, but it is still a major player: 11th most popular subject; with Info Systems at 18th. Combined, it is the 9th most popular (See Graph below).
How did we get there?
Terry went on to explain how we got to the current position, back to the Bellis report of 1972 that urged education to get into computing. However, the focus shifted later to getting into using computers as a skill area, rather than the science.
He pointed out that not only have computing teachers had to cope with changing curricula, but also the changing hardware and software. Computing has traditionally been beset by problems getting the hardware to work that, until centralised ICT strategies, teachers often fell behind on the pedagogy side as they were too busy just getting the equipment to work!
What has HMIe Said?
Terry presented us with three quotes from HMI reports over the past 20 years. While the language was different, the message was essentially the same: There must be a clarity in the reason teachers use computers for a particular purpose; the training, competence and confidence of teachers is key; and good leadership and support from SMT, as well as the resources, is essential.
Good Practice according to HMIe
HMI looked at good practice in Computing, selecting schools on the number of Advanced Higher Candidates they were presenting. They found:
- In these schools, the subject was not just good at AH, but at all levels – overwhelmingly so
- The subject was also incredibly popular – pupils really enjoyed it
- There were positive staff/pupil relationships and enthusiasm for the subject
- Relevant interesting contexts were used, eg “how long would it take to transfer this video to YouTube”
- Mobiles and ipods etc have been used to deliver innovating learning and set the subject in an interesting context to the pupils.
- The language of the subject is used effectively, and vocabulary enforced rigorously.
Summary
Terry finished by talking about the future, and suggesting two questions we need to answer as a subject:
-
- Where are we just now?
- Where do we want to be?
further questioning after the talk identified some further suggestions from the floor, such as:
- We need to develop pupil’s independent study skills
- Standard Grade Computing should be compulsory !!
- Many schools have begun introducing basic programming and HTML coding into their S1/2 course both to make it more rigorous and promote the computing side of the subject over the ICT skills.
For anyone wanting to speak to Terry further, his email is: terry.carr@hmie.gsi.gov.uk
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