Today I spoke at Google to a large group of Computing/ICT teachers from Camden and Islington Councils, to prepare them for the new Computing curriculum from September 2014. It was great to see proactive engagement at the local authority level, wonderfully facilitated by Google, recognising the significant changes and need to support teachers in this transition.
I spoke about CAS, an overview of the changes to Key Stages 3 and 4 (leading through to the new(ish) computer science qualifications), as well as addressing some of the myths perpetuated about the balance and programming requirements. I was joined by a number of other excellent speakers, including Maggie Philbin, Belinda Parmar, Miles Berry, Genevieve Smith-Nunes, Carrie Anne Philbin and Alison Pearce from OCR, as well as support from a number of great organisations and initiatives, including Code Club, Make Things Do Stuff, Apps for Good, Decoded, Young Rewired State and Technology Will Save Us.
It looks like a promising computing future for young people in Camden and Islington schools; here’s a Storify of the event, as well as my presentation slides.
A video of the event from Google: How to inspire the next generation of computer scientists