BBC E-mail: Curriculum 'to match world's best'

Lee Fenner saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.



** Curriculum 'to match world's best' **
Five year olds will be tackling fractions and computer algorithms, as a more stretching national curriculum is announced for schools in England.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/education-23222068 >


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ADoL Research Project

National Curriculum Update: Computing officially replaces ICT

On 3 May 2013 the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, confirmed that, following the recent public consultation on proposals to reform the national curriculum, the Government’s intention remains that the national curriculum subject of information and communication technology (ICT) should be replaced by computing from September 2014. Although many schools are now officially not required to teach the national curriculum, it does set a benchmark to which Ofsted will inspect, and because of this all schools should be aware of the changes that are currently in progress.

The statement explained: "Having carefully considered the responses to the recent public consultation, the Government has confirmed that it intends to proceed to replace the existing ICT curriculum with a new computing curriculum. ICT as a subject name carries negative connotations of a dated and unchallenging curriculum that does not serve the needs and ambitions of pupils. Changing the subject name of ICT to computing will not only improve the status of the subject but also more accurately reflect the breadth of content included in the proposed new programmes of study."

In line with the Education Act 2002, the Government now has to enter into a further one month consultation before pressing ahead with dropping all reference to ICT in the curriculum and changing to Computing. This should be seen as a formality.

The consultation on the actual content of the draft computing curriculum continues and we will report as soon as the detail begins to emerge, providing the clearest possible explanation of the implications for schools. In the meantime, you can read more about how Naace is responding to the changing curriculum and supporting schools' CPD and resource requirements by visiting our web site here.. You can also read for yourself the Department for Education's initial summary of the feedback it has received on the draft programme of study for computing. The document can be downloaded here

CAS - Computing at School

ADVICE: Year 9 Computing pupils should undertake the 'Entry Level Certificate in Computing' before undertaking the GCSE Computing course through Year 10 & 11

This can possibly be extended to all Option pupils take the Entry Level course in Year 9 to decide what course they take in Years 10 & 11 in Core

Entry Level Certificate OCR Training course coming up in April

CONTACT: jade.cassidy@ocr.org.uk


USEFUL LINKS:

http://social.ocr.org.uk/ - Social Network Community for Teachers

https://www.ocronlinetraining.org.uk/

http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/door - We should all probably register for this resource center

http://ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-computing-j275-from-2012/

ICT Subject Leader Development Meeting

Documents Recieved:

• Comparisons with the ICT Australian Curriculum
• Computing Purpose of Study
• ICT Survey Visits - Ofsted - Generic Grade Descriptors

Useful Websites:

• SmallBasic
• Yousrc.com
• Build Your Own Blocks - Scratch Improved?
• Lulu.com - Publish your work to become a 'proper' book complete with ISBN number

Additional Documents:

• Notes from meeting:

• Hampshire IT Schools Newsletter

Decoded Web Code #Computing

Please use this link to have a go at the sixteen steps to learning html/css code on the decoded website.

You should be able to work out what to do yourself and try to enjoy it! If you don't find this process enjoyable, or you feel that you have gained nothing from these steps, then Computer Science is probably not for you!

Instructions are also on the Yellow play button to help you...

Computing PoS

Computing

Purpose of study

A high-quality computing education equips pupils to understand and change the world through computational thinking. It develops and requires logical thinking and precision. It combines creativity with rigour: pupils apply underlying principles to understand real world systems, and to create purposeful and usable artifacts  More broadly, it provides a lens through which to understand both natural and artificial systems, and has substantial links with the teaching of mathematics, science, and design and technology. At the core of computing is the science and engineering discipline of computer science, in which pupils are taught how digital systems work, how they are designed and programmed, and the fundamental principles of information and computation. Building on this core, computing equips pupils to apply information technology to create products and solutions. A computing education also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.


Aims

The National Curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles of computer science, 
• including logic, algorithms, data representation, and communication
• can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical 
• experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar 
• technologies, analytically to solve problems
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and 
• communication technology.

Attainment targets 

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the
matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.


Subject content

Key Stage 1

Pupils should be taught to:

• understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructions
• write and test simple programs
• use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
• organise, store, manipulate and retrieve data in a range of digital formats
• communicate safely and respectfully online, keeping personal information private, and recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.

Key Stage 2

Pupils should be taught to:

• design and write programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output; generate appropriate inputs and predicted outputs to test programs
• use logical reasoning to explain how a simple algorithm works and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
• understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the world-wide web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
• describe how internet search engines find and store data; use search engines effectively; be discerning in evaluating digital content; respect individuals and intellectual property; use technology responsibly, securely and safely
• select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.

Key Stage 3

Pupils should be taught to:

• design, use and evaluate computational abstractions that model the state and behaviour of real-world problems and physical systems
• understand at least two key algorithms for each of sorting and searching; use logical reasoning to evaluate the performance trade-offs of using alternative algorithms to solve the same problem
• use two or more programming languages, one of which is textual, each used to solve a variety of computational problems; use data structures such as tables or arrays; use procedures to write modular programs; for each procedure, be able to explain how it works and how to test it
• understand simple Boolean logic (such as AND, OR and NOT) and its use in determining which parts of a program are executed; use Boolean logic and wildcards in search or database queries; appreciate how search engine results are selected and ranked 
• understand the hardware and software components that make up networked computer systems, how they interact, and how they affect cost and performance; explain how networks such as the internet work; understand how computers can monitor and control physical systems
• explain how instructions are stored and executed within a computer system
• explain how data of various types can be represented and manipulated in the form of binary digits including numbers, text, sounds and pictures, and be able to carry out some such manipulations by hand
• undertake creative projects that involve selecting, using, and combining multiple applications, preferably across a range of devices, to achieve challenging goals, including collecting and analysing data and meeting the needs of known users
• create, reuse, revise and repurpose digital information and content with attention to design, intellectual property and audience.

Key Stage 4

All pupils must have the opportunity to study aspects of information technology and  computer science at sufficient depth to allow them to progress to higher levels of study or  to a professional career.
All pupils should be taught to:

• develop their capability, creativity and knowledge in computer science, digital media and information technology 
• develop and apply their analytic, problem-solving, design, and computational thinking skills.

.

The National Curriculum in England

Framework document for consultation...

National Curriculum Consultation - Framework Document (Amended post launch 13-02-13.pdf)

Download this file

"But I can't program, Mr Gove!" Consortium Training Day