A new certification for teachers of Computer Science at both Primary and Secondary level is being offered  by Computing At School under the auspices of the British Computer Society. A 10% early bird discount is currently on offer.

Computer Science is now an official part of the UK  school curriculum leading to a demand for those qualified to teach this subject.

To provide a route for teachers to gain professional recognition of their ability to teach this subject, the British Computer Society, the UK's Chartered Institute for ICT, have introduced the BCS Certificate in Computer Science Teaching It is available in in two versions - Primary and Secondary - both of which demonstrate a teacher's technical and pedagogical competence, as well as their engagement with their own professional development.

The accreditation became available on October 1st at a cost of £300 plus VAT with a saving of £30 on the registration fee, making it £10 in place of £40, for those who enrol before October 31st.

It is evidence-based and once registered, teachers have one year to work towards and present their evidence which falls into three parts which can be completed independently and in any order.  

• Part 1: Demonstration of attendance at/participation in professional development activities such as conference workshops and training courses including MOOCs
  
  
• Part 2: Demonstration of subject knowledge skills
  Teachers who have taken Microsoft's Software Development Fundamentals MTA qualification can claim an exemption from this as can teachers who have a recent computer science-related degree including a final-year software project.
  
  
• Part 3: Demonstration of an investigative approach to the pedagogy of computer science

This seems reasonably well-thought out. The main caveat being the time frame, I question whether any working teacher would be able to complete all three parts within a year if they didn't already have evidence they could count towards them at the time of registration. Another disincentive is that it is time-limited accreditation which means that after 5 years, teachers have to apply for their certificate to be renewed.   

Comments

Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus

or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info