Documents

The following have been made available by the CAS Working Group:

CAS White Paper - The initial paper that proposed the formation of a national working group to give a single voice to confronting the challenges of computing in schools.

Progress October 2012 - An update from CAS Chair, Simon Peyton Jones, summarising what has been a very busy but exciting year for CAS.

Policy Documents

• Subject Knowledge Requirements for Computer Science Teacher Training: Published by the Teaching Agency.  Provides a useful summary to help those wishign to teach computer science.
• Draft COMPUTING programme of Study (February 2013)
• Draft ICT Programme of Study (November 2012)
• Computer Science in the Ebacc (November 2012): Report from BCS Academy, with CAS, making the case for Computer Science to be included as an option in the English Baccalaureate.
• Computing at school: an emergent community of practice for a re-emergent subject (July 2012) Paper presented at International Conference on ICT Education 2012
• CAS, Naace, ITTE Joint Statement (June 2012) A joint statement prepared by CAS, Naace and ITTE about Computer Science and ICT in schools
• ICT Consultation (DfE) (April 2012) - CAS/BCS reponse to the DfE consultation on disapplication of the ICT programme of study.
• Information pack for Headteachers (March 2012)  The information pack was sent to every head teacher of a state maintained secondary school in England, in order to explain the strategic opportunities they would have from September 2012 to develop Computer Science as a rigorous academic component within a reformed ICT curriculum.
• Computer Science as a school subject (March 2012) - draws on the experience of the Computing at School Group and explains what Computer Science is, and why it is strategically important. It begins with a 4-page summary, followed by appendices that provide further background.
• A curriculum framework for Computing and Information Technology (March 2012) - Computer Science is a crucial academic strand of school education, but a rounded education in computational thinking and digital systems is broader. This document puts the pieces together, covering what is currently called ICT.
• International Comparisons (December 2011)  - A briefing note that summarises how computing (i.e. computer science) is taught at (high) school in other countries.
• BCS Computing Fact Sheet (June 2011) - Why Computing education is important for the UK, prepared by BCS Academy.
• Submission to the Curriculum Review (April 2011) - Copy of the joint BCS and CAS response to the review of the National Curriculum
• BCS (with CAS) E-Baccalaureate submission (Mar 2011) - Copy of joint BCS CAS submission to Education Select Coimmittee on the proposed English Baccalaureate.
• Royal Society Call for Evidence (Nov 2010)  - Copy of the BCS+CAS response to the Royal Society
• Computing at school: the state of the nation (Nov 2009) - A report of the Computing at School Working Group, for the UK Computing Research Committee.
• A Rationale for GCSE Computing (Aug 2008) - Why should there be a new GCSE in Computing? This document argues the case for creating a GCSE in Computing

Resources

A Curriculum for Computing (KS3,KS4)

This curriculum, produced by a working party within CAS, describes in concrete terms what a Computing curriculum at school might look like. It uses the same structure as the National Curriculum Programmes of Study: importance of the discipline; key concepts; key processes; range and content; and level descriptors. It is not cast in stone, so please send feedback. In particular, it is intended to be comprehensible to school teachers (so please tell us if it isn't). 

• I Love My Smartphone - Curricuum materials from Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Flyer for the CAS curriculum
• Programming activities for Key Stage 3 - This document illustrates how the yearly objectives from the Framework for teaching ICT capability: Years 7, 8 and 9 can be grouped together and taught in a way that promotes and utilises knowledge and understanding of computing.
• Greenfoot Programming Club - A collection of 10 lessons/sessions.  ideal for use either in lessons or as part of an after-school programming club
• Acronyms -A list of useful acronyms used in education - useful for members wishing to make sense of edu-speak!

Other

• Running a CAS Hub -An operations manual to guide any who wish to run a local hub meeting in their area.
• Video debate: The Future of Computer Science in Schools  - This video round table discussion produced by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, on behalf of the BCS Academy of Computing, was attended by BCS Academy of Computing Director Bill Mitchell; Andrew Herbert, former Chairman of Microsoft Research Europe and a key player in setting up the Computing at Schools Working Group; and Ian Livingstone of EIDOS, coauthor of the recent NESTA report, Brian Runciman MBCS chaired.