#SeptemberReady

“Allow myself to introduce… myself” is one of my favourite movie lines. I’m Allen Tsui.  I have been working at a Primary school in East London since 2015 where I was offered the role to lead Computing in 2020.  The school I work for is part of a twelve school Multi-Academy Trust which includes two Secondaries.  Given the recruitment and retention crisis particularly for Secondary school teachers, my brilliant bosses with their “can do and want to” leadership style have previously tasked me to work across the Trust to support students studying for GCSE and A-Level Computer Science.  My personal best has been my former students going on to their first choice of University to study Computer Science.  My subject knowledge across from pre-school to pre-University has been made possible by my interest in what Professor Danielle George described as “thinkering” with Computing and technology.  I’ve been interested in computer programming since 1982 during my time at Secondary school in North London.  I did not study Computer Science or any of their allied subjects at University.  I have however had nearly a quarter of a century experience of working in the Civil Service where I started in Data Processing on a stand alone IBM PC XT, building databases, installing Local Area Networks and culminating in 2010 with being part of a team responsible for installing a secure Wide Area Network for 8,000 plus staff in over 100 locations across England and Wales.  I would therefore regard my subject knowledge as “not bad…”

So, what are my top tips for becoming a subject leader for Computing who are new to the role?  Whether you are reading this because you’re an established Computing or Computer Science teacher at a Secondary school or found yourself working in a Primary school and being “offered” the role to lead Computing, here’s five starting points:

1.  Know what you want or need to teach:  The 2013 version of the National Curriculum in Computing for Key Stages 1 to 4 was according to John Sibbald was whimsically reduced by the Department of Education to just over 1,200 words from the much more comprehensive version that had been originally offered and proposed because the then Minister for Education allegedly wanted “something to say on a Sunday”.  Irrespective of the politics behind the transformation of ICT in schools to Computing and any subsequent iterations expected from the 2024-25 Curriculum Review, the consensus view for every subject taught in school, and apologies for stating the obvious, must be to know what to teach.  For Computing to Key Stage 3, Miles Berry has since 2012 been advocating the subject be organised into Computer Science; Information and Computing Technologies (ICT) and Digital Literacy.  Organised into these three strands, pillars or blocks is rather convenient given the school year is broadly organised into Autumn, Spring and Summer Terms so hopefully provides an indication of how much time to devote to each part of the Computing curriculum particularly for Primary.  However, since 2022 my colleagues and I have taken the view that Online Safety or Digital Citizenship needs to be more explicitly taught rather than be within Digital Literacy.  We have also thought that topics connected to data handling or informatics: specifically how numbers can be used to tell stories to inform opinions and quantify or justify “facts” in the age of Artificial Intelligence merits Data Science to be treated as its own part of the Computing curriculum as recommended by the Royal Society in their 2017 report.

2.  Complete a hardware and learning platforms inventory:  This does not need to be a huge audit - but to simply know what equipment is available for teaching Computing is the equivalent of having the writing materials used in all other subjects.  How many devices are available, what type (whether Windows, Android or MacOS), products for teaching physical computing (microbits, Raspberry Pi, Crumbles or anything else that might have accumulated in the cupboard of everything masquerading as programmable since 1982) as well as “learning platforms” (Google Classroom, Microsoft for Schools).  Based on my experience of supporting students through A-Level Computer Science, it is mythical that the best Computer Science learning requires a big budget and top of the range hardware in terms of super fast processors and yottabytes of memory.  The plethora of web based “apps” and low cost, easy to install Integrated Development and Learning Environment (IDLE) software means that it should be possible for those studying Computer Science at Examination levels to achieve the highest grades possible for the price of standard Computing equipment available from any High Street or online retailer.  Specifically for Primary Computing, the “industry standard” that delivers or enables reliable access to the World Wide Web and bluetooth connectivity will be sufficient.

3.  Establish a clear teaching structure: There are plenty of published Schemes of Work to choose from - from Miles Berry “Switched on Computing” to the Department for Education funded National Centre for Computing Education Teach Computing scheme which is available to freely access.  Personally, having had experience of access to Kapow Primary, “just to easy” and PurpleMash, all have their strengths for supporting Primary schools who need a level of support for busy Classroom teachers who may not have the time or confidence in subject knowledge to teach Computing.

4.  Connect to the wider Computing teaching community: There really is no need to reinvent the wheel in terms of how to teach Computing.  The Computing teaching community through the Computing at School Community of Practice as well as other Computing focused subject organisations such as the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association (TPEA) and NAACE (formerly known as the National Association for Educational Technology in the UK) are all extremely knowledgeable and experienced contacts with many in each who are generous with their time to signpost colleagues who ask.

5.  Make teaching and learning Computing symbiotic: it is often thought that with the ubiquity of technology as well as wide access to informal learning opportunities particularly around computer programming means that what children and Secondary school aged students ‘know’ and want to learn about Computing can far exceed teachers’ subject knowledge. But like the challenge of what hardware and software is the ‘best’ for teaching Computing, our ever evolving online World means that as teachers we should be prepared to regularly review and adapt how we teach Computing to the learners we are working with.  The fundamental concepts or declarative and procedural knowledge in Computing have broadly remained unchanged since the invention of the microchip.  Our role as specialists in Computing is really no different to any other subject and about building relationships with the people we have the privilege and honour of working with to lift the limits on their learning because computing and technology is everywhere for everyone.

By the way, you can read more about these ideas in the book that Karl McGrath and I have co-authored “Learning to Lead Computing”, published by John Catt (May 2025).