The KS4 qualifications landscape for Computing

Simon Peyton Jones, John Woollard and Simon Humphreys

Computing At School October 2017

As the 2017/8 academic year has started, it has become clear that concern is rising sharply about the KS4 qualifications landscape in Computing. Several unrelated factors have combined to produce a situation that, left unaddressed, will result in serious and perhaps permanent damage to the subject.

This paper discusses those issues and concludes:

"We are extremely concerned that, if we do nothing, the combination of these factors (plus others such as recruitment difficulties and lack of training) may lead schools simply to abandon KS4 qualifications in computing altogether, and concentrate their over-stretched resources elsewhere."

We have plenty of ideas about ways forward but, mindful of the complexity of this space, we seek a dialogue with DfE, Ofqual, and the Awarding Organisations about how best to address these challenges.

We will also look to the community forum for ideas and analysis which helps identify proposals for the future