Abstract
2014 saw some radical changes to the content of England’s national curriculum.
Perhaps one of the most significant changes was the replacement of the subject
“Information and communication technology”, with a focus on end-user skills
using a range of office and media applications, with a new subject, “Computing”,
where the emphasis was rather on the conceptual understanding and knowledge
of the principles of computer science, the applications of computational thinking
and the craft of computer programming. There has been much international
interest in these changes, with many countries following England’s lead in making
changes to their own curricula to incorporate programming and other aspects
of computer science. Here, I discuss a number of the rationales offered for
such a radical change, offer a brief narrative of the process of moving from one
curriculum to another, survey some of the content of the new curriculum and
conclude with an outline of the role of the Computing At School community in
implementing this curriculum.
Perhaps one of the most significant changes was the replacement of the subject
“Information and communication technology”, with a focus on end-user skills
using a range of office and media applications, with a new subject, “Computing”,
where the emphasis was rather on the conceptual understanding and knowledge
of the principles of computer science, the applications of computational thinking
and the craft of computer programming. There has been much international
interest in these changes, with many countries following England’s lead in making
changes to their own curricula to incorporate programming and other aspects
of computer science. Here, I discuss a number of the rationales offered for
such a radical change, offer a brief narrative of the process of moving from one
curriculum to another, survey some of the content of the new curriculum and
conclude with an outline of the role of the Computing At School community in
implementing this curriculum.
Translated title of the contribution | The subject "computing" |
---|---|
Original language | German |
Title of host publication | Paderborner Podium |
Subtitle of host publication | Bildung im digitalen Zeitalter - Bilanz und Perspektiven |
Place of Publication | Paderborn |
Publisher | Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum |
Volume | 10 |
Publication status | Published - 29 Nov 2017 |