The Ofsted Inspection Framework [3] came into effect in September 2019. With the emphasis on ‘offering a curriculum that is broad, rich and deep’, here I take a look at its implications for Computing Subject Leaders.
Download my full guide on how iCompute can help your school demonstrate a quality computing education through the ‘Three I’s’ and during a Deep Dive.
Continue readingOfsted will be “deep diving” into a selection of subjects during their inspections with the “curriculum at the heart of inspection” focusing on curriculum intent, implementation and impact. I’ve previously written an article on this called inspecting computing for computing subject leaders. Now, with the benefit of feedback from schools using iCompute who’ve undergone a deep dive for computing – and widely published Aide Memoir and Inspector subject training guidance provided by Ofsted – I explore what a deep dive for computing looks like with the aim of helping prepare computing leads.
You can download a copy of my comprehensive guide to the Ofsted Framework and Ofsted Deep Dives for Computing at the end of this post. It’s been updated to include dozens of Ofsted Deep Dive questions our schools have been asked and the school friendly questions suggested by Ofsted along with details of how iCompute helps schools answer them.
Ofsted has published its latest research review series [1] with the focus on computing. It states that “Digital technology is driving extraordinary global changes that some are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution” and that “Navigating these changes effectively and safely requires a significant understanding of digital literacy, information technology and computer science”.
Computing has been statutory since 2014 for Key Stages 1-4 [2] and the review seeks to set out factors that contribute to a high-quality computing education.
Whilst computing in the Early Years is not part of the current framework, it is statutory from Year 1 and there is debate about the importance of learning computing early in education and that young children should experience teaching informed by expertise [3]. The inspectorate highlights the importance of teacher’s content and pedagogical knowledge in teaching a high quality computing curriculum. This is a challenge as a Royal Society UK-wide survey identified lack of subject knowledge and CPD as key obstacles faced by teachers in teaching computing [4]. The report also pointed to teachers finding it difficult to identify and select good quality teaching materials and content for computing.
The review identifies a high-quality computing education as one that interweaves the three strands of the curriculum: computer science, information technology and digital literacy; is rich in computer science; uses a variety of IT to create digital content set in meaningful contexts; does not assume children are digitally literate and has eSafety embedded.
At iCompute, we are teachers first and foremost. I was one of the first Primary Computer Science Master Teachers appointed by the organisation responsible for drafting the 2014 computing curriculum and was funded by the DfE to prepare schools in England for teaching computing when it was introduced. Since then, I’ve trained teachers around the world. When the curriculum was first introduced I feared that teachers would struggle to teach a subject they had never been trained for; which is why I created iCompute as I knew lack of teaching resources would be a major barrier to teaching computing confidently and well. Our scheme of work was the first commercial computing curriculum in the UK. It is founded on subject expertise and years of teaching experience. As computing is a dynamic subject, iCompute is constantly adapted and changed according to new technologies, research and pedagogies.
There have been many more schemes of work published since 2014 and the Government has spent millions in supporting computing through the National Centre of Computing Education. I am disappointed but not surprised to find that the review highlights that lack of subject knowledge and the ability to identify high quality computing resources remain factors that affect teachers being able to deliver a high quality computing education.
We need to do more to make sure schools and teachers have (and can access) the support they need because the aim of the National Curriculum to ‘equip pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world’ [2] is being hampered by their teacher’s lack of content, subject and pedagogical knowledge.
Find out how iCompute can help your school demonstrate a quality computing education through the ‘Three I’s’ and during a Deep Dive by reading my posts “Ofsted Inspection Framework for Computing” and “How to Thrive During a Deep Dive of Computing“.
[1] Ofsted. (2022) Research Review Series: Computing. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-computing/research-review-series-computing (Accessed: 19/5/2022).
[2] Department for Education (2013) National curriculum in England: framework for key stages 1 to 4. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4 (Accessed: 19/5/2022).
[3] Manches, A. and Plowman, L. (2017) ‘Computing education in children’s early years: a call for debate’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 18(1).
[4] Tait, P. (2017) After the reboot: computing education in UK schools. Available at: https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/computing-education/ (Accessed: 19/5/2022)
Computing Observation
Inspired by the great set of questions produced by Miles Berry – for school experience tutors to ask when observing trainee teachers in Computing – I’ve produced my own set for schools to reflect on regarding their computing provision which, hopefully, can be used to inform future plans.
The questions cover most of David Brown’s (former HMI lead for Computing) thoughts for inspecting computing – with a few tweaks!
The primary computing curriculum has now been statutory since September 2014 with the introduction of the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. All schools should now be teaching a broad and balanced computing curriculum that provides full curriculum coverage of the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum for Computing. But are they?
Think you’re “doing” Computing?
There seems to be a wealth of resources available now to help teachers teach computing. There’s lots of stuff online. Even better, free stuff! Gather all that; organise it (roughly) into year groups and that’s Computing sorted!
The trouble is, most of it is targeted to help schools in only one aspect of the computing curriculum: coding. And Computing is so much more than just coding.
School’s really don’t have it covered if that’s all they’re doing. Or, even, if they’re doing some bits on eSafety too; or one lesson about networks before falling back to those old ICT units (Word processing, Spreadsheets and good-old Powerpoint) that someone – now long gone from the school – put together from the QCA ICT scheme of work back in 2000. Or, even, if they bought a scheme adapted from an old ICT scheme with about twelve extra lessons on coding added in. Schools are being let down. More importantly, they’re letting pupils down.
In what other subject is it okay for teachers to admit they know nothing about the subject they teach? To proffer copying answers and children teaching each other as the only pedagogical approaches? In what other profession would teachers offer support and training whilst freely admitting you know very little? Would it be acceptable for a maths coordinator to miss out all of the bits of maths they don’t understand? Or teach from outdated materials? – ‘Look, I don’t really like that the government want us to teach graphs and algebra and some other hard bits and I’ve got some really good stuff on counting with an abacus that I found on Wikipedia via the Ancient Chinese so I’m going to do that all year instead’.
I don’t care whose materials schools use or who helps teachers, as long as they’re good because what I do, passionately, care about is that children are taught computing well. And I don’t think they are. Most schools aren’t teaching it properly. Schools need to give computing the status and comprehensive coverage it deserves.
The three strands of computing are:
Click to download iCompute’s breakdown of computing strands against NC objectives for primary computing
According to Ofsted inspection guidance for Computing:
Teaching
For Good or Better teaching, teachers have an enthusiasm and passion for computing. Teachers use a wide variety of innovative and imaginative resources and teaching techniques.
Subject knowledge is excellent, continually up-to-date and demonstrates a high level of technical expertise.
Curriculum
The curriculum is broad and balanced and covers all three strands of computing. It is imaginative, stimulating, progressive and set in contexts meaningful to the children.
Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in realistic and challenging situations. Pupils have comprehensive knowledge and understanding about how to stay safe when using new technologies.
Subject Leadership
High levels of subject expertise and vision with a strong record of innovation in computing. CPD is well-targeted.
Access to computing equipment is outstanding and the school is likely to have promoted the use of mobile technologies.
There is an engaging, age-appropriate e-safety curriculum in place.
E-safety is a priority within the school and promoted throughout. Staff receive regular training and rigorous policies are in place.
Reflective Practitioner
Children have a statutory entitlement to a high-quality computing education. I encourage you to reflect on the practice and provision within your school.
In doing so, here are some questions you could use as a basis for reflection:
Do all staff have:
Do you have a computing curriculum that:
This post has been superseded by posts with guidance on the Ofsted Inspection Framework for Computing Subject Leaders and How to Thrive an Ofsted Deep Dive.
David Brown, Ofsted National Lead for Computing recently presented how computing will be inspected. Here I highlight some important points for primary schools to consider. Please note that italicized text are my own comments.
The three strands of computing as defined by most educational and industry experts have taken root and are:
Click to download iCompute’s breakdown of computing strands against NC objectives for primary computing
Teaching
For Good or Better teaching, teachers have an enthusiasm and passion for computing. Teachers use a wide variety of innovative and imaginative resources and teaching techniques.
Subject knowledge is excellent, continually up-to-date and demonstrates a high level of technical expertise – a challenge for primary teachers, most of whom have never been trained to teach computing.
Curriculum
The curriculum is broad and balanced and covers all three strands of computing. It is imaginative, stimulating, progressive and set in contexts meaningful to the children. The inspectors will be aware that older children will not have benefited from being taught a full computing programme of study for the preceding key stage.
Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in realistic and challenging situations. Pupils have comprehensive knowledge and understanding about how to stay safe when using new technologies.
Subject Leadership
High levels of subject expertise and vision with a strong record of innovation in computing. CPD is well-targeted – accessing CPD in computing is difficult as there is currently a severe lack of primary computing experts nationally.
Access to computing equipment is outstanding and the school is likely to have promoted the use of mobile technologies – note this is ‘likely’ and can be achieved by using a small number of low-cost tablets. Many of my schools with limited budgets use emulators (see iCompute’s Year 6 iApp unit) to teach children the benefits of mobile technologies where they are unable to physically use them.
There is an engaging, age-appropriate e-safety curriculum in place – In my opinion, this should not be a stand-alone curriculum. E-Safety issues should be addressed, in context, in subjects and situations where pupils engage online (see more in this post). This clearly will be in all areas of the curriculum, however computing presents obvious opportunities to discuss and develop understanding and skills about how to stay safe in a digital world. In my curriculum, I clearly flag e-Safety issues where they are likely to occur in computing lessons and give guidance as to how to address them as well as provide, free, discrete e-Safety planning for schools who wish to cover e-Safety as a discrete subject (e.g. part of PHSE).
E-safety is a priority within the school and promoted throughout. Staff receive regular training and rigorous policies are in place.
