PGCE Secondary Computer Science and Information Technology with QTS (11-16) course preparation
Educating young adults and being able to inspire them to share your passion for a particular subject is one of the main reasons why people choose to train as a Secondary teacher. Imagination is crucial, as is the need for patience and the ability to develop and sustain excellent relationships with pupils, communicating clearly with them and breaking down complicated concepts into manageable building blocks for learning.
This PGCE will equip you with a range of academic, professional and vocational knowledge, understanding, skills and values necessary to become a high quality and effective teacher of Computing.
The programme aims to develop reflective and analytical skills as well as providing practical experience in planning effective lessons, helping pupils to learn, and effective teaching and learning strategies.
Your Launchpad sessions
The Faculty of Education have organised a number of virtual Launchpad sessions. Although not all of these sessions will be relevant to your specific degree, you may find a number of these sessions useful.
Academic preparation
Now is a good time to develop your knowledge further which will prepare you for the specific requirements of your course. Below are some suggestions for academic reading, this list is not exhaustive, however it will allow you to choose the books/articles/documents to read in relation to your programme:
- Read Simmons & Hawkins, (2015) Teaching Computing (Developing as a Reflective Secondary Teacher) – Chapters 1 & 2
- Read Royal Society, (2012) Shut Down or Restart? and Royal Society, (2017) After the reboot: computing education in UK schools
- Read the British Computer Society’s Computing at School’s expert group subject requirements for computing teachers
- Read: Ball, D. L., Thames, M. H., & Phelps, G. (2008) Content knowledge for teachers: What makes it special? Journal of Teacher Education, 2008 59: 389 DOI: 10.1177/0022487108324554 [Online] Accessible online
- Read: Sue Sentance, Jane Waite & Maria Kallia (2019) Teaching computer programming with PRIMM: a sociocultural perspective, Computer Science Education, 29:2-3, 136-176, DOI: 10.1080/08993408.2019.1608781 Accessible online
- DfE, (2020) ITT Core Content Framework [online]
- Register with Teach Computing and explore the Promoting effective computing pedagogy pages
- Register with Computing at School and find your local CAS Community
- Download, save and read the 2014 National Curriculum programme of study for teaching Computing (you’ve probably done this already – but just in case)