The NCCE supports home teaching and remote professional development in response to coronavirus crisis

15 June 2020

Home teaching support and live online professional development are some of the initiatives introduced by the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) to ensure it continues to support computing education during the coronavirus crisis.

The NCCE has put in place a suite of online courses, live online support, a new home teaching programme and home learning resources to support teachers’ and students’ computing studies.

Professor Simon Peyton Jones, Chair of the NCCE said: “The COVID 19 crisis has changed the way all of us work and the NCCE has responded quickly to the needs of students and teachers with a range of measures.

“The NCCE aims to provide a world class education in computing for our children, and to upskill teachers. This crisis has shown how computing skills are vital to help us all stay connected, educated and employed.

“The NCCE was well placed to meet these challenges and has put together a range of assets to ensure it educates our children and teachers in the computing skills which will be an incredibly valuable asset for our future society as we rebuild.”

The NCCE’s home teaching programme features high-quality, computing activities, which teachers and parents can schedule as part of the school day. A timetable of sequential, topic-led activities and live online support is available throughout the summer term and summer holidays, with 300 hours of live online support delivered in the first three weeks following the launch of the programme.

Students can also attend one of the NCCE’s daily live drop-in sessions held online by the expert computing teachers at its school hubs.

In addition, the NCCE’s offers a comprehensive collection of more than 50 resource materials to support the delivery of the computing curriculum from key stages 1 to 4 with free quality-assured lesson plans, unit guides and activities.

The NCCE is ensuring that it continues to support teachers to improve their skills to teach computer science.

Continuing Professional Development for teachers is being delivered via a programme of online and live courses which can be accessed remotely, with more than 3,000 participants since March. Each course is led by one of the NCCE’s experienced facilitators and delivered remotely over a series of short sessions. In between, through structured tasks, teachers can explore key resources and reflect on their learning.

Teachers can continue to work towards the NCCE’s national training certificates in primary computing and GCSE computer science, by participating in the programme of remote and online CPD. Financial support is available for state-funded schools and colleges to support participation.

The NCCE was established in November 2018 with £84 million of government funding. Its ambition is to ensure every child has access to a world-leading computing education. Its mission is to increase the number of pupils in schools and colleges studying Computer Science at GCSE and A level, particularly girls and disadvantaged groups, to ensure a strong pipeline of digital skills in England.

Visit teachcomputing.org to find out more about home teaching and the NCCE’s free support and professional development opportunities.