Education recovery and assessment of computing knowledge

21 April 2021

Home learning during the pandemic has affected computing education in many ways. Many teachers report that they have a less secure view of what students have learned. Routine assessment for learning, as well as more formal testing, have proved challenging in this period.

As students return to the classroom, teachers are applying evidence-based approaches to education recovery. Great teaching remains the most important factor, and the NCCE continues to support excellence in the teaching of computing through CPD, curriculum resources and communities of teaching practice.

Effective, low-stakes assessment is integral to great teaching, and has been identified by head-teachers as a top priority to support students. The answers to key questions can be informed by subject knowledge assessment:

• What learning has been lost or misunderstood?
• Should topics be re-taught, to whole groups or a subset of a group, or should teaching move on?
• How secure are the foundations for the next stage of learning?

Secure foundations for KS4

As students transition from KS3 computing to GCSE computer science, can you be confident that their knowledge of the curriculum is sound?

Covering the whole of the computing curriculum, our quality-assured tests are carefully written to uncover misconceptions and diagnose gaps in knowledge. The two question banks can be used flexibly, for instance, a baseline assessment to identify priorities for interventions might be followed by a re-assessment to check knowledge is secure. The tests can be customised to match your curriculum coverage, and the Eedi platform produces detailed data to help you plan to teach.

Supporting centre-assessed grading

Through the summer term an increasingly accurate, holistic judgement of the standard at which students are performing is being developed by teachers across the country. Ofqual encourages teachers to apply professional judgement using consistent assessment evidence that relates to GCSE content, and to ensure assessments are accessible to all learners.

Our GCSE-level assessments have been developed by experienced practitioners, and rigorously quality assured by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. They provide an additional source of insights into student subject knowledge, to be used in conjunction with other sources such as exam board materials, practical programming projects and internal assessments.

Having a comprehensive view of the state of learning requires more than just short tests – join our new CPD to find out more. However, these ready-to-use, time-saving assessments are a useful addition to the teacher assessment toolkit. Access them for free via the Eedi platform.