The SCARI computing report was launched on June 27th 2024 at King's College London. It brought together 4 years of research and made six policy recommendations:
Reform the GCSE provision for Computing
Promote and Enhance Teacher Training and Professional Development
Support Inclusive Computing Education in Schools
Reframe the Computing Narrative
Showcase Diverse Digital Opportunities
Increase Access to Informal Digital Making
Over 70 people from education, government, industry and the third sector attended the launch event. We asked attendees several questions about the future of computing education and 33 responded, with 22 of them working in education. Here is a brief summary of what they thought:
Which 3 computing people should every young person know about?
Several people struggled to name just 3, and we had a wide variety of responses to this question. Ada Lovelave was the most popular choice, with 13/33; closely followed by Alan Turing 10/33. The only member of the 'Big Five' Tech Titans listed by attendees was Bill Gates with one response
Should those students who do not pick a computing qualification at Key Stage 4 have regular general computing lessons?
Given that our report flagged up a lack of general computing provision in school, 26/33 respondees said that they would like to see general computing lessons in schools for those not choosing the subject, only 2/33 disagreed.
What changes to the current GCSE for computing would you like to see?
Our first recommendation was the reform of the computing curriculum space. This includes a review of whcih qualifications are offered at KS4. We gave attendees the options to see the existing CS GCSE tweaked (a route that the DfE are currently exploring), the creation of a single broader GCSE in computing, the creation of two GCSEs, with one in CS and one in computing/IT, or not changes at all. There is considerable appetite for substantial change with 17/33 asking for 2 GCSEs, and 10/33 looking for a single GCSE in computing. There was only one response selecting "no change".
Links to the:
a mini site on the state of computing education in England
the final project website with links to journal articles, news coverage, data files etc.
Launch event video