In the last few steps, you have had a chance to consider how computers play a huge part in all our lives, and how being able to understand and interact with computers will be important for your young learners. It’s now time to investigate what a Computing curriculum, whether the English curriculum or your own local curriculum, expects of your learners.

The journey to computing

The subject of computing is, in relative terms, very new. The curriculum expectations for traditional subjects such as maths, English, and history have remained relatively stable for many years, even though the pedagogy associated with them has moved on. By its very nature, change in computing is rapid, as new technology is constantly being developed.
In England, the journey to computing as a subject in education began in 1988 when the government introduced the subject of ICT (information, communication, and technology), to be taught through its use in other subjects, such as maths, English language, and history. This remained largely the case for 25 years, until a widespread review of the whole curriculum resulted in computing being launched as a discrete subject in primary schools.
One of the key drivers for this change was ‘Shutdown or restart’, a report by the Royal Society which concluded that the quality of computing education in England was highly unsatisfactory, largely because the focus on ICT led to bias towards using office-based applications. Furthermore, they identified that the term ‘ICT’ was vague and often misunderstood. This is partly because it is unclear whether ICT is actually an academic subject. ICT as a collective term refers to digital equipment and learning how to use it, which is arguably more of a vocational rather than an academic skill. The Royal Society concluded that computer science should be recognised as a subject in its own right, and that ICT should be dropped.

A new curriculum

The resulting implementation of the English Computing curriculum was a landmark moment. It dispensed with ICT as a discrete subject, and gave more weight to understanding how technology can be made to work for you by creating your own programs. This aimed to move the curriculum beyond the consumption of technology. The new curriculum included words and phrases such as “create”, “use technology purposefully”, and “select, use, and combine”. This offered teachers the opportunity to teach activities that enabled children to become confident consumers and creators of content.
The main points of the English national curriculum are included below. If you are not based in England, think about how your local curriculum compares.

  • Which words or phrases in the curriculum points below are new to you?
  • What similarities are there between the computing aims below, and the content you teach in other subjects?
  • If you are not based in England, how does this curriculum compare to your local curriculum? Are there any elements from your curriculum missing?

Post your thoughts in the comments section below.

English national curriculum for Computing

For children aged 5 to 7

  • Understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions
  • Create and debug simple programs
  • Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
  • Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate, and retrieve digital content
  • Recognise common uses of information technology beyond school
  • Use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies

For children aged 7 to 11

  • Design, write, and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
  • Use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output
  • Use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
  • Understand computer networks, including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the World Wide Web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
  • Use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
  • Select, use, and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems, and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating, and presenting data and information
  • Use technology safely, respectfully, and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact