United Kingdom - England Listing
Within the United Kingdom, there are different educational systems. While there are strong similarities between the systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Scottish system is different. In England there are three unofficial strands in the curriculum, which were adopted from the recommendations of the royal society report: Computer Science (Informatics), Information Technology and Digital Literacy. Underpinning all of those three strands in the UK, there is Computational Thinking. In the UK, Digital Literacy means social and digital responsibility, kind of ethics, the ethos of using computers in addition to the European definition, which is kind of alike driving the computer and the functionality in the use of the computers.
| Data Mode | Data Value | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Data Availability | Data available | |
| Informatics: First Contact | Primary |
As with Digital Literacy, it is at age 5. This may be computing-without-computers activities, though; things like paper exercises to write a "getting up" flowchart, or running-around games to simulate network routing. |
| Informatics: Availability of Courses | Yes, technically |
Government-certified qualifications are available in England for teaching by schools at ages 14-16 and 16-18 (with 18 being university entry age). It is up to any individual school as to whether either or both are offered. There is no requirement to offer either. It will depend upon the teachers available at a given school, and the decision of the school management. |
| Informatics: Curriculum Consistency | Country |
All English government-funded schools have the same national curriculum. Fee-paying schools (attended by 7% of students) can do as they please. Wales is currently reviewing its IT curriculum |
| Informatics: Enrolment | 75-99% |
Technically, all schools offering the English national curriculum must provide mandatory Informatics courses at this age. The complicating factor comes from some schools (e.g. independent schools) being exempt from the national curriculum, and some schools (academies) which do not have to follow it, but typically do. I believe around 5-10% of schools are independent and about 30% are academies, but I cannot find official statistics from googling. Educated guess: about 80-90% of schools should be offering Informatics courses to first two years of secondary education. |
| Digital Literacy: First Contact | Primary |
We now have a computing curriculum, which includes digital literacy, which starts from age 5 in England, which is the first year of required, government-provided schooling. |
| Digital Literacy: A Separate Subject? | Integrated |
Digital Literacy is said to be one of three strands of the official subject "Computing", which also includes the strands of Computer Science and IT (even from age 5) |
| Digital Literacy: Curriculum Consistency | Country |
All English government-funded schools have the same national curriculum. Fee-paying schools (attended by 7% of students) can do as they please. |
| Digital Literacy: Enrolment | all students |
Digital Literacy is said to be one of three strands of the offcial subject "Computing", which also includes the strands of Computer Science and IT; Computing is mandatory from ages 5 through to 14. |
| Teacher Training: Special Qualifications | Special qualifications |
This is all in flux at the moment. Old programs for ICT teachers are being rapidly replacing or reworked to produce Computing teachers. It's too early to say how this will pan out. Teachers do usually take their teacher certification with an eye to a particular subject. |
| Teacher Training: Number of Subjects | 1.5 | |
| Teacher Training: Entry Requirement | B.Ed. / B.Sc. + pgc. | |
| Teacher Training: In-Service Length | 1-6 months |
This varies considerably depending on the route taken into teaching: but will be a minimum of 24 weeks (Info) |
| Teacher Training: Stand-alone Digital Literacy Curriculum | No | |
| Teacher Training: Stand-alone Informatics Curriculum | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Typical Path Availability | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Professionals as Teachers | (Yes) |
The general expectation in England is that teachers will have a postgraduate teaching qualification/ certificate. Academy and independent schools have no requirements for teacher training certification, so they could directly hire a software engineer with no further training required if they wanted to. |
| Teacher Training: Professional Experience | Yes |
Academy and independent schools have no requirements for teacher training certification, so they could directly hire a software engineer with no further training required if they wanted to. At other schools, training (postgrad certificate) would be required |
| Teacher Training: Mathematics Teachers | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Physics Teachers | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Business Teachers | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Engineering Teachers | Yes | |
| Teacher Training: Teachers from other Disciplines | Yes |
For what age group? For teaching A Level the answer would be no, GCSE with additional support and in earlier years it would be possible for any discipline with the right support and interest to transition |
| Teacher Training: Security of Employment | De facto SoE | |
| Educational Policies | Country | |
| Learning Objectives | Country |