Google and O2 have joined Microsoft and IBM in a government drive to train primary school teachers who will deliver England’s new computing curriculum.
Education secretary Nicky Morgan announced five new training projects during her keynote speech at the BETT education technology conference in London, along with the £3.1m of funding already announced for training schemes by the British Computing Society and Computing At School.
Google is co-funding a consortium led by Queen Mary University to publish 16,000 booklets on “computing-related thinking” for teachers, as well as developing the University of Oxford’s Turtle System tool to teach programming.
Google is matching the Department for Education’s £25,000 contribution to the project, as well as funding computing teacher-training scholarships for the same amount alongside Microsoft, IBM and Facebook.
O2, meanwhile, is providing £50,000 of funding – also matched by the Department for Education – for a new system of badges to reward teachers who develop their skills in teaching programming.
It might be the first example of the technology industry’s enthusiasm for “gamification” making its way into the education system. “To claim badges teachers will have to complete badge missions tasks and challenges contained within a badge and upload evidence of their skill development,” the department said.
The other three projects include Raspberry Pi matching £42,000 of DfE funding for Our Lady’s Catholic High School’s programme of events for computing teachers; a computer science training program run by the Titan Partnership; and a massive open online course (MOOC) from the Centre for Educational Consultancy and Development at Oxford Brookes University.
“We know a significant number of jobs in the future will be in the tech industry, which is why we are committed to supporting tech companies to connect with our schools - preparing young people to succeed in the global race,” Morgan said.
“I am delighted that once again top industry experts have taken an active role in helping develop these projects, and I look forward to seeing them pay dividends in our classroom.”
There is no doubt that more training is needed. The technology industry welcomed the new computing curriculum when it was introduced last year, including programming lessons for children as young as five.
However, critics have argued that many teachers were unprepared for the changes – especially if they had never learned programming themselves, let alone taught it to children.
Bringing in the likes of Google, IBM and Microsoft to participate in these schemes will spark further debate about what role large technology companies should play in the British education system - even if their aim of building a base for better-qualified students seeking work in the tech industry is hardly hidden.
Their training partners argue that tapping tech industry resources as well as government funding is important, particularly as the new curriculum has already been introduced.
“The DfE’s computing matched fund, and the sponsorship it has attracted, is enabling us to support the new computing curriculum quickly and effectively, with software that encourages creativity and a web community that provides both teaching materials and a coursework platform, all free to teachers and students,” said Professor Peter Millican of Hertford College, Oxford.
“Without the fund it would have taken several years to do what we are now doing within months, and it would have been impossible to achieve the same standards.”
