Changing culture : educating the next computer scientists

Since 2012 the United Kingdom has fundamentally reformed its computing teaching: the subject matter, the reliance on university specialists, even the subject name has changed. We describe the response at Sheffield Hallam University, which has been to involve academic staff from both the Department of Education and the Department of Computing, forming the Centre for Computing Education. The aim of our integrated approach is to help support the transformation from ‘ict’ to ‘Computing’. Through the Centre’s work, a new generation of young teachers and trainees are being supported to embrace the cultural change. The growing use of tools and resources we provide, the visits, events, and teacher support network is strengthening the curricular shift in many schools. However, the challenge remains to reach schools who, so far, struggle to engage with the depth of change in the curriculum. Whilst still young, we believe that our integrated approach can continue to make a strong contribution to the teaching of computing at K-12 level in the uk.