Developing your capability to teach Computing - A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School - page 6

likely that there will be very limited time on your course available for specifically
developing subject knowledge and computing capability. Colleagues in schools
will also expect you to have a certain level of subject knowledge and will have little
time at their disposal to develop your expertise. Therefore, the onus for ensuring
you develop appropriate and sufficient subject knowledge will be your responsibility.
Your ability to respond to this challenge and develop the relevant Computing
subject knowledge effectively depends on a number of factors, including:
• conflicting priorities, such as existing family responsibilities
• lack of familiarity with what is expected, both in terms of the level or depth of
knowledge, and the range of topics and skills you will need
• your existing skills set may be specific to particular areas of the Computing
curriculum
• access to the range of software or hardware used in schools.
STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING YOUR COMPUTING
SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE
How effectively you deal with these issues will depend on when you start to
address them. If you are fortunate enough to have some time before your training,
then you have a number of options open to you, including:
• arranging for a visit/shadowing experience in a local school. You will be able
to learn a great deal about what they teach and the hardware/software they
use
• accessing documents on curriculum content from the various agencies that
oversee them, including Examination Boards
• using the Internet to identify reliable sources, such as professional teaching or
subject organisations
• talking to practising teachers
• undertaking a subject knowledge audit.
The opportunity to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding through
working with others who are undertaking the same training should not be
overlooked. People enter teaching training from a variety of backgrounds, bringing
to the profession a wide range of experience, training and qualifications: some
trainees come straight from university, full of new ideas and enthused by the latest
research into their subjects; some will have undertaken graduate or postgraduate
Computer Science degrees, or even subjects as diverse as Business Information
Technology or Multimedia; others bring a wealth of career experience, often having
substantial knowledge and understanding of the commercial or industrial sectors;
some will be largely self-taught. This diversity of expertise is a tremendous asset
that can be shared readily through your network of peers. It can also support you
in other ways.
When you are on your placements you will have the chance to observe teachers
delivering some of the topics that you will need to teach. They will be able to warn
you about misconceptions the pupils may have, and about quirks or issues to watch
out for with specific software or school equipment, and can guide you towards
useful resources.
There is another and perhaps more surprising useful source of support that you
should not overlook: learning from your pupils. Some have areas of interest related
to Computing in which they have developed a good range of knowledge or skills