Lecture: Simon Peyton Jones on 'Turning the new school Computing curriculum into reality: opportunity and challenge'

Date: Wed 13th November

Time: 5pm

Place: Lecture Theatre B, Department of Computer Science.  Corner of Parks Road and Keble Road. 

Title:  Turning the new school Computing curriculum into reality: opportunity and challenge

Speaker: Simon Peyton Jones: Microsoft Research and Computing at School working group 

Abstract: The newly-published National Curriculum for Computing establishes computer science, for the first time, as part of the school curriculum, from primary school onwards. This represents a radical change of perspective: most people regard computer science as a narrow subject for specialised geeks to study at university, whereas the new curriculum positions it as a foundational subject discipline like maths or physics, that every child should have the opportunity to learn.

Job done, then? Far from it: that was the easy bit! Now we have to support and equip the Computing teachers of the nation to deliver the new Computing curriculum, with confidence and enthusiasm.

In this talk I'll describe some of the thinking that lies behind the new curriculum, and the remarkable way that it moved from aspiration to reality in two years flat. I will also focus on the question of how we, the computing community, can engage with schools to turn the vision into reality. Doing this successfully needs all of us (students, academics, software developers, parents...), and I will invite your help in doing just that.

This event has been organised by the Oxford University Computer Society (Comp Soc.)