Getting into teaching, Computer Studies, a few questions

[funkytwig]

I am at the beginning of the process to become a secondary school teacher. I've been accepted by nowteach.org.uk/ which supports people changing their career to teaching. I had been working in IT for over 20 years and about 10 years ago did a MA in Media and have been working as a freelance Media Producer. The questions I have are not about if this is a good idea or a good time to do this :-). It's more to do with the fact that my route to where I am was not through a GCSE/A level/Undergrad one. I am dyslexic and got into University with a BTEC OND Distinction and studied Systems Analysis. The questions are specific to Computer Studies syllabus and teaching in general.

I've started to look at the GCSE and A Level syllabus. For the GCSE one, I had a look through syllabuses for OCR and AQA and got a couple of study guides. This all looks fine, I am fluent in most of it, and a little research filled in the gaps. So I am OK with this.

The A-level syllabus is a slightly different matter. I think I have a lot of catching up to do. It's doable but quite daunting. I think. My main problem is that I have not studied maths for 30 years and as I did not go the O A level route I think I have lots of gaps. There are other gaps but think these are easier to deal with. Also when finding a good study guide for GCSE I have not found an obvious one for A levels.

I know I can get through it but am wondering how soon into teaching at secondary school will I need to teach A level? My understanding is that it's not something you do for a bit if atall, it's a specialization if the school has a sixth form and is generally done when you have been teaching for a while. I'd love to teach it eventually but it feels like it's not something I should worry about.

Any advice would be good and if there are any secondary school teachers who teach computers, who would be up for a chat, that would be great.

Also, any good book recommendations would be good, for teaching computer science or teaching in general. Any other good resource recommendations would be great.

I don't teach CS but I'm the professional mentor for ITE and the induction tutor for ECTs.
The vast vast majority of PGCE courses are 11-16. We would have you teach KS3 and 4, and observe KS5 as a trainee. We might have you teach a couple of KS5 lessons but you wouldn't be assessed on it.
And if we gave you a job? You'd have to prise KS5 out of my hod's hand... he loves it :)
It is definitely not something to worry about at this point.

It's entirely possible to avoid teaching A Level - either through choosing an 11-16 school or in actively asking not to. But I wouldn't assume you won't have to an an ECT unless you deliberately aim not to. It will depend on the size of your school and department, and often in shortage subjects (like CS) you may be the most qualified person in your department even as an ECT and so be expected to. I taught every year group from Years 7 - 13 as an NQT, as did others I qualified with (different subject but still).

Be clear with what you want when you look for jobs/apply/interview.

Do you mean computer studies or computer science? If the latter I would say it is quite likely you would teach the A level unless determined to avoid it.

It tends to be a subject where little time is allocated in KS3 (where they might teach more general ICT things anyway). Then at GCSE it's an optional subject. So I imagine schools wanting a computer science specialist would like someone to teach the A level too.

There are various other qualifications of variable quality floating around in IT and iMedia which you might be expected to teach.

Tbh it's a bit of a mess as computer science is very mathematical and there isn't a big overlap between those that can teach it and those with the ability and interest to teach the IT related qualifications and vice versa.

I feel like we (the UK) are missing a sensible and useful IT style qualification and a foundation tier for the computer science GCSE.

Actually best idea is to look at the job ads on TES for computing. The good news for you is that there is usually a shortage of applications so depending on where you live you might have a few options to choose from.

For a level textbooks a good start is pgonline.

The ocr specification is less mathematical than the aqa specification and you only write pseudo code in the exam (a shame in my opinion)

I'm a Now teacher in a different subject, in my 4th year of teaching, and have chosen to teach almost all A-level because I much prefer teaching older students. I only started teaching A level last year and I think I would have found the work I'm having to do on my subject knowledge too much in my first year of teaching.

A question to ask at interview would be what resources the school has. At my school computer science hasn't been taught consistently and so recently hired teachers are creating lesson plans and resources from scratch which would also add to your work load and be hard to do initially.

I know I can get through it but am wondering how soon into teaching at secondary school will I need to teach A level?

It depends a lot on the school, but it's very normal not to teach A-level in your first few years of teaching, and many teachers go through their careers never teaching A-level.

If you wanted to be sure of avoiding it at the start of your career, there are a lot of 11-16 schools now!

Personally, I'd want to avoid being in a department of one, as well, at the start of your career, but that would be very possible in most areas.

Safest to apply to 11-16 schools. If you're in an 11-18 school, and the teacher teaching the A-level leaves, they may not be able to replace easily, so you'd be dumped into picking up the A-level partway through!

Thanks for all the replies, that has put my mind at rest.

A Level teaching isn't for everyone. I eschewed it for a very long time, just because of the extra workload it brings. But if you do decide to do it, try being a student of the A level yourself for a while. So work though textbooks, online videos, and try the past papers. If Seneca Learning have a course for Computer Science, that's a good resource too. You'll gain confidence whilst you go through the course, but it's not something to be done in the middle of a heavy term of teaching! Try it in the holidays, or during gained time in the summer. If it's going to involve a lot of subject knowledge development, it is best left until later in your teaching career, but a good school should support you with this, ease you in with just a few Year 12 lessons when you're ready etc. Good luck!

Thanks @Hayliebells, great advice.

Speak to NowTeach - they may be able to put you in touch with other NowTeach "graduates" who have had similar issues...maybe not Maths-Computer Science related - but similar.

My DH is currently going through his Computer Science PGCE year with them and has found the Now Teach team incredibly supportive.