Arnold Pears

Computer Science Teachers Perspectives on Competencies - A Case Study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has recently adopted the Saudi Teaching Competencies Standard (STCS). This paper tries to answer how these competencies are achieved, how they are maintained, and what support exists to support teaching CS competently in the KSA. This paper presents the results of an investigation of teacher awareness of, and attitudes to, the STCS in the Kingdom. Through the study reported here, we address an urgent need in the Kingdom to understand teacher preparedness in terms of CS teaching competencies. The study draws on interviews with ten CS teachers in five different cities in the KSA. A thematic coding analysis approach was used. This study explores the CS teaching competencies held by teachers in three areas of CS teaching, focusing on connection to society, professional practice and professional development. The results of the study highlight the CS teaching competencies that CS teachers feel they currently grasp well in the KSA. By enhancing awareness of what teachers currently do well we contribute to the adjustment and improvement of the STCS and help to build a program which addresses the current in-service training needs of CS teachers. The outcomes also help to raise awareness of the challenges of implementing the Computer Education curriculum in KSA schools.

Modeling global competencies for computing education

This working group contributes to formulating a framework for modeling competencies in the current and future disciplines that comprise computing education. We draw upon the innovative approach taken in the curricular document for information technology (IT2017), curricular competency frameworks, other related documents such as the software engineering competency model (SWECOM), the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), current research in competency models, and elicitation workshop results from other computing conferences. The outcomes contribute to the Computing Curricula 2020 (CC2020) project, and include the formulation and review of sets of disciplinary-relevant competencies for use in computing education. This work directly informs the CC2020 project sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society.

Baltic and Nordic K-12 Teacher Perspectives on Computational Thinking and Computing.

This paper reports on the results of a study of teacher preparedness and practices in relation to teaching computing and computational thinking at schools in Sweden, Finland and Lithuania. The study was conducted as part of a NordForsk funded project to explore how Computing Education Research in the Universities can help the development of teacher training and K-12 curriculum and teaching practices. The study found that many teachers are already engaged in teaching relevant material in the schools, and that many have good support in their local school environment. However, there are also significant challenges which emerge from the new curricula that have been introduced in Sweden and Finland. To meet these challenges new teacher training programmes will be needed, and we recommend that computational thinking and computing concepts be introduced into the core subject content of teacher education programmes in order to better prepare teachers to meet the educational demands of our increasingly digitalised society.