Understanding professional learning for Computing teachers from the perspective of situated learning

ABSTRACT

Situated learning theory maintains that there is a relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs; learning is embedded in activity, context and culture. In terms of professional learning for teachers, this implies that effective learning takes place within a community where experts and novices meet and where practice is modelled; such a community needs to be deeply relevant to everyday practice in the classroom. In this paper, we discuss Computing At School, a grass-roots organisation that has grown up over the last 10 years through teacher communities, and also with broad support of academia and industry. In a time of increased interest in the inclusion of computer science in school curricular, Computing At School is a community of practice of all teachers affected by curriculum change in Computing and models an innovative approach to professional learning that is based on community and support. We describe here how Computing At School draws on situated learning theory to contribute to the development of Computing in the curriculum, evidencing both the journey and lessons learned.

KEYWORDS:

• Situated learning
• community of practice
• computer science education
• professional learning
• K-12 education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. https://www.computingatschool.org.uk/about.

2. This funding is ending in 2018, and there is a bidding process underway for another larger tranche of government funds.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sue Sentance

Sue Sentance is Senior Lecturer in Computer Science Education at King's College London.  Her research is around teacher professional development in computing and pedagogy in computing education.  Previously a Computing teacher, she has been training new computer science teachers for the last 7 years. She has been involved in computing education developments in UK through her engagement with Computing At School.

Simon Humphreys

Simon Humphreys is the National Coordinator for Computing At School. As a teacher he taught Computing for many years; and is passionate about support for Computing teachers in school. He has been involved in the development of curricula and resources to support computing education for many years, and led the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science for six years.