Have you ever been visited by those nightmarish thoughts, in the days before returning to school from a holiday, that you might have lost the ability to teach or forgotten what you should actually be teaching to your classes?  

For a substantial number of ICT teachers in England, that nightmare became a reality two years ago, when the new computing curriculum was introduced. The subject knowledge they’d acquired, the resources developed over years, the experience of preparing classes for exams and the strategies they used in their own teaching became largely redundant when it came into force in 2014. 

At this stage, you might reasonably expect that computing as a subject would be firmly established in schools, yet I’ve listened while teachers in primary schools tell me that, with all of the demands on their time and resources, including a disproportionate focus on teaching literacy and numeracy, computing simply isn’t seen as a priority in their school and it has been squeezed out completely. 

At the same time, secondary teachers have admitted to me that their own lack of confidence teaching computing and weak subject knowledge, combined with the high stakes of the Progress 8 performance measures, have led them to consider retraining in another subject, while others have left the profession entirely. Teachers in schools where GCSE ICT remained a popular choice among pupils, and had long enjoyed exam success, have struggled to make the leap as these qualifications rapidly approach the end of their lives. 

If you are in the process of transitioning from teaching ICT to teaching computing in your school, the good news is that there is a raft of initiatives, projects and communities available that can help to ease your journey into computing, making it less of a nightmare. The bad news is that there are no quick fixes that will convert you into a computing teacher overnight; these solutions require a significant time commitment if they are to have any measurable impact. 

Finding time for your own professional development in school is definitely a challenge; you can’t simply create more hours. However, people can justify spending time on activities that are really important to them. If you decide that your professional development is important enough, you’ll find it easier to say “no” to competing demands.

Here are a few suggestions to help make the shift from teaching ICT to teaching computing easier. 

Observe other teachers’ lessons in your school 

Teaching computing requires a different pedagogy from teaching ICT. Make a commitment to regularly observe other colleagues: you’ll pick up lots of strategies that you can adapt, especially when you observe colleagues with recognised strengths. Unlike a formal observation, you might only visit their lesson for 20 minutes a week and find time to chat with them in between. 

Attend CAS hub meetings 

Computing at School, or CAS, local support meetings are regularly hosted by teachers in their own schools, and these allow participants to pool resources and expertise. If there isn’t one near you, host one yourself and invite some other teachers along - a problem shared is a problem halved. CAS regional centres, based at universities, coordinate professional development opportunities for teachers, so register with them to find out what’s on offer. 

Utilise resources

For primary schools, the Barefoot Computing curriculum provides free planning resources. There are professional development sessions available to help teachers make the best use of their materials. It’s also possible to host teacher sessions at your school. For secondary, sites such as TES are awash with great ideas and resources. 

Join forums and online communities

There are lots of active Facebook groups where teachers share their problems, solutions and resources freely. There is a popular #caschat each week on Twitter, where teachers trade answers to questions, and there is the enormous Computing at School online community forum, where many thousands of teachers share solutions and resources. 

Register for Picademy

Raspberry Picademy is a professional development experience for teachers and educators. It won’t necessarily teach you all you need to know about computing but I guarantee it will be the most fulfilling and enjoyable CPD you’ll ever take part in. It’s free to attend, lasts only two days and the warm feeling inside will last long after you head home. 

Search for information about FutureLearn

FutureLearn offers free online courses where you can learn about different aspects of teaching computing. These anytime, any place courses are possibly the only CPD you can do in your pyjamas with a glass of wine in your hand.  

Alan O’Donohoe leads the community programme for Exa Foundation, a not-for-profit venture that supports computing in schools. Exa Foundation is a finalist in the BETT 2017 Awards