International Perspectives on CS Teacher Formation and Professional Development

Abstract

Drawing on Mishra and Koehler's TPACK model [1], we recognize that great Computer Science (CS) teaching demands great pedagogy, great technology skills and great subject knowledge. The main challenge facing any jurisdiction in implementing a CS curriculum within schools is the shortage of new teachers being trained in CS and to meet the demand many countries have focused on professional development (PD) for existing teachers across a diverse range of subjects. Some initial PD efforts in CS were often brief, with little follow-on support, and supported through external grant funding. This created challenges and opportunities for teacher PD in CS. As the need for CS at the K-12 level continues to grow, approaches should be sustainable and scalable. This includes preparing teachers at all levels, pre k-12, while they are still learning to be teachers and some funding initiatives have included preservice teacher support as part of this [2]. Inside the European Union (EU) the Scientix project [3] represents a focus European Commission (EC) funded projects and is a repository for PD with resources for pedagogy, technology and subject knowledge. Besides this effort, spreading CS knowledge has been supported by volunteers led movements like CoderDojo. The panelists will discuss the following main topics: 1) Pre-service vs in-service, where do teachers come from? 2) Interdisciplinary ways of infusing CS. 3) Ways of replicating across countries CS teacher training initiatives aimed at sustaining and growing the number and quality of both in-service and pre-service teachers able to teach CS effectively. 4) Effective approaches to help teachers to build confidence in their ability to teach Computer Science (CS)