2014 Best Practices in Education Award goes to Computing At School
In recognition of its initiatives promoting computing in primary and secondary schools, Computing At School (CAS), from the UK, has won the 2014 Informatics Europe Best Practices in Education Award.
Created in 2008, Computing at School has taken the form of a grassroots organization with three main goals. First, lobbying for a true introduction of Informatics in the British schools that would include Computer Science, i.e., the heart of Informatics, and remove the previous limitation to mere usage of computers and software. Second, developing an appropriate curriculum for all ages in primary and secondary schools. Third, developing a large network of participants including teachers and scientists, as well as an extensive teacher training plan. Working in close cooperation with the British Computer Society, the Computing at School organization has remarkably succeeded in reaching these goals: the British government has taken the decision to consider Informatics a science the same level as mathematics, physics, biology, etc., and to teach it at all school ages; it has delegated the design of curricula and the training of teachers to Computing at School; and the organization gathers currently 15,000 participants, keeps growing, and has started large-scale and well-organized teacher training based on hubs and master teachers.
An special ceremony was held in Wroclaw, as part of the ECSS 2014 program, where the winner initiative, represented by Simon Humphreys, CAS National Coordinator, received the Award from the Award Committee Chair, Prof. Gerard Berry. Simon Humphreys, in a inspiring talk, presented CAS history, achievements and challenges in the future ahead.
The Best Practices in Education Award is a prestigious recognition of outstanding initiatives in computing education and is presented every year by Informatics Europe. The 2014 Award winner was selected by a committee composed by top international experts and chaired by Prof. Gerard Berry from College de France. A number of excellent proposals were received by the committee which had the difficult task to select the winners in an evaluation process that run from March to August 2014.
For more details about the award, current and previous editions results, please visit.
http://www.informatics-europe.org/services/education-award.html