National Centre for Computing Education


The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computer science. The National Centre is delivered by a consortium of STEM Learning, Raspberry Pi Foundation and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Function

The National Centre for Computing Education provides training in computing education for primary and secondary schools and colleges, including bursary-funded face-to-face courses around England, and free online courses, delivered through FutureLearn. It also offers a repository of teaching resources for computing through its website, .
The NCCE programme is organised around a network of school-based Computing Hubs, geographically distributed around the country. These Hubs ensure that the programme is school-led and reflects the needs of teachers on the ground.

History

The centre was set up following the January 2016 government report Digital Skills for the UK Economy which highlighted the digital skills gap in the UK economy, produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which looked at research carried out by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, which itself closed in 2017.
Funding of £84m was announced in the November 2017 United Kingdom budget to upskill around 8000 computer science teachers. Support would come from the Behavioural Insights Team and FutureLearn.
The centre was created in November 2018 with £84m of government funding.

Chair

FRS, of Microsoft Research, was appointed as the organisation's chairman in March 2019. It has been created by STEM Learning at the University of York, the BCS and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It is funded by the Department for Education. The Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge will also provide assistance.

Network of Computing Hubs

North East England

The Mathematics and Science Learning Centre at the University of Southampton is a delivery partner.