CAS Master Teacher Expectations & Criteria document Computing At School BCS , The Chartered Institute for IT First Floor, Block D, North Star House North Star Avenue Swindon SN2 1FA www.computingatschool.org.uk Who is the CAS Master Teacher programme aimed at? • Existing Advanced Skills Teachers and Excellence Teachers with a STEM background. • Experienced teachers with a Computer Science background Will Advanced Skills Teachers or Excellence Teachers be given priority over experienced Computer Science teacher? No, each application will be considered on a case-­‐by-­‐case basis. However, we will require your head teacher, in their reference, to confirm that you have achieved a grading of ‘Good with Outstanding features’ or Outstanding’ in your most recent observations. What if I am an Advanced Skills Teacher without a Computer Science background? Where the CAS Master Teacher is an Advanced Skills Teacher or Excellence Teacher without a Computer Science background, CAS will help them to foster relationships with a local Computer Science Teacher or Lecturer from the Network of Teaching Excellence. They would be expected to work especially closely with them to ensure content is exemplary, but this will have the additional bonus of a pedagogy and knowledge exchange between professionals. Can I use allocated time for my role as an existing Advanced Skills Teacher to work as the CAS Master teacher? Yes, assuming that your line manager, for your role as an Advanced Skills Teacher or Excellence Teacher is aware of, and happy for, you allocate your time this way. I’ve looked at the DfE Master Teacher, what if I don’t meet all the criteria? The selection panel will not be selecting candidates based solely on the number of criteria an individual meets. It is much more important to select the right people, in the right geographical area, who can be proactive to meet the needs of the local school community. If I become a CAS Master Teacher, does that mean that I automatically qualify for DfE Master Teacher status? No. The CAS Master Teacher will support ‘Outstanding’ teachers with meeting the Government’s proposed criteria for Master Teacher standards. For a copy of the proposed standards1. 1 http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/independent review of teachers standards second report.pdf How many CPD sessions will I have to run? The Network of Teaching Excellence expects all CAS Master Teachers to design and deliver a minimum of two afternoon/twilight courses of CPD to colleagues in Primary and/or Secondary education. Where they are working with, or in the locality of, a University Education department we expect the CAS Master Teacher to make provision for these trainee teachers. In addition each CPD session will be followed up with a short post course web conference. How much time will I get for designing and delivering this CPD sessions? This initiative has been designed to be flexible arrangement to suit your workload, you will not be expected to allocate one afternoon each week, some weeks you will do more, some much less – it is the equivalent of! Do I need to inform my head teacher that I wish to apply? Yes, part of the application process your head teacher needs to give their consent to the candidates’ application by completing a reference. What reimbursement will the school receive? Assuming that a CAS Master Teacher meets the expected criteria by March 2013, their school will be reimbursed to the sum of £1,000 in March 2013. This money is a reimbursement for the time spent out of school for the equivalent of one afternoon per week as well as running the required number of sessions, follow-­‐up web conferences and completing a peer review. How will I know what CPD courses to run? It will be the role of the CAS Master Teacher to identify the gaps in local provision and skills then with the support of the CAS Regional CPD team to initiate the development and delivery of CPD courses. Do the courses just have to be about programming and always using computers? No, Computer Science is a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject, and programming is just one of element of our subject. Courses should be based on the KS2 -­‐ KS4 Points of Study in the CAS Curriculum to support the teaching of Computer Science at KS3 or 4. How long will CPD courses last? Usually, CPD courses will last approximately 3 to 4 hours with a suitable number of breaks. Can I only do two CPD sessions? No, in fact we are looking for enthusiastic and proactive teachers who are well connected in their local communities and may be able to run more than two sessions. When and how do I run these post CPD session web conferences? The CAS Master Teacher will be expected to run a web conference within two weeks of the CPD course via Web Conferencing facilities. The CAS Master Teacher must also offer attendees the opportunity to complete a second web conference, one month after the first web conference, the purpose of this is to provide opportunities for them to feedback to the Master Teacher on the impact in their classroom, answer any questions relating to accreditation of the impact in their classroom, and provide a final opportunity for peer mentoring and support. These follow-­‐up web conferences sessions should last no longer than one hour. I like the idea of the virtual CPD, can I use the CAS Academy to deliver a full CPD courses? We would ideally encourage our CAS Master Teachers to be primarily delivering face-­‐to-­‐face CPD courses. However, if the CAS Master Teacher wants to contribute to the CAScade by running a 10 or 20 minute training sessions on a particular topic or classroom resource then great! It is expected that this mini virtual sessions will also be mapped to the Computing At School curriculum. How many peer reviews of fellow CAS Master Teachers would I be expected to complete? To ensure the quality of the courses advertised by the CAS Master Teacher, the Network of Teaching Excellence requires all CAS Master Teachers to complete a minimum of one peer review of a CPD course run by another CAS Master Teacher. If you attend more than one course run by a CAS Master Teacher as part of your own professional development then we would welcome feedback. You mentioned accreditation of CPD courses, how will that work? We are looking into accreditation with various partners. These details will be released when we have appointed the CAS Master Teachers. Is the peer review of CPD sessions like a CAS OFSTED? No. The feedback process is to help both the CAS Master Teacher doing the reviewing to identify ideas and techniques for improving his or her own CPD courses, as well as an opportunity for the person being reviewed to gain feedback on both what their colleague feels is good about their course and discuss ideas on how they could do it differently next time. What if I don’t meet the expected criteria by March 2013? If a CAS Master Teacher doesn’t meet the expectations laid out then it will be up the discretion of the Network of Teaching Excellence Team to reimburse the school for that Master Teachers time. How can I avoid duplicating resources and CPD courses with other CAS Master Teachers? We are expecting the CAS Master Teachers to communicate with one another. A decision on the platform for this communication has not yet been agreed. We are looking for teachers selected as CAS Master Teachers to tell the Network of Teaching Excellence team how they work best. Can I use the materials that another CAS Master Teacher develops? Yes, but we would expect you to either add to or alter them. We will discourage any CAS Master Teachers from not designing and delivering original materials for at least one CPD course. Following the course, the CAS Master Teacher is expected to share all resources and CPD materials together with a explanation of how to use them to the CAS Master Teacher. What training will I be offered? All teachers selected to be a CAS Master Teacher will be provided with one day of training at the end of January 2013. This training course is compulsory for all CAS Master Teachers and will cover the CAS ethos, how best to structure and deliver CPD sessions, influencing skills and managing organisational change. What support can I expect from the Network of Teaching Excellence? We will help you make introductions to other Schools and Universities in the Network of Teaching Excellence, local CAS Hub Leaders, BCS Hub coordinators and STEMNet IT Ambassador managers. A member of the Network of Teaching Excellence Team will also: a) Be happy to visit or talk with the school of CAS Master Teacher to look at how best to develop this model for their area. b) Attend at least one of your CPD courses to provide moral support and feedback. Who is responsible for advertising the CPD course? The Network of Teaching Excellence combined with local coordinators (Universities, local CAS Hub Leaders, BCS Hub coordinators and STEMNet Ambassador coordinators) and the CAS Master Teacher will jointly be responsible for advertising any CPD Courses. If the CPD course is to be advertised through the CAS hubs, on CAS website, and via the Network of Teaching Excellence then one of the previously mentioned stakeholders will be expected to email the details of the course to the Network of Teaching Excellence team. If I’m not selected as a CAS Master Teacher can I still run courses for the network of excellence? Yes, of course you can! We would encourage anyone thinking of applying to become a CAS Master Teacher to do so. Following the selection of the CAS Master Teachers we will do our best to support any teacher to run CPD, we just can’t fund the time of that teacher to design, develop and deliver CPD courses. We will publish details of how anyone can run an event using both a Computing At School and Network of Excellence logo shortly.