Celebrating 10 years of Barefoot

In primary schools, during the BC era (Before Computing), we taught ICT as a subject that required pupils to learn a small amount about data, control, and online safety. The majority of the curriculum involved pupils learning presentation skills and producing digital artefacts. Some of us pushed the boat out and allowed pupils to create podcasts and experience video editing; in my case, this was thanks to the local CLC. However, most stuck to presentation software; at this point in time, PowerPoint was reserved for Year 6 pupils most of whom subscribed to the mantra of the ‘more animations and transitions the better. ’

The curriculum review led to significant changes in the subject as ICT evolved into Computing. From September 2014, primary school teachers were required to support pupils in understanding computer science, developing their understanding of computational thinking, and delivering lessons that focused on abstraction, repetition, selection, and decomposition. At the time, I, like many other ICT coordinators (I don’t think we were subject leaders at that point), scrambled around looking for support. You need to understand that online communities didn’t exist in the way they do today. I got lucky: a teacher in the neighbouring authority was running an afternoon session where her ‘coding club’ showed what they had been doing with Scratch, Minecraft, and a host of other things. The teacher, she knows who she is, suggested that I check out Barefoot. I followed this advice and found a resource that was designed for primary school teachers and explained the abstract concepts of the recently introduced curriculum using contexts and scenarios that primary school teachers understood. It allowed me to upskill myself and support the rest of the staff by demystifying the concepts they were supposed to teach. “Is that it! I am doing that already” was a common response when I used Barefoot’s contexts to explain concepts.

Fast forward ten years, and I find myself in the privileged position of being part of the team that steers the direction Barefoot takes and the support it continues to offer primary school teachers. This ensures they feel empowered to provide pupils across the country with a high-quality computing education that prepares them to thrive in a digital world. Ten years cannot pass without a celebration, and Barefoot was no exception. To mark the impact that this program has had, those who developed the initial idea, funders, volunteers, teachers, and even a member of parliament gathered to share their experiences of Barefoot and toast its successes. The evening involved discussions on Barefoot’s impact:

• Over 3.5 million UK pupils reached
• Over 86,500 teachers supported through CPD workshops
• Over 450,00resources downloaded
• Over 100 resources published

Alongside, how it sits alongside BCS’s other programs which serve to secure a diverse pipeline of talent entering the tech profession.

Those assembled were given an opportunity to go back to school by experiencing a Barefoot activity. I was asked to pick the activity and decided that Crazy Character was a perfect fit: a golden oldie that suited the room. What I didn’t know was that this activity was the very first one developed by the Barefoot team and was delivered at the Barefoot launch event in the BT Theatre back in 2013.

Conversations after the presentations led me to discover that the idea for ‘Fake Bots’ was conceived and delivered during a lesson and that a pupil in that lesson coined the phrase ‘Fake Bots.’

As people socialised that evening, it struck me that the room was filled with people who helped raise the profile of and standards in primacy computing over the last ten years and those who would have the same impact over the next ten years.  Of course, we are very excited about what else we can do to support teachers and pupils next and we look forward to sharing some of these ideas with you very soon. Until then, please join in toasting the successes of this wonderful program that has and continues to empower primary school teachers to provide their pupils with the solid foundations of a robust computing education.

To Barefoot…

To find out more about the support offers primary school teachers, click here.