From the NAACE newsletter 14 June 2013:
Having carefully considered the responses to consultation on the reform of the national curriculum , as well as a range of other relevant factors, the Government has decided to proceed to make the Order to replace ICT with Computing under section 84 and 85 of the Education Act 2002.ICT as a subject name carries strong negative connotations of a dated and unchallenging curriculum that does not serve the needs and ambitions of pupils. Changing the subject name of ICT to Computing will not only improve the status of the subject but also more accurately reflect the breadth of content included in the new draft programmes of study. Under the legislation which governs the national curriculum, the Secretary of State is required to consult on a draft of the Order necessary to effect these changes. This consultation opened on 3 May and closed on 3 June 2013. It can be accessed at https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/
Subject to the outcome of this consultation, the final Order will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. It will therefore need to be debated in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Government is currently considering the responses to the broader national curriculum consultation, including comments on the draft Computing programmes of study.
Later in the summer, the Government will publish revised drafts of the programmes of study and consult on the draft Orders necessary to bring them into force. It is intended that, subject to Parliamentary approval, the new national curriculum will be made available to schools in autumn this year for first teaching from September 2014.
NAACE are working with a range of stakeholders, including publishers, education suppliers, teaching schools, subject associations, unions and professional associations, to make sure that high quality support for Computing becomes available for schools.
The Teaching Agency is working with Initial Teacher Training providers to influence training from 2013/2014 onwards. In addition, the Government has recently announced a £2m programme to train 400 master computer teachers over the next two years.
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