I think they introduced the programming GCSE the year after I did my A-Levels
I was teaching the IGCSE, to students all over the globe.
you can JUST learn the programming bit
But NONE of the resources which have been provided to schools do it that way - they ALL use OOP. If that’s what your faculty has chosen to use, then that’s what you have to use. It comes back to what I’ve been saying all along - the schools are dictating to the teachers what they are to teach, and it’s NOT based on what’s best for the students educationally, but what has the least admin overhead for them. That’s the stupid reason that I had to learn Python - admin concerns!
Oh, ok, that’s annoying then. One of those cases where it feels like the person putting the course together has never actually interacted with children?
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The decision was made for us by school admins, NOT CS teachers. That’s why it was the stupid reason I had to learn Python.
Oh, I should clarify that. Teaching Python was decided for us by admins. The course material MAY have been designed by a teacher, but then also it may have been designed for Year 9 say. It’s inappropriate to be teaching it to Year 7 as a first proper programming language, but that’s what we had to do (otherwise then we would also have to make all our own resources to do it, and don’t forget at this point that I didn’t know how to program in Python myself yet! So yes, I had to use the already made resources, which had OOP in it).
I was teaching the IGCSE, to students all over the globe.
But NONE of the resources which have been provided to schools do it that way - they ALL use OOP. If that’s what your faculty has chosen to use, then that’s what you have to use. It comes back to what I’ve been saying all along - the schools are dictating to the teachers what they are to teach, and it’s NOT based on what’s best for the students educationally, but what has the least admin overhead for them. That’s the stupid reason that I had to learn Python - admin concerns!
Oh, ok, that’s annoying then. One of those cases where it feels like the person putting the course together has never actually interacted with children?
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The decision was made for us by school admins, NOT CS teachers. That’s why it was the stupid reason I had to learn Python.
Oh, I should clarify that. Teaching Python was decided for us by admins. The course material MAY have been designed by a teacher, but then also it may have been designed for Year 9 say. It’s inappropriate to be teaching it to Year 7 as a first proper programming language, but that’s what we had to do (otherwise then we would also have to make all our own resources to do it, and don’t forget at this point that I didn’t know how to program in Python myself yet! So yes, I had to use the already made resources, which had OOP in it).