TEALS
Technology Education and Learning Support (TEALS) is a Microsoft Philanthropies program that supports equitable, inclusive computer science in secondary schools.
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is delighted to be working with Microsoft and The Hg Foundation to bring TEALS to secondary schools in the UK. The program helps teachers, particularly non-specialists, by pairing them with volunteers from industry who can boost subject knowledge in the classroom, enrich student learning, and accelerate the professional development of computing teachers.
TEALS has been running in the United States since 2009 and has helped over 100,000 students receive computer science learning pathways. It is also operating in Canada, Mexico, Israel, Colombia, Kenya and India.
Volunteers are the backbone of TEALS. They enrich students’ understanding of computing, provide real-world context for learning, and bring to life a range of career possibilities. Volunteers help departments to increase their computing capacity and advance teacher’s subject knowledge and capabilities, creating a lasting impact. The support volunteers provide is planned and under the direction of the teacher with each volunteer supporting a class, each week, across a school year.
To date we’ve worked with 10 schools and 30 volunteers across five areas of England – Manchester, Walsall, Reading, London, and Torbay and the insights we’ve gained from this first year of the programme is supporting our expansion of TEALS to more schools, volunteers, locations, and regions of the UK.
We’re building a community of TEALS teachers and volunteers in the 2024-2025 academic year and we’re looking forward to welcoming more schools and volunteers who are passionate about computing to the programme, helping to extend the reach and impact of TEALS in the UK.
For more information email teals@bcs.uk
Case study
“Since establishing the TEALs programme within our school, we have found that student engagement has increased within the Computing classes being supported by our professionals. The level of technological cognizance the volunteers bring into the classroom, along with enthusiasm and experiences of how Computing is applied to real-world scenarios, mean that this invaluable resource has inspired our learners and provided educators with highly-skilled, professionals who can complement and work alongside existing pedagogy.”
Matt Ryder, Joseph Leckie Academy
