At BCS, we believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to thrive in a digital world. Our report, Empowering Teachers: Inspiring Young Minds, is a powerful testament to the work of Computing at School (CAS), Barefoot and the wider BCS community in making that vision a reality.
From the classroom to the conference hall, from grassroots volunteers to national policy influencers, our collective efforts have reached over 90% of UK schools, supported more than 3.5 million pupils, and empowered thousands of teachers to deliver high-quality computing education.
These achievements are not just numbers - they represent real change in real lives.
Our impact so far
- Learner impact: Contributed to a 370% rise in Computing GCSE entries since 2014; pupils in supported schools achieve on average 0.2 higher GCSE grades.
- Teacher support: Improved the confidence of 115,000 primary teachers through the Barefoot programme, reaching 3.5 million pupils in 85% of UK primary schools.
- Specialist groups: 10,000+ members actively exploring topics like AI and physical computing.
Looking to the future
We’ve made huge progress so far, but challenges still remain. The strategic priorities that CAS will focus on from 2025 to 2028 are:
- Supporting teachers and schools to develop all young people’s digital literacy in preparation for the revised curriculum
- Supporting teachers with the incoming curriculum for computing, with a focus on the new GCSE
- Strengthening local communities
- Expanding free, high-quality resources across all key stages
- Advocating for equity and inclusion in computing education policy
- Closing the teacher confidence gap – especially in underserved areas
- Measuring and sharing evidence of impact to inform future policy
Partnership and support
Computing at School (CAS) is a community of professional practice that forms a nationwide network of computing educators supported by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
BCS is only able to drive the revolution of computing education thanks to the generous support of our partners. If you share our ambitions for an inclusive digital society and you are passionate about enabling all young people to become digitally literate, we’d love to hear from you.
Whether it’s a small, targeted project, the sponsorship of a community, or a multi-year national reach programme grant, we would love the opportunity to work with new partners to ensure every learner has the knowledge and skills to thrive in the digital age through access to a high-quality computing education.
If you’d like to join us on our mission and help us make an even bigger impact in the field of computing education, please don’t hesitate to contact us today at partnerships@bcs.uk or visit the CAS website here.
