Preparing for your scholarship assessment

Congratulations on securing an online assessment for a BCS Computing Teacher Scholarship. Here are some useful tips and important information to help you prepare.

The details of your assessment, including the date, time and topic for your lesson plan and presentation are included in the email with the link to this page.

Before your assessment

Make sure that you confirm your assessment date by replying to the email you received.

We have a limited number of online assessments available, so are only able to change assessment times in extenuating circumstances. If you do not confirm or attend your assessment, you will be added to the waiting list and we cannot guarantee that another assessment appointment will become available.

Prepare your lesson plan on the topic selected for you (we recommend you refer to the curriculum document in the Essential reading links below).

Email your lesson plan and presentation to scholarships@bcs.uk before the deadline (included in the email with your assessment details).

Assessment format

Your assessment will take place online via Microsoft Teams with two of our assessors. These assessors will be former computing teachers and/or members of our Scholarships team.

The assessment will start with your 15-minute presentation to talk through your prepared lesson plan. Imagine another teacher is going to teach the lesson and you are walking them through it.

Your presentation should include:

  • Details of how you would teach a 60-minute lesson on a specified topic (we are not expecting you to deliver the lesson itself)
  • How your lesson meets the learning goals
  • Supporting evidence of how the lesson would be delivered, for example planned class activities and any teacher-led demonstration(s)

After your presentation the assessors will ask some interview questions on a range of topics, including:

  • Safeguarding
  • KS3 and KS4 national curriculum content
  • GCSE content for OCR / AQA / Eduqas
  • Different types of schools you may be interested in teaching in
  • Behaviour management

(We’ve included some useful links in the essential reading section below.)

Please remember that we are not expecting you to know everything about teaching at this stage; we are looking for your current understanding of the curriculum, how you prepare, and how you would engage with students in the classroom.

After your assessment

We will be confirming scholarship places after the final round of assessments is completed. We will be touch in mid August with the outcome of your assessment. We appreciate your patience.

If you are unsuccessful and meet the criteria for a bursary, you will receive the bursary instead. You can also find additional support for your ITT year by creating a free account on Computing at School and joining the Trainee and ECT Community.

Essential reading