The new computer science examination programme is now active in all year levels of havo/vwo. That makes it a good time to give my opinion on it. I worked with it myself, saw the publishers' struggles, spoke to other teachers and experienced the programme as a state examiner. A note in advance: there is no negative story here but the point is that the student should be more central.
After all, that learner has not been central to:
- Establishing the scientific basis;
- Creating the teaching material;
- The role of secondary education vis-à-vis further education;
- The position of the computer science teacher/section in schools.
First of all, the new programme notices that SLO (Stichting Leerplan Ontwikkeling; the national expertise centre to develop curricula) has taken a scientific route. Having engaged with the material, I do and do not understand this choice. I understand it because the science route lays the foundation for the subject and that is excellent; it has certainly improved the theoretical foundation. But where this programme falls short is that it ignores the target audience.
Students are not enthusiastic about this scientific approach. As a result, it takes considerably more effort to get the student involved in the subject matter. This is also reflected in the teaching material on offer. The theory is abstract and, in addition, the assignments are not very challenging. It sometimes seems, and I have heard this from the authors involved, that making challenging assignments is experienced as very difficult. And this is another negative consequence of this scientific basis: the distance to secondary education is rather increased.
Professors of computer science such as Jan Friso Groote and Marko van Eekelen have previously strongly criticised the subject of computer science in secondary education. SLO, in cooperation with the professional association I&I, has made a serious attempt to give computer science education a helping hand, but the question of why the average student chooses computer science has always remained underexposed.