National Centre of Computing Education and associated training and support programmes for computing

The Department for Education (DfE) is undertaking this procurement exercise for a package of programmes in 3 Lots, comprising: 1. A National Centre of Computing Education - its role will include establishing a network providing support for teachers in primary and secondary schools, and facilitating links with industry; 2.

A training programme to upskill 8,000 existing secondary computing teachers to teach GCSE computer science effectively by 2022; 3. An A level support programme to support A level computer science students and teachers with high quality resources and CPD.

The UK digital economy is world leading. Digital sectors contributed £118 billion to the economy in 2015 - over 7% of the UK's gross value added - and exports of digital goods and services now amount to over £50 billion .

Digital skills have a key role to play in preparing people for new job roles that will emerge alongside changing technologies, as well as future-proofing the workforce as existing job roles change. Since jobs and industries are likely to be affected by digital innovation, we need to secure training and support for those people who need to adapt to changes such as automation.

Although women represent nearly half of the workforce, they continue to be under-represented in the technology sector : thus, a large proportion of the labour market continues to be under-utilised at a time when there is a shortage of individuals with the necessary digital skills. The Government is committed to making the UK the best country in the world for computing education.

The Government wants to increase the number of pupils in schools and colleges who study computer science at GCSE, AS and A level, particularly girls and in disadvantaged areas, and ensure that there is a strong pipeline of digital skills. High quality teaching is critical to achieving this.

Evidence tells us that good teaching fosters engagement, raises attainment, improves confidence and drives up participation. Whilst the evidence of the impact of teacher subject knowledge on the quality of teaching is mixed, there is evidence that teachers lacking deep knowledge of the subject they are teaching lack confidence, are less likely to teach in an engaging way and struggle to foster enthusiasm and engagement amongst their pupils.

The confidence and ability of teachers and the lack of training and development are also factors that affect teacher retention . The Government wants to improve the expertise of all teachers of computing - in primary and secondary schools and colleges - in order to both ensure all pupils have the digital skills they need for the future.

Additional information: The DfE will administer the procurement process electronically via the Bravo Solution portal. No hard copy documents will be issued; all communications with DfE (including final tender submission) will be conducted via the portal.