Teaching Leaving Certificate Computer Science

Establishes an honest baseline of where you start (a confidence audit), a working understanding of what the current LCCS specification requires, and the Lead Learner mindset that lets out-of-field teachers deliver LCCS confidently without performing domain expertise.

Replaces 'watch me code, now you try' with evidence-based programming pedagogy: computational thinking as named classroom moves, PRIMM and worked examples, explicit debugging instruction, and a sequenced two-year Python progression with programming-specific assessment.

Builds subject-knowledge confidence across Strand 2 (Core Concepts) for non-specialists, covering data representation, algorithms, computer systems, networks and the web, and AI/machine learning/computers in society at the level the spec and the SEC written paper actually require.

Builds capability to design and run the four prescribed team-based Applied Learning Tasks across the two-year course, addresses the realistic 3-versus-4 calendar decision honestly, and frames the ALT sequence as deliberate preparation for the individual Coursework Project.

Builds Coursework Project supervision capability, the longest assessment-focused module because the Coursework is where good teaching most directly affects outcomes: reading the brief and marking scheme like an examiner, coaching topic selection within the SEC brief, supervising the concentrated eight-to-ten-week window, and applying the six quality descriptors to a sample submission.

Gives the 70% written paper its proper share of attention: paper architecture, marking-scheme insights into where students lose marks, year-round exam technique, and a final lesson synthesising the whole course into a Year 5 LCCS plan with a JC-to-LCCS recruitment pipeline and a closing reflection.