Given that students in secondary schools can, when they reach a certain age, decide to give up Computing, marketing the department is an important thing to do. Even in primary schools, where options are not a consideration, it’s important to establish a brand for Computing. The main reason is that it’s a relatively new subject, few people understand why it’s useful, and — as if that wasn’t bad enough — it sucks in a lot of money.

I think there has to be an ongoing campaign, but subtly done. I faced a similar problem as a new Head of Information and Communications Technology. I wanted to get people used to the idea that the department now offered various ICT courses and not single subject Computer Skills (like Computer Graphics, Wordprocessing etc). My approach was to design a departmental logo and stick it on every document my team and I produced. That included:

• Diskette and CD labels.

• Help manuals.

• Worksheets.

• Memos to staff.

• INSET materials.

• Staff ICT bulletin every half-term.

• My notices on the staff bulletin board.

• Students’ work displays.

• Computer room timetables.

There was also a hidden curriculum aspect to it. I was teaching Business Studies as well, one of the topics of which is marketing. The students could see that I was walking the talk!