Adoption of new computer science high school standards by New Zealand teachers

Computer science was progressively introduced as a subject in New Zealand high schools between 2011 and 2013, and teachers have played a key role in the success of the introduction of the new curriculum. This paper looks at how the process has worked from their point of view, primarily by comparing teacher responses to two surveys, one early in the process and one after all three years of material had been introduced. We look at the support teachers have had to prepare to teach the new topics, and we identify the aspects of the transition that worked well and the aspects have been problematic. The two surveys reveal an increase in teacher confidence after they had professional development and gained experience teaching the new standards.