The number of girls in England taking a GCSE in computing has more than halved since 2015. Then, 43% of candidates for GCSE Computer Science were girls. By 2023, it had dropped to just 21%.
The authors of a recent report call on the government to take action to address the problem. They warn that if males continue to dominate the digital space, the UK will not make the grade as a technology ‘superpower’.
The Subject Choice Attainment and Representation in Computing project (SCARI) report was a three-year study funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Principal investigator Dr Peter Kemp is Senior Lecturer in Computing Education at King’s College London. He said: ‘It is imperative that we see action to encourage more girls to take computing at school so they can develop the digital skills they will need to be able to participate in and shape our world.’
In 2014, the curriculum changed in England moving away from Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to focus on Computer Science and coding skills. This reinforced the notion that the stereotypical computer scientist is brainy and predominantly male.
Ten years on, it is time to revisit the digital education offered in England. We need to find out why girls are underrepresented and come up with some solutions.