Computing education

The importance of computing education

All young people will need some computing skills to navigate their changing world. Employers increasingly expect ‘digital literacy’ and in many workplaces a variety of computing skills are highly valued. Following reforms to the computing curriculum since 2014, take up of qualifications by 16-year-olds has changed considerably. Take up is unevenly spready both geographically and by demographic, which means opportunities to study computing are not evenly spread (PDF).

Computing for all

There is a particular imbalance in terms of gender in the take up of computing qualifications in schools and colleges, both at 16 and 18. Provision of courses also varies considerably. This means that those progressing to higher level study are not representative of the population as a whole and many miss out on fulfilling and often well-rewarded career opportunities. The Society’s recent work has focussed on exploring in more detail the patterns of uptake in order to understand how to address this important issue. 

Computing and diversity 

The demand for computing skills is increasing as the UK moves towards a more technology-focused world. However, not enough young people are taking up computing subjects to fulfil this demand and the computing workforce does not yet reflect the diversity of society. Opening up opportunities for young people from a broad range of backgrounds will help meet skills needs as well as driving innovation and creativity.  

As part of this work, the Royal Society commissioned a study, by research agency DJS, to explore why young people are choosing to study computing, or not. This included an online survey of 2,273 young people (aged 11-18) who were organised into segments based on attitudes to education and computing (PDF). Analysis of the demographic profile of these segments identified underrepresented groups and the factors influencing individuals’ decisions to study computing. 

The study found that parents and carers, as well as teachers, influenced students' decision to study computing. Computing ‘identity’, a sense of belonging to and identifying with the subject, was found to strongly impact whether a student chose to study computing. Computing identity was highly gendered and was associated with some backgrounds more than others. 

Six segments were identified:

• Education enthusiasts
• Future planners
• Easy-going
• Socially influenced
• School dissenters
• Cautious thinkers

After the Reboot

This report in 2017 (PDF)identified some next steps to support the growth of the new school subject, after ‘ICT’ was replaced by ‘Computer Science’ as a school subject from 2012. The report demonstrated that computing education remained ‘patchy and fragile’ and improvement was needed to recruit more teachers of computing and to train and support these teachers. 

Shut down or restart?

School teachers, academics and other members of the computing community came together through this study in 2012 to address growing concerns that the design and delivery of the ICT and computing curricula in schools is putting young people off studying the subject further. The effect on the UK economy of the dwindling enthusiasm for computing/ICT in schools was explored, together with the need for more specialist teachers and development of qualifications that can motivate and inspire the next generation.     

GCSE Computing

Through our research we found that the provision of the subject at GCSE was sporadic. Explore our local authority map to see the breakdown throughout the country in 2015-16.