A final follow-up to my Welcome increase in GCSE ICT entries and GCSE Computing = More Coders posts last week.
As I reported there was a 38% increase in the number of entries for GCSE IT related GCSEs this year. Of the 73,487 entries, just 4,253 or 0.5% were for the new GCSE Computing exam – but this was up 141% on 2012; albeit from a tiny base. Whereas 44% of GSCE IT students were female, just 14% of GCSE Computing students were girls. (Thanks to Karen Price at e-skills for getting us these broken out figures as promised)
I actually find these figures quite disappointing. GCSE Computing is all about coding and creating stuff; not spreadsheets or Powerpoint. It is exactly the kind of course that budding Apps developers and young tech entrepreneurs should study. Although only two years old, the fact that just 4K of the near 6m exams sat were Computing is depressing. The number of female students is even more depressing.
If we could get more ICT related Apprentices that recognised ICT Computing as a vital qualification, then that might be one way of increasing interest.