Uk girls giving up 'hard' computer science

Bruce66423 writes: 'The number of girls in England studying for a GCSE in computing has more than halved in less than a decade, prompting warnings about the “dominance of men in shaping the modern world”.

'The sharp decline in female participation follows government qualification changes that led to the scrapping of the old information communication technology (ICT) GCSE and its replacement with a new computer science GCSE....

'In numerical terms, 40,000 female students took ICT GCSE in 2015, with a further 5,000 taking computer science. In 2023, with ICT no longer available, just 18,600 females took computer science.

'Asked to give their reasons, girls who chose not to study it said they did not enjoy computer science. They also said it did not fit in with their career plans, the research found.

'Critics of the old ICT qualification complained that it taught little more than how to use Microsoft Office. In contrast, the new computer science GCSE, with its focus on computer theory, coding and programming, is perceived by many pupils as “difficult” when compared with other subjects.'