Computing education in England’s colleges is revolutionizing, but there may be proof that too few students want to participate. Figures from the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) show only a modest upward push in college students taking the new laptop science GCSE.
Experts are concerned.
The British Computer Society warns the quantity studying for a computing qualification may want to have by 2020.
The organization – the professional frame for the IT industry – says it could be a disaster for the economic system. The vintage ICT direction, the principal manner College students learned about, is being scrapped, with the closing GCSE entrants taking the examination in the next 12 months. The problem, described by critics as coaching little greater than the way to use Microsoft Office, is being changed with the aid of the more rigorous PC technological know-how GCSE.
However, figures from Ofqual showing entries for the examination rising to 67,800 this year from sixty-one 220 in 2016 have alarm bells ringing. With fifty-eight and six hundred students still taking the ICT exam, the overall number of people getting a GCSE computing qualification has barely fallen. The British Computing Society says that the computer science examination will fail to fill the space once ICT disappears. “If we do not act now,” says Bill Mitchell from the BCS, “through 2020, we’re probably to peer the range of students studying computing at GCSE halve, while it should be doubling. If that happens, it will be a catastrophe for our kids and the nation’s destiny.”
The big concern is that too few women are taking up the science examination – in 2016, they made up simply 20% of entrants, even as the parent for ICT has been around 40%. Prof Rose Luckin says the difficulty has photo trouble. “Computer science is seen as more ‘techie,’ and its miles nevertheless ruled by men,” explains the professional from University College London’s Knowledge Lab, who has been researching and writing approximately the teaching of generation for 20 years.
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“Many women consider PC technological know-how and coding to be ‘for boys,’ and they do not see applicable career options that are attractive to them.” What seems clear is that the laptop technology examination is tougher for college kids and instructors. That turned into the route the intention, but people who warned that ending ICT risked throwing the child out with the bathwater may now experience vindication. Drew Buddie, who’s head of computing at a faculty near London, has constantly argued that ICT has been unfairly maligned and become far more innovative than its critics assumed. He says, “It is clear that many 14-to-17-yr-vintage students, in particular girls, are not attracted to such a particular and slim path.”
“The current GCSE in laptop technological know-how has replaced the opportunities for creativity that existed in ICT with set programming duties that have only a few answers,” he provides. The British Computing Society, which lobbied for the brand new GCSE, insists that it continually argued for a new IT qualification to supplement laptop science. However, that was rejected by ministers. The enterprise says it’s miles unrealistic to expect instructors of ICT to show into instructors of computer technology without huge training and support – and notwithstanding tasks from businesses like Computing At School, there has not been enough investment to bring in this revolution. I put some of these criticisms to the Department for Education. A spokesman is burdened that the new examination has been designed with industry specialists to develop the computational capabilities for a state-of-the-art economy.
He pointed out that the numbers taking it had more than doubled considering 2015 and said, “We assume that number will hold to upward push even as ICT GCSE is phased out. We are persevering to encourage even more uptake of computer technology, specifically among girls.” But Prof Luckin says the state of affairs is pressing.
“We want to cognizance on expertise exactly why students are not attracted to laptop technology so that we can make sure an appropriately skilled workforce is available for the destiny, now not least amongst the coaching profession,” she says.
She provides that the advent of synthetic intelligence makes this assignment even more essential. Five years ago, just about everyone, from instructors to enterprise leaders to politicians, agreed that radical changes in the way youngsters were taught about computer systems were needed. But today, it’s hard to find many who are happy with the velocity and direction of the revolution in computing education.
