Practitioner Enquiry 2024

The gender gap in computing. It has been a long-standing issue across Scotland, and indeed the rest of the UK. This practioner enquiry sets out to identify key areas in the education of our pupils to uncover some truths about why the subject fails to meet the needs of female pupils. It also seeks to present pathways and potential solutions in attempt to solve this.

It is highly unlikely that this practioner enquiry will transform Scottish computing education in one fell swoop, but it seeks to leave a few key focuses for improving the situation.

Why this research?

As a classroom teacher for more than six years now, I have seen pupil female numbers fluctuate; with some schools that I have worked at seeing around a ten to fifteen percent female cohort within a computing class (this includes all forms of computing, S3, National 5, Higher, Advanced Higher and all the various NPA qualifications) but then on the other hand, I've worked in schools where the numbers are absolute zero. I have also worked with classes where the number of girls of girls in S3 is reasonable but by S4 it is back to zero.

Why could this be the case?

Why is very difficult to decipher and pinpoint, but I have outlined several key points that I believe at the present time illustrate some of the main issues:

1. Perception of computing as a male subject
   • Computing is often seen as a male-dominated subject.^[1]
   • Lack of female role models in computing. ^[2]
2. Lack of early engagement and confidence
   • Girls may feel behind compared to boys with early exposure to technology. ^[3]
   • Fear of not being good at coding or computing.
3. Limited understanding of career opportunities
   • Computing is often mistaken as only coding-related. ^[2]
   • Misconception that tech jobs lack creativity or teamwork. ^[2]
4. Lack of female role models and representation
   • Few female computing teachers and professionals. ^[2]
   • Women’s contributions to computing are not always highlighted. ^[2]
5. Peer influence and social pressures
   • Girls may avoid computing if their friends do. ^[5]
   • Fear of being the only girl in the class. ^[2]
6. Misconceptions about the subject
   • Belief that computing is all about maths or coding. ^[2]
   • Perceived as boring or too theoretical. ^[2]
7. Teaching approach and curriculum
   • Heavily programming-focused lessons may not appeal to all pupils. ^[6]
   • Lack of interactive, problem-solving activities. ^[6]
   • Unlike subjects like English and Mathematics, Computing is a one-a-week subject and therefore teachers often do not have time to make good relationships with pupils. ^[6]
8. Parental and teacher expectations
   • Parents may unconsciously steer girls towards other subjects. ^[2]
   • Teachers may unintentionally favour boys in discussions. ^[2]

I believe this area of research holds greater depth than what I have encountered so far through my reading and discussions.

The Gender Insights in Computing Education published by the National Centre for Computing Education in April 2023 makes for an interesting read and covers a considerable amount of what I have discovered myself.

What this research involves

While this enquiry cannot encompass all the necessary research, the following will be the key focus areas:

• Why the numbers are low and the main causes
• What can be done to solve the issue

To construct a bigger picture, some further discourse will be carried out with particular focus on certain groups:

• S2 pupils who have chosen the subject
• S2 and S3 pupils who did not pick the subject
• Pupils who are currently in S3 and beyond (who did pick the subject)
• A female computing teacher (and indeed someone who, when at school, picked computing)

I also deem it neccesary to investigate S1 thoughts on the subject and to establish whether the issue, at least at Knox Academy, roots within the first year of secondary level education.

Using this information, the aim is to discern the main causes for the subject not being the number one choice, or even, in some cases, the backup choice when course selection is made. Crucially, this should focus on what needs to change to solve the issue.

Pupil involvement

At the very heart of the subject choices are the pupils. The main focus of the research will be the pupils' views and reasons.

The first stage of this was a questionnaire.

Questionnaire

The following questions were asked of all female pupils, regardless of year group or whether or not they picked the subject.

The questionnaire was built with my own DragonDocs Engine to make it easier for me collect formatted data. You can view the actual questionnaire here.

Informal group discourse

After the initial questionnaire that pupils completed, an informal group discourse took place.

The informal discourse was aimed at seeking additional thoughts on what might have put the pupils off the subject. This took place immediately after the questionnaire.

By working as a group, pupils came up with ideas together that would shape the later information individual discussions.

Informal individual discussions

As a teacher, I am well aware there are certain things that pupils will not disclose during a group discussion out of fear that peers might be critical of that but may divulge that information in a one-to-one conversation (for example, they might discuss their relationship with mathematics and how they have struggled).

Accordingly, a personal discussion took place as final element of the picture to discern if additional information could be extracted.

Analysis

In the analysis of the data provided in all three stages, several key areas of discussion were prevelant. These were:

• The perception of the subject being male-dominated
• Peer and parental influence
• The lack of female role models
• Individualised encouragement and discouragement

Perception that the subject is male-dominated

The following question was asked during the interview:

Do you agree that computer science as a male-dominated subject?

Peer influence

The following question was asked during the interview:

Do you agree that the subject was appealing/unappealing because you knew your friends were taking/not taking it?

The majority of pupils...

Role models

The following question was asked during the interview:

Do you agree that having a female-role model such as a teacher would have encouraged you to pick the subject?

Discussions on role models came to one conclusion from pupils interviewed - it has no real effect on their choices, at least not directly. Some of the pupils stated that this could be a "subconcious effect", and that perhaps if they had more high-flying female advocates for computer science would increase uptake but weren't sure.

Each pupil asked out of the S2 group who didn't pick computing stated that having a female teacher or role model would make no difference to their choice.

Discouragement and encouragement

The following question was asked during the interview:

Do you agree you were [discouraged/encouraged] by someone else to pick the subject?

Discouragement came up more often that was originally hypothesised. From people saying they "don't know how to work computers" or the attitude of "coding is too difficult" or the belief that there aren't enough women in technology.

These were seen as major hinderances that pupil girls off picking computing. Boys on the other hand, more often stated that they were interested in going into jobs like electronic engineering where "coding was a staple part of what they do", or science-based careers where understanding "how to use data can be helpful" came up.

Parental discouragement came up frequently during the individual discourse as well as the group discourse too.

Pupil thoughts on improving the situation

Proposals

My first proposal is...

Next steps

Conclusion