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The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report: 2015 data from England

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This report analyses the uptake of computing / computer science qualifications at GCSE and A-level by looking at the schools that offer the qualification and the students sitting it. Not all schools offer computing qualification at GCSE or A-level and not all students sit qualifications in computing. Even where a qualification is taught by a school, subject requirements might limit the type of student who is able to take the course. Whilst at A-level computing is a well established subject, it is only offered by a minority of centres, with some areas having no provision. Until recently the number of students taking A-level computing has been in decline (McBride, 2008); JCQ(2014, 2015a, 2016b) figures show that since 2014 numbers have been increasing year on year. A new computing GCSE was introduced by the OCR exam board in 2011 (OCR, 2011) with the first cohort of students sitting exams in 2013. Understandably, not all schools adopted this qualification immediately, and whilst the number of centres and students have been increasing, the numbers have not yet matched those of ICT (JCQ, 2016c). A similar picture has been observed at A-level with numbers of computing students rising 50% in 5 years but still well below ICT (JCQ, 2011, 2015a). Additionally, with recent school funding changes at A-level, from a per subject to per student system (BBC, 2015; Education Funding Agency, 2016), the computing cohort size of A-level providers now becomes a greater concern for the ongoing financial viability of the subject. Smaller subject cohorts may make a course too expensive for smaller providers. This report’s first aim is to understand the A-level and GCSE computing cohorts beyond the widely publicised disparity in gender (JCQ, 2015b). It will look at provider type, provider location, subject mix, the ethnicity and socio-economic status of students. To conduct this research the report uses the DfE National Pupil Database (NPD) (DfE, 2015d) linked to Edubase (DfE, 2016a). The NPD provides individual student examination and characteristic data for GCSE and A-level; Edubase provides profile information on individual schools. The GCSE and A-level in ICT are being discontinued in 2017 (DfE, 2015a). This leads to the report’s second aim, which is to contrast the computing and ICT qualifications. The DfE justification for dropping the ICT qualification and keeping computer science is that the subjects occupy the “same [subject] space” (quoted in Vaughan, 2015). It is not within the scope of this report to address the overlap in content between these subjects, instead the aim here is to compare the profiles of schools offering each qualification and the examination cohorts. Can we expect students who would have previously chosen ICT qualifications to now choose computing, or that providers which previously ran ICT courses will now switch to computing? This report is the first iteration of an annual statistical review of computing in England. As such, we welcome comments and suggestions for improvement, as well as suggestions for areas that we can explore further. An updated version, using data from 2016, will be available next year.
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... Unlike their middle-class counterparts, our students, while digitally-skilled, are likely to have fewer resources or support to facilitate their learning or sense of entitlements (Lareau, 2003;Tondeur, Sinnaeve, van Houtte, & van Braak, 2010;Wainer, Vieira, & Melguizo, 2015). For instance, working class students, such as those on 'pupil premium' (an indicator of low family income), are proportionally underrepresented in the study of GCSE computing (in England, typically aged 16), as well as attaining lower grades than 'non-pupil premium' students (Kemp, Wong & Berry, 2016). While further research is merited, we speculate that an identity in computing might be perceived and even experienced as 'out of reach' and not for 'people like me', especially among White working class girls when we consider the intersections of social class, ethnicity and gender together. ...
... Unlike their middle-class counterparts, our students, while digitally skilled, are likely to have fewer resources or support to facilitate their learning or sense of entitlements ( Lareau, 2003;Tondeur, Sinnaeve, van Houtte, & van Braak, 2010;Wainer, Vieira, & Melguizo, 2015). For instance, working-class students, such as those on "pupil premium" (an indicator of low family income), are proportionally underrepresented in the study of GCSE computing (in England, typically aged 16), as well as attaining lower grades than "non-pupil premium" students ( Kemp, Wong, & Berry, 2016). While further research is merited, we speculate that an identity in computing might be perceived and even experienced as "out of reach" and not for "people like me", especially among White working-class girls when we consider the intersections of social class, ethnicity and gender together. ...
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... A recent report by the University of Roehampton's School of Education that studies com- puting qualifications in schools reveals that "although computing is a foundation subject, one which all local authority schools should offer at each Key Stage, it is not widely continued at GCSE and A level. Only a small fraction of pupils choose, or have the option to choose, to take qualifications at GCSE (5.5%) or A level (1.7%)" [Kemp et al., 2016]. Drew Buddie, chair of the National Association for Technology in Education, thinks that these figures are explained by the lack of appropriate training, "teachers just do not have the knowledge to teach this sub- ject", and he fears that "computer science could become a niche subject, taught in only a few schools" [Cellan-Jones, 2016]. ...
Thesis
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... In the UK, males are overrepresented in compulsory and post-compulsory computing education. In 2015, less than one in six (16%) GCSE 1 and less than one in ten (9%) A-level 2 computing students were girls, who actually outperform boys in proportional terms (JCQ, 2015a(JCQ, , 2015bKemp, Wong, & Berry, 2016). By comparison, ICT had three times as many students as computing at GCSE, with 42% being female (JCQ, 2015b), compared with 16% for computing. ...
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A-level results comparison of computing against 20 largest subjects, by male C and above passrate
  • A .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Results
A-level computing gender results............................... 49 30 2015 A-level results comparison of computing against 20 largest subjects, by male C and above passrate................................................ 50 31 2015 GCSE computing pupil premium entries compared against 30 largest subjects...... 51 32 2015 GCSE computing pupil premium results........................... 52 33 2015 GCSE computing non pupil premium C and above-30 largest subjects......... 53 34 2015 GCSE computing pupil premium C and above-30 largest subjects............ 53
69 36 GCSE Maths profiles of A-level subject cohorts
  • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Gender
A-level computing pupil premium by gender......................... 66 34 KS2 Maths profiles of GCSE subject cohorts........................... 68 35 GCSE Maths profiles of GCSE subject cohorts.......................... 69 36 GCSE Maths profiles of A-level subject cohorts.......................... 69
The underrepresentation of white working class boys in higher education -the role of widening participation
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Grammar school statistics
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Bolton, P. (2016). Grammar school statistics. Retrieved from http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01398#fullreport
Poorer pupils at isolated schools 'do worse at GCSE
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Burns, J. (2015). Poorer pupils at isolated schools 'do worse at GCSE'. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co. uk/news/education-34856060