The variety of women selecting to take a GCSE in laptop science fell this 12 months, breaking a constant development streak.
In 2025, the variety of women taking computing at GCSE stage dropped to twenty,708, down by 312 college students in contrast with 2024. Whereas this will not look like a big quantity, the stark distinction between the variety of male versus feminine college students taking the topic leaves no room for the variety of women to say no.
The gender hole within the know-how sector, the place BCS analysis reveals ladies make up solely 20% of tech employees within the UK, has individuals pushing for a rise in ladies in tech throughout your complete pipeline.
Heather Smith, vice-president for the UK and Eire at Okta, identified this isn’t due to an absence of expert ladies or women, however due to the shortage of an inclusive tradition in science, know-how, engineering and maths (STEM) fields.
“There’s no scarcity of expertise amongst women – it’s the tradition round STEM that should evolve. If we would like extra women to enter and thrive in these fields, we should make STEM not simply accessible, however genuinely welcoming,” she mentioned.
“As an business, we must be making STEM profession paths seen, relatable and rooted in real-world impression. And let’s not underestimate the facility of addressing unconscious bias, each in school rooms and workplaces. When women see that STEM is a spot the place they’ll lead and make a distinction, the numbers will comply with,” added Smith.
There’s no scarcity of expertise amongst women – it’s the tradition round STEM that should evolve. When women see that STEM is a spot the place they’ll lead and make a distinction, the numbers will comply with Heather Smith, Okta
The explanation for the shortage of illustration of ladies throughout the tech business is multifaceted, with specialists citing components akin to a lack of information about what computing careers contain and the way finding out it as a topic may very well be useful to their future, an absence of seen and accessible position fashions already in computing demonstrating the assorted paths into the business, and an absence of alternative for profession development as soon as they be part of the business.
Till this 12 months, the variety of women taking GCSE laptop science had been on the rise, from 17,264 in 2022 to 19,061 in 2023 after which to 21,020 final 12 months.
Nevertheless it’s not simply women who had been in declining numbers this 12 months, with nearly 4,000 fewer boys taking GCSE laptop science this 12 months. The drop in female and male college students took the whole variety of candidates who sat the examination down from 95,841 final 12 months to 91,619 this 12 months.
Efficiency continued to enhance, regardless of the decrease variety of college students taking the topic, with 29.6% of scholars reaching not less than a 7/A, and 69.3% reaching not less than a 4/C – each enhancements from final 12 months’s grades.
Feminine candidates outperformed male candidates, with 35.7% of ladies reaching not less than a 7/A grade in contrast with 27.8% of boys, and 75.3% of ladies reaching not less than a 4/C grade in contrast with 67.5% of boys.
The decline in total college students selecting to take computing this 12 months was additionally mirrored at A-level, the place the variety of college students taking the computing examination dropped by 2.8% on final 12 months. Nevertheless, with the variety of women taking the topic growing in contrast with the earlier 12 months, this implies the drop in candidates was solely amongst boys.
Ian Thomas, chief working officer at IT service supplier Node4, claimed that is probably as a result of kids don’t understand know-how careers as thrilling, in addition to an elevated curiosity in humanities topics within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the moment’s outcomes recommend that there’s a disconnect between what’s being taught in colleges and the real-world developments at the moment happening within the know-how business Ian Thomas, Node4
“It’s disappointing and shocking to see that the variety of college students finding out computing at GCSE has fallen by 4.4% this 12 months. That is the technology that has grown up with computer systems – their leisure actions contain know-how, and they’re usually the primary to be referred to as when a member of the family has an IT difficulty,” he mentioned.
“With a deeper and extra pure understanding of know-how, they’re the right candidates to be finding out and dealing in tech. At the moment’s outcomes recommend that there’s a disconnect between what’s being taught in colleges and the real-world developments at the moment happening within the know-how business.”
