Following the release of GCSE and vocational studies results this week, concerns have been voiced by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, over the large number of young people—particularly girls—progressing to post-16 opportunities without the vital digital skills they need for work and life.

With the academic year having just finished and new data becoming available, it’s also come to light that computer science has topped the charts as the GCSE subject with the largest gender gap for the tenth consecutive year.

Over the 2023-24 academic year, the number of students taking computer science GCSE in England has risen 6% in 2024, broadly in line with the increased number of GCSE entrants overall. However, the gender disparity remains stark.

While computer science entries by female students in England have risen by 11% from 2022-23, and those for male students rose by 5%, the ratio of male:female students is still worryingly high at 3.5:1—even though girls continue to attain higher grades than boys.

When it comes to the subject participation in England, computer science attracts under half as many entrants for subjects like chemistry, physics, or art and design, and just a third as many entrants as subjects like history and geography.

The figures for Northern Ireland and Wales are more mixed, although strikingly digital technology seemed to perform better than computer science in terms of attracting female students.

Speaking on the data for this year, as well as what this means for young people, digital skills, and the future, Julia Adamson, managing director of education and public benefit at BCS, said: “Congratulations to everyone who took this year’s GCSE exams. It’s exciting to think that many pupils getting their results today will continue to develop their knowledge in this subject and go on to have fantastic careers in this area.

“However, It’s simply unacceptable for so many students to be leaving formal education without the digital skills for life and work. The overall figures for those taking GCSE computer science remain low and far too many students are taking their next step post-16 without the vital digital skills they need to succeed in a world which continues to depend on technology at a rapidly increasing pace.

“In particular, more needs to be done to make this exciting, creative, and enabling subject relevant to female students. Data analysed by BCS shows that countries offering a more diverse range of digital qualifications appear to attract more female candidates, and the need to develop a wider suite of credible and meaningful digital qualifications may be one of the answers.

“While there have been small increases towards closing the gender gap, the figures are still unacceptably low and there is a long way to go so that every young person leaves school equipped to thrive in a world dominated by digital technology.”

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BCS’s fears regarding education and digital skills align with some insightful research that DIGIT has recently reported on.

According to findings by the Subject Choice, Attainment and Representation in Computing Project (SCARI), digital skills are reportedly being left behind in favour of programming in the current computing curriculum.

SCARI has been tracking computing in the UK educational system for the past three years with funding from the Nuffield Foundation, looking into the changes in subject uptake and the opinions and concerns of students, teachers, and parents.

The UK reformed the computing curriculum in 2014, phasing out some of the basic digital skills taught in the old programme in favour of computational thinking and coding. SCARI warns that this could ultimately lead to a decrease in overall digital literacy.