Computer Science At School Continues On a Downward Track …
Computer Science At School Continues On a Downward Track …
I recently wrote an article on the possible long-term decay of computer science in schools in Scotland:
And so, as Barclay’s Bank invests in a new digital centre in Glasgow with thousands of jobs, the neglect of computer…medium.com
The statistics were based on the 2017 exams, and I waited for an update on the statistics for this year. I thus hoped that things would get better, and that we would see the subject turning the corner, as we really need to generate a new generation of coders and digital-savvy tech developers. But, it is worse this year than last year for the N5 qualification:
This means that Computer Science has fallen 13% from 2017 to 2018, and is now only the 14th most popular subject at school. The fall is much greater than most subjects, and only Graphic Communications has fallen more. Physical Education keeps doing well, but subjects like French and Geography are doing badly. A surprise is that Spanish is doing well, but this is perhaps because many kids end up going to Spain on their holidays.
At Higher it gets even worse, and where Computer Science shows the largest drop:
Computer Science drops by massive 8%, along side Geography and, worryingly, Physics. PE keeps up its strong push with a 4% increase. One would worry that kids are picking subjects on their easiness, and not their academic merit.
And for Advanced Highers in Scotland, there’s not much hope for Computer Science, especially in the future as the numbers fall at the earlier years. While the number of subjects reduce at this level, and there is generally and increase from 2017 to 2018, French, History and Computer Science are the ones that drop (with Art and Design doing well):
Is it because we switch our kids off the subject with a boring syllabus, or because we, at times, teach them IT rather than coding, or is it because schools are able to just drop it, or do we switch girls off the subject at too early an age? Who knows? But we do need to deal with the problem, as our kids are already switched off from coding, before they have even left school.