The New Computing Curriculum in English Schools

In 2014 English schools undertook a shift from a mainly ICT based curriculum to one that focuses on computer science. Qualifications in computing have been introduced and ICT was subsequently phased out. The question now arises as to whether the students who would have previously taken ICT qualifications are now taking the new computer science courses. Using student data for all English examinations taken by 16 and 18 year olds, we have profiled the student cohorts taking ICT and computing, as well as the schools offering them. We have analyzed the differences between these two cohorts in terms of prior attainment, course outcomes, gender, socio-economic groupings, ethnicity, and geographic spread. We find that there are large differences between the two groups: computing has far fewer female, working class and particular minority ethnic students. Computing students tend to have achieved better in mathematics than their ICT peers, and there is some evidence that academic selection criteria are being used to restrict entry. We conclude that it is unlikely that all, or even most, students who would have previously sat ICT qualifications will now sit qualifications in computer science. The shift in curriculum and examinations may have produced a less inclusive subject.