ICT: GCSE

(asked on 16th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have left school with a GCSE or equivalent in ICT & Computer Science in each year since 2010.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 24th January 2018

The total number of pupils, at the end of Key Stage 4, achieving grades A*-G in GCSE or equivalent in ICT/ Information Technology or Computer Science since 2009/10 is published in the Department’s statistical first release[1], and is set out below:

Subject

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017[2]

Information Technology[3]

42.8

35.9

39.4

58.3

82.7

100.9

73.5

60.9

Computer Science[4]

-

-

-

-

15.2

32.6

60.2

65.6

Source: Key stage 4 attainment data

The Department reformed the Computer Science GCSE to provide a stronger foundation for further academic and vocational study. The new GCSE was introduced in September 2016 and requires students to understand mathematical principles and concepts such as data representation, Boolean logic and different data types. Students also have to understand the components of computer systems, and write and refine programs. The ICT GCSE was not reformed and ceased to be available for teaching from September 2017.

The Government announced during the Budget that it was investing £84 million of new funding from 2018-23 to deliver a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of computing in schools and drive up participation in computer science at GCSE. This new programme will include retraining up to 8,000 secondary teachers to teach computer science GCSE, a National Centre for Computing Education including a national network of support for schools to provide training and resources to schools, and pilot of targeted activities to improve the gender balance in computer science GCSE and A level.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4 - Select the revised link for each year (latest for 2017 is provisional), then open the ‘subject tables’. The figures are provided in the first tab (in some years, data on equivalents is provided in table 12).

[2] 2017 figures are based on provisional data. Figures for all other years are final.

[3] Includes Computer Studies, Information Systems and any combined syllabus of which Information Technology is the major part.

[4] Computer science includes all computer science qualifications and is not limited to just those located on the science pillar of the EBacc.

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