Dr. Billy Wong (Associate Professor in Widening Participation, University of Reading) and colleagues from his Nuffield-funded SCARI Computing project has published a chapter in the Raspberry Pi Foundation seminar proceeding on ‘Understanding computing education’ (volume 2). The chapter is entitled, ‘Should we be concerned about who is studying computing in schools?‘ and is available as open-access here.

The chapter discusses whether we should be concerned about who is studying computing in schools, beginning with an overview of the numbers and social demographics of English students choosing Computer Science (CS) as a GCSE option. Various theories and explanations are used to explore possible reasons for unequal patterns of participation in CS, including social identity and science capital theories, as well as the lens of intersectionality to consider how wider social inequalities and power dynamics can shape students’ educational choices and trajectories.

For more information on Dr. Wong’s research, visit his staff profile page here. You can also follow him on Twitter here.