What is the project about?
The Subject Choice, Attainment and Representation in (SCARI) Computing project aims to find out the factors that relate to better uptake and attainment in computing amongst students from all backgrounds in English secondary schools. Knowledge and use of computer science/computing can open doors for young people in terms of jobs and future opportunity. However, research into computing education has shown that some groups of students, such as girls, are poorly represented in computer science qualifications, especially the recently revamped Computer Science GCSE (Kemp, Wong & Berry, 2019).
The SCARI Computing project will use the National Pupil Dataset and School Workforce Census, alongside school case studies through quantitative and qualitative data collected from school managers, students and documents such as schemes of work. The project aims to generate evidence to inform policies and practices that can address the underperformance and uptake of girls and other underrepresented groups in secondary school level computing. The project will provide important new data and understandings into the current unequal patterns of attainment and participation in GCSE Computer Science (CS) and general computing provision in secondary schools.
Who is running the project?
The project is led by Dr Peter Kemp at King’s College London and Professor Billy Wong at the University of Reading.
Who is funding the project?
This project is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.