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'Fragile’ computer science hit by CPD and recruitment woes

CPD Curriculum Government policy Computing and STEM
A call has been made for a £60m CPD investment to boost teacher skills in computer science after a report reveals that more than half of schools do not offer computer science GCSE and that years of missed recruitment targets mean we have an under-supply of qualified teachers...

An “urgent” £60 million investment is needed to put computer science CPD on a par with maths and physics education.

Furthermore, action is needed to tackle recruitment problems and open up GCSE computer science study to all pupils.

Currently, only 54 per cent of schools in England – around 2,700 schools with 175,000 students – do not offer computer science at GCSE.

It means that only 11 per cent of students in England take GCSE computer science. Of these, only one in five are female.

A key part of the problem is that the recruitment of computer science teachers continues to falter. In England, only 68 per cent of the recruitment target was hit between 2012 and 2017.

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