Computing provision report

English school data 2011-2023

2024 marks twelve years since the publication of the Royal Society’s Shutdown or Restart report (2012) and 10 years since the replacement of the ICT curriculum with Computing (DfE 2013). This change was accompanied by the creation of new GCSE exam courses in computer science and the renewal of the A-level in computer science. In 2015, the government made the decision not to reform the ICT GCSE and A-level qualifications (DfE 2015), leaving the GCSE and A-level exam landscape entirely focused on computer science. This report aims to help describe the story of this change through the uptake and provision of computing qualifications and curriculum time in English schools since before the curriculum change. Using data from a variety of official government sources, we explore, over the last 12 years:

• which types of schools offer computer science qualifications
• how does provision vary between different parts of England
• what are the demographic characteristics of students taking these qualifications
• curriculum time dedicated to computing

This report looks to update previous reports¹ and expanding analysis to include A-level entries entries and other digitally focused qualification at KS4 and KS5. Additional mini-reports are available, covering:

• GCSE computer science grade comparability
• Computing teacher demographics and timetables
• KS4 computing qualification landscape
• General computing qualifications and student demographics

1 Background

A (brief) recent history of computing education in England

Year	Event
1989	the introduction of the first national curriculum for England with Information Technology included as part of the design and technology curriculum (DES 1989)
1995	ICT created as a separate national curriculum subject (Royal Society 2012)
2007	final iteration of the ICT curriculum (QCA 2007)
2008	Computing at School subject group founded: “to establish computer science as a foundational subject that every child should have the opportunity to learn” (Humphreys 2021)
2011	OCR trial of GCSE Computing
2011	Eric Schmidt’s MacTaggart lecture: “I was flabbergasted to learn that computer science isn’t event taught as standard in UK schools” (The Guardian 2011)
2012	Royal Society publishes Shut Down or Restart (Royal Society 2012)
2012	Disapplication of ICT curriculum in September of this year (Department for Education 2012)
2013	New computing programme of study released (DfE 2013)
2014	Computing programme of study comes into effect
2015	Renewal of A-level CS qualification
2015	DfE decline to renew the ICT/IT A-level and GCSE (DfE 2015)
2016	Development of new GCSEs in computer science
2017	Royal Society publishes After the Reboot (Royal Society 2017)
2018	Establishment of the £84m National Centre for Computing Education (DfE 2018)
2019	Decision to remove the non-examination component of the GCSE due to widespread malpractice (Ofqual 2019)
2023	A new contract for the continuation of the National Centre for Computing Education until the summer of 2025 (Anderson 2023)
2024	DfE launches a consultation on the future of the GCSE in computer science (DfE 2024)

2 Limitations

The data used to compile this report comes from a range of DfE sources where data has been aggregated and anonymised. We have used the compare school performance service (DfE 2019) to access yearly student entries, with this dataset noting “[q]ualification entries are shown for pupils at the end of key stage 4 who sat exams in Summer 2021 only”. Please note that statistics in this data set differ slightly from other public and private data sets, for example the total number of GCSE CS entries in 2021 listed below is 75,692, whilst the JCQ lists 77,021 (JCQ 2021). In-depth reporting on the protected characteristics such as ethnicity and gender is not possible with these data sets and a further report, using the more detailed National Pupil Database (NPD), is included under the “mini-reports” tab.

• Please note that data for the academic year 2019/20 is missing from this report due to restrictions imposed by DfE data sharing rules for this pandemic year. For all graphs below that have these years on an axis, the lines passing through 2020 indicate the trend between 2019 and 2021 and should not be taken as actual figures for 2020. Some data on A-level provision for 2020/21 is also missing.
• GCSE CS is a relatively young subject and this report aims to look at the access and participation rates since the course’s inception in 2011, with the first students sitting exams in 2012. ICT GCSE and A-level courses had substantial numbers of students taking them until they were withdrawn in 2015 (DfE 2015), with the last exams taking place in 2019 (JCQ 2019). This report does not cover the ICT GCSE and A-level in depth, but they are included in the Computing qualifications and Hours of computing sections below. For further information on the ICT GCSE and A-level, please see: Kemp, Berry, and Wong (2018).
• Provider sizes for KS5 data use the TALLPUPA and TALLPUP_1618 variables which record all students in a 16-18 provider, not just those taking A-levels. Provider sizes are missing for 2019-20 and 2020-21.
• The graphs and tables below show combined state non-selective state school data recorded as comprehensive, i.e. this data set includes schools that are categorised as comprehensive and secondary moderns.

The limitations on individual report areas and mini-reports are outlined in further detail on their respective pages.

3 Abbreviations

• A level - Advanced level qualification, exam normally taken at age 17/18, at the end of key stage 5
• AS level - Advanced Subsidiary level qualification, colloquially referred to as half an A-level
• BTEC - specialist work-related qualifications organised by the Business and Technology Education Council
• CS - Computer science, an exam subject and one of the three components of the computing curriculum
• DfE - The English Department for Education
• DL - digital literacy, one of the three components of the computing curriculum
• ECDL - European Computing Driving License, now known as ICDL
• GCSE - General Certificate in Secondary Education, exam normally taken at age 15/16, at the end of key stage 5
• ICT - Information and Communication Education, a previous curriculum and examination that was replaced by computing, and in case of GCSE and A levels, replaced by computer science
• IT - information technology, one of the three components of the computing curriculum
• JCQ - Joint Council for Qualifications
• KS4 - Key stage 4, referring to students aged 14-16, generally those aged 15/16 take GCSE exams
• KS5 - Key stage 5, referring to students aged 16-18, generally those aged 17/18 take A level, BTEC and other level 1 and level 2 exams.
• NCCE - National Centre for Computing Education
• NPD - National Pupil Database
• ONS - Office of National Statistics
• SWF - School Workforce Census
• QCA - Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

References

Anderson, Michael. 2023. “Boost for Computing as the Department for Education Renews Funding.” York, England: STEM Learning. https://www.stem.org.uk/all-news/boost-for-computing-as-the-department-for-education-renews-funding.

British Computer Society. 2022. “BCS Landscape Review: Computing Qualifications in the UK.” Technical Report. https://www.bcs.org/media/8665/landscape-review-computing-report.pdf.

Department for Education. 2012. “Michael Gove Speech at the BETT Show 2012.” 2012. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/michael-gove-speech-at-the-bett-show-2012.

DES. 1989. “Design and Technology from 5 to 16.” Department of Education; Science, England. 1989.

DfE. 2013. “National Curriculum in England: Computing Programmes of Study.” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study.

———. 2015. “Further Additional GCSE and a Level Subject Content Consultation.” London, England. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473195/Further_additional_GCSE_and_A_level_subject_content_consultation.pdf.

———. 2018. “Tech experts to provide National Centre for Computing Education .” London, England: Department for Education. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tech-experts-to-provide-national-centre-for-computing-education.

———. 2019. “Search for Schools and Colleges to Compare.” London, England. https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/.

———. 2024. “GCSE Computer Science Subject Content Update.” London, England: Department for Education. https://consult.education.gov.uk/computing-policy-team/gcse-computer-science-subject-content-update/.

Humphreys, Simon. 2021. “Computing at School.” The Royal Society, England. 2021. https://royalsociety.org/blog/2021/01/computing-at-school/.

JCQ. 2019. “GCSE (Full Course) - Results Summer 2019.” https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GCSE-Full-Course-Results-Summer-2019.pdf.

———. 2021. “GCSE (Full Course) Results - Results Summer 2021.” https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GCSE-Full-Course-Results-Summer-2021.pdf.

Kemp, Peter Edward Joseph. 2017. “The Royal Society Computing Project - KS4 NPD Data on Gender, Pupil Premium, BAME, EAL and Course Choices in Computing.” The Royal Society.

Kemp, Peter Edward Joseph, and Miles G Berry. 2019. “The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.” London, England: University of Roehampton. https://www.bcs.org/more/bcs-academy-of-computing/the-roehampton-annual-computing-education-report.

Kemp, Peter Edward Joseph, Miles G Berry, and Billy Wong. 2018. “The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report.” London, England: University of Roehampton. https://www.bcs.org/media/3972/tracer-2017.pdf.

Kemp, Peter Edward Joseph, Billy Wong, and Miles G Berry. 2016. “The Roehampton Annual Computing Education Report: Data from 2015.”

———. 2019. “Female Performance and Participation in Computer Science: A National Picture.” ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE) 20 (1): 1–28.

Ofqual. 2019. “Decisions on Future Assessment Arrangements for GCSE (9 to 1) Computer Science.” Coventry, England: Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c668e57e5274a72c0e62516/Decision_GCSE_computer_science_6464_1_ADD.pdf.

QCA. 2007. “Information and communication technology key stage 3 and key stage 4.” National Curriculum. London, England: Qualifications; Curriculum Authority. 2007. https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20081105144920/http:/curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/subjects/ict/keystage3/index.aspx.

Royal Society. 2012. “Shut down or Restart?” 2012. https://royalsociety.org/~/media/education/computing-in-schools/2012-01-12-computing-in-schools.pdf.

———. 2017. “After the Reboot.” 2017. https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/computing-education/computing-education-report.pdf.

The Guardian. 2011. “Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, condemns British education system.” 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/26/eric-schmidt-chairman-google-education.

Footnotes

1. please see: Kemp, Wong, and Berry (2016); Kemp (2017); Kemp, Berry, and Wong (2018); Kemp and Berry (2019); Kemp, Wong, and Berry (2019); British Computer Society (2022)