Head teachers in computing schools

The gender of a school’s head teacher can be inferred from Edubase by using the title of the head teacher. For example those who use Mr/Fr/Brother will be categorised as male, and those who use Ms/Mrs/Miss/Sister will be categorised as female. A large number of head teachers do not have their title included in this data set, and fuzzy matching has been attempted where names are predominantly one gender or another, e.g. Joseph has been categorised as male, and Josephine as female. It is possible that headteachers with a given name or title might identify or be legally categorised as another gender, unfortunately, the data set does not allow this level of investigation. This data is valid when the Edubase data set is collected, in this case February 2024, with data backdated, another source of potential error. Schools with multiple head teachers are redacted from this data set.

62.4 % of female head teachers were in schools offering the GCSE in 2023, compared to 69.0 % of male head teachers. However, when you look at the schools these head teachers are in, you can see that female heads are more likely to be working in special schools which generally have a lower uptake of GCSE computer science.
within state non-selective schools (comprehensive in the data below) female head teachers in 79.6 % of female head teahers were in schools offering the subject, compared to a similar 79.9 % of males.
at A level 55.4% of schools with female head teachers offered the subject compared to 58.6% of those with male head teachers. When you look at the school types head teachers worked in, female head teachers were less likely to be in comprehensive schools, and for those in comprehensive schools, they were less likely than their male counterparts to offer the subject, 56.4 % compared to 58.6 %.
Proper statistical tests are needed here.

1 GCSE

Table 1.1: GCSE computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher

year	Head	Total		Subject					Possible
year	Head	URN	Students	URN	Students	URN %	Student %	Avg Cohort	Students	% of possible	% reach
2023	Female	1,994	253,823	1,244	32,883	62.4%	15.8%	26.4	208,378	13.0%	82.1%
2023	Male	2,647	384,733	1,827	52,428	69.0%	16.6%	28.7	315,718	13.6%	82.1%
2022	Female	1,977	245,538	1,161	29,762	58.7%	15.7%	25.6	190,090	12.1%	77.4%
2022	Male	2,623	372,277	1,737	46,416	66.2%	15.7%	26.7	295,951	12.5%	79.5%

type	head teacher	head_per	n	provision	%
Comprehensive	Female	62.1	1239	986	79.6
Comprehensive	Male	67.7	1792	1430	79.8
Grammar	Female	2.9	58	56	96.6
Grammar	Male	3.8	101	96	95.0
Ind Special	Female	8.6	172	22	12.8
Ind Special	Male	4.0	106	9	8.5
Independent	Female	15.5	310	162	52.3
Independent	Male	18.3	485	278	57.3
Special	Female	10.8	215	18	8.4
Special	Male	6.2	163	14	8.6

Table 1.2: GCSE computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher and school type, 2022/23

type	school gender	head teacher	head_per	n	provision	%
Comprehensive	Boys	Female	1.5	30	28	93.3
Comprehensive	Boys	Male	2.3	60	53	88.3
Comprehensive	Girls	Female	5.2	104	84	80.8
Comprehensive	Girls	Male	1.3	34	26	76.5
Comprehensive	Mixed	Female	55.4	1105	874	79.1
Comprehensive	Mixed	Male	64.1	1698	1351	79.6
Grammar	Boys	Female	0.3	6	6	100.0
Grammar	Boys	Male	1.7	46	44	95.7
Grammar	Girls	Female	1.9	38	36	94.7
Grammar	Girls	Male	0.9	23	22	95.7
Grammar	Mixed	Female	0.7	14	14	100.0
Grammar	Mixed	Male	1.2	32	30	93.8
Ind Special	Boys	Female	0.5	9	0	0.0
Ind Special	Boys	Male	0.2	6	1	16.7
Ind Special	Girls	Female	0.2	3	0	0.0
Ind Special	Girls	Male	0.1	2	0	0.0
Ind Special	Mixed	Female	8.0	160	22	13.8
Ind Special	Mixed	Male	3.7	98	8	8.2
Independent	Boys	Female	0.3	5	3	60.0
Independent	Boys	Male	2.4	63	33	52.4
Independent	Girls	Female	6.1	121	71	58.7
Independent	Girls	Male	1.3	35	19	54.3
Independent	Mixed	Female	9.2	184	88	47.8
Independent	Mixed	Male	14.6	387	226	58.4
Special	Boys	Female	0.6	12	3	25.0
Special	Boys	Male	0.9	24	2	8.3
Special	Girls	Female	0.1	1	0	0.0
Special	Mixed	Female	10.1	202	15	7.4
Special	Mixed	Male	5.3	139	12	8.6

Table 1.3: GCSE computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher and school type and school gender, 2022/23

2 A level

Table 2.1: A level computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher

A level Computer Science, uptake by gender of head teacher, 2023
year	Head	Total		Subject					Possible
year	Head	URN	Students	URN	Students	URN %	Student %	Avg Cohort	Students	% of possible	% reach
2023	Female	1,026	235,421	568	6,149	55.4%	4.5%	10.8	136,677	2.6%	58.1%
2023	Male	1,648	365,274	966	10,791	58.6%	4.5%	11.2	238,466	3.0%	65.3%
2022	Female	1,026	230,211	541	5,412	52.7%	4.1%	10.0	131,072	2.4%	56.9%
2022	Male	1,648	362,696	915	9,060	55.5%	4.1%	9.9	221,106	2.5%	61.0%

type	head teacher	head_per	n	provision	%
Comprehensive	Female	75.7	777	438	56.4
Comprehensive	Male	72.3	1190	697	58.6
Grammar	Female	5.7	58	51	87.9
Grammar	Male	6.1	101	88	87.1
Ind Special	Female	0.1	1	0	0.0
Independent	Female	18.5	190	88	46.3
Independent	Male	21.4	353	189	53.5
Special	Male	0.1	2	0	0.0

Table 2.2: A level computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher and school type, 2022/23

type	school gender	head teacher	head_per	n	provision	%
Comprehensive	Boys	Female	1.8	18	15	83.3
Comprehensive	Boys	Male	2.4	40	31	77.5
Comprehensive	Girls	Female	7.2	74	36	48.6
Comprehensive	Girls	Male	1.6	27	10	37.0
Comprehensive	Mixed	Female	66.8	685	387	56.5
Comprehensive	Mixed	Male	68.2	1123	656	58.4
Grammar	Boys	Female	0.6	6	6	100.0
Grammar	Boys	Male	2.8	46	42	91.3
Grammar	Girls	Female	3.7	38	31	81.6
Grammar	Girls	Male	1.4	23	20	87.0
Grammar	Mixed	Female	1.4	14	14	100.0
Grammar	Mixed	Male	1.9	32	26	81.2
Ind Special	Mixed	Female	0.1	1	0	0.0
Independent	Boys	Female	0.3	3	2	66.7
Independent	Boys	Male	2.1	34	18	52.9
Independent	Girls	Female	8.5	87	45	51.7
Independent	Girls	Male	1.3	21	9	42.9
Independent	Mixed	Female	9.7	100	41	41.0
Independent	Mixed	Male	18.1	298	162	54.4
Special	Mixed	Male	0.1	2	0	0.0

Table 2.3: A level computer science subject offering by gender of head teacher and school type and school gender, 2022/23