After School Computing Club: Introduction
The IT workforce in the UK currently comprises 1.2 million people: 580,000 in the IT industry; and 590,000 IT professionals working in other sectors and this is forecast to grow by between 1.5% and 2.2% p.a. to between 1.4 and 1.6 million by 2014 (e-skills UK and Gartner Consulting, 2004). In addition to growth, there is also a need to replace those individuals who leave the IT industry itself (14% of the workforce p.a.) or those IT professionals who leave from other sectors (9% p.a.). Offshoring is an increasing trend and looks set to have a significant impact on the IT workforce in particular in the coming year. However, figures indicate that the IT workforce will continue to grow despite the offshoring trend and therefore staff will still be required in considerable numbers to meet demand.
In order to address both growth and staff replacement e-skills UK and Gartner Consulting (2004) calculate that between 156,000 and 179,000 entrants into the IT workforce are required per annum to 2014. Many of these individuals are likely to come from the educational sector therefore appropriate training provision via both FE and HE is crucial.
With regard to HE, the number of applications to undergraduate courses in the discipline of computing has been falling since its peak in 2001 and this downward trend looks likely to continue (source: www.ucas.ac.uk reported by Lovegrove, 2005). Work to identify the possible reasons for this suggests that, amongst 12-18 year olds, computing has a "geeky" image and/or that pupils see no need to continue to study computing since they do not recognise the discontinuity between IT (as it is taught in schools) and computing (Mitchell, 2005).
The survey also demonstrated widespread misunderstanding regarding what the study of computing science at university would comprise with many students failing to recognise the mathematical component of such courses. Clark and Boyle (2005) suggest that those students who have a greater understanding of the principles and practice of programming in a culturally acceptable way can be expected to perform better at undergraduate level, and that this is likely to be a product of the teaching style experienced rather than whether individuals have a specific computing qualification. Coupled together these reports suggest the need for greater effort to publicise the significance of computing as a discipline in order to make it a more attractive subject for study as well as to prepare prospective students prior to entry on degree level courses.
A further problem relates to a significant gender imbalance which exists both across the IT workforce where only 20% of staff are female (e-skills and Garter Consulting, 2004) and within HE. Here Lovegrove (2005) reports that the proportion of women students is low and has fallen in recent years. This has important repercussions for employers as they seek to recruit large numbers of capable individuals into their workforce. Historically however, computing courses do tend to attract individuals from lower social classes and ethnic minorities in greater numbers than many other disciplines thereby encouraging students from non-traditional and minority backgrounds to participate in UK higher education. (Lovegrove, 2005). This means that computing can make a significant contribution to current strategies regarding widening participation for these underrepresented groups.
Previous research (Mitchell, 2005; Clark and Boyle, 2005) has suggested that pupils interested in computing should become directly engaged in discipline-specific activity prior to their selection of A-Level options. It is hoped that this early engagement will serve to both dispel myths and showcase the merits of study within the discipline so that these individuals can be empowered to select subjects which best prepare them for further study in this field.
Rather than focusing on ways to increase student numbers, which is an immediate concern for computing departments across the UK, the proposed project aims more specifically at enhancing individual's experiences of computing as a discipline thereby widening participation in computing science. This project principally involves establishing after-school clubs for pupils attending two educational institutions in Leeds with the purpose of enhancing learning experiences in computing, with particular reference to programming. This will serve both to raise aspirations and create new pathways to study or programmes of study within computing, and in doing so the project directly addresses two of the Priority Areas for the University of Leeds' Widening Participation Strategy. The project will seek to work in collaboration with the University's Access Academy to establish a volunteer mentor scheme whereby second year undergraduates support the after-school clubs. Participation in the scheme will serve to enhance the professional development of the volunteer students in a novel way and one which complements their degree-related studies.
The School of Computing at the University of Leeds already has established links with the ICT teachers at two local educational institutions (Derek Fatchett City Learning Centre and Horsforth School). This existing relationship provides the focus for the initial stage of the proposed project.