Engaging girls in Computer Science - International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Computer Science is one of the fastest growing and most in-demand industries in the world. It is a field which is continuously evolving, has real-world impact, and can lead to a wide range of career opportunities.

What exactly is Computer Science?

Computer Science is the study of computational systems; it is the understanding of how computers and technology work, and being able to take this knowledge to develop new systems. It includes topics such as software development, programming languages, cyber security, artificial intelligence, databases, information management, and algorithms.  

The Computer Science gender gap

Computer Science has traditionally been a male-dominated field, and there is still a significant gender gap in the industry. Despite women making up 50% of the overall labour market, only 26% of the digital technology workforce in the UK are women according to government-funded growth network, Technation. 

For International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we spoke to Hazel Hatch, one of our Computer Science Consultants at the Harris Federation. She has worked as a Computer Scientist for over 20 years and joined Harris last September. One of her aims is to get more of our female students to take up Computer Science in their subject options. 

More than just programming

Computer Science is a varied discipline, and it involves a lot more than just being able to understand and write code. Whilst technical skills are crucial to learn, it is often creative skills which leads to success in the field.  

Hazel explained, “The ideas and the different perspectives that girls can bring to Computer Science can really help to develop some of these new systems and things that don't exist. Generally girls are very good at problem solving because they are good at listening and taking on board information and then assimilating it”. She went on, “To help solve a problem sometimes boys just go ‘oh yeah okay and it has to do that so that's what I'm going to do’, with some girls, they will take more time and actually think it through and analyse it carefully and come up with some amazing ideas”.

Wide range of career options

Developing skills in Computer Science can lead to exciting career opportunities that people don’t normally associate with the subject. Hazel explains, “The whole TV industry is based on computer systems these days. Even making a film, you haven’t actually got film there, you’ve got a hard drive and the cameras are digitally recording, and then it goes to a network for an editor to be able to access that video to be able to edit and chop it together. And the sound; a lot of the music industry is based on Computer Scientists behind the scenes being able to build, use, and maintain systems”. 

Describing other potential career options, Hazel explained, “Social media, there’s just huge growth there. And then security with money systems, not just online banks but cryptocurrency and the development of technological money. Lots of companies in all sorts of industries are looking for Computer Scientists”.

Thinking beyond what already exists

Given the speed of technological advancement, it’s important to think beyond what we already know. “You know there are jobs out there that don’t even exist yet that our kids will be able to access if they’ve got some really good computer science skills. And it’s not just about developing students for what they are doing and what jobs exist now, it’s developing them to have ideas to develop the world”. Teaching young people Computer Science will give them the foundation skills needed to make a real impact on the world and to change things; it’s not just thinking about what’s out there now, it’s thinking about what could be. 

Fixing the computer science gender gap

Developing the next generation of Computer Scientists is crucial work to ensure technology keeps evolving. Making sure those career options are open and encouraged to as diverse mix of young people as possible is something Hazel is incredibly passionate about. She shared, “I've got about 10 girls out of around 120 A-level computer science students across the whole Federation. I can name them all, I've met them all, I know them all. But that's wrong, I shouldn't be able to”.

Hazel discussed six important factors to consider in getting girls engaged in Computer Science:

1. Show role models

Share the successes of female Computer Scientists, “Many of the most prominent role models we see from history tend to be male” and this can be off-putting for young girls to not see people like them doing well in the field, “If you see people doing well from different backgrounds, it makes it more accessible”.

2. Get them involved in technology as early as possible

Introducing Computer Science to children from an early age can make the subject fun and engaging. Hazel herself says this was a big reason why she pursued a technology career in the first place, “There’s quite a lot of technical history in my family; Dad was a Director of IT, and Mum was a Programmer, she used to program games for IBM so our house always had access to computers, and even further than that, my Grandpa was part of the team that created the TV”. Giving children early access to computers and what they can do makes it easier for them to take an interest later on. 

3. Offer hands-on learning opportunities

Whilst there is a theoretical side to Computer Science, it’s predominantly a very practical subject and the best way to learn is by giving it a go. “We’ve got coding clubs and competitions” to engage students and for them to apply the skills they’ve learnt. 

4. Break stereotypes

One big barrier that still exists around Computer Science is how it can be perceived by others, as Hazel says, “Some of it is the geeky stigma, and it’s not always seen as cool”. It’s important to show the diverse range of careers and opportunities that exist in Computer Science, and “we need to widen the idea of what computer science is, it's not just the geeks sat on their games playing all night”. 

5. Demonstrate the real-world benefits

Learning Computer Science can be fun but where it will often really resonate with young people is when they can see how it can be applied to real-life. So many progressions in technology have made a huge impact in areas such as medicine, “They did two years’ worth of development in the first two months of the pandemic. That’s how fast technology is moving now”.

Hazel went on to explain it in terms of a very recent phenomenon, “Think about ChatGPT, it's an incredible system but somebody had to have that idea in the first place to programme it”. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot that people around the world have become obsessed with since it launched in November 2022. It’s systems like this which rely on Computer Scientists to develop them and push machine-learning so it can produce such sophisticated results, and this can inspire people to see what is possible when you have strong technical skills. 

6. Provide support and resources

From a teaching perspective, one of the most important things is to give young people the support and facilities they need to learn. “The staff at Harris are really, really dedicated, and the improvement that we’re doing is quite epic. We’re extremely well-equipped such as with the computer rooms in-house, they are some of the best I have ever worked in”.

Hazel also explained how her role as a Consultant (we currently have 2 Computer Science Consultants) makes a difference compared to schools she has worked at previously, “We can help to link and network our schools together so they can share ideas and resources, it’s not just the expertise we’re bringing but also the building of teams and networking”. As well as being able to share best practice and learnings across our academies, we’re also able to work on economies of scale to produce the best results, and “we get very good support from the exam boards because of the number of schools that we’re supporting”, all of which ultimately will benefit the students, and help to inspire them to succeed in Computer Science. 

We’re currently looking for Computer Science Teachers in some of our schools. If you’re a qualified teacher, passionate about technology, and ready to do work that will have a real impact for some of the most disadvantaged young people in London, have a look at our jobs. 

View our Computer Science vacancies