Secondary students enrolled in computing science related subjects: FOI release

Information requested

Information related to secondary students studying computing science within Scotland for the past 5 academic years, including the current year and provided 6 specific questions relating to this.

Question 1 - Please provide the total number of students in each year group (I.e. 1st Year\2nd Year\3rd Year etc.), who have undertaken a computing science related subject, detailing the level e.g. NAT5, Higher etc. for the whole of Scotland providing detail per local authority. Please separate the figures per academic year.

Question 2 - Please provide an additional breakdown of the above figures to represent how many of these students were female\male.

Question 3 - Please provide statistics for each of the requested academic years – detailing how many students dropped a computing relating science providing a breakdown per female\male.

Question 4 - Is Computing Science a compulsory subject? If yes, please specify, how long is it compulsory for I.e. what year can the student choose to drop this as a subject?

Question 5 - What measures, if any, are secondary schools putting in place to address the gender imbalance of male to female students studying computing related subjects?

Question 6 - Are any addition clubs\after school activities provided in relating to computing and technology? If so please provide the statistic of the pupils attending, providing a breakdown per male\female students.

Response

Question 1 - Please provide the total number of students in each year group (I.e. 1st Year\2nd Year\3rd Year etc.), who have undertaken a computing science related subject, detailing the level e.g. NAT5, Higher etc. for the whole of Scotland providing detail per local authority. Please separate the figures per academic year.

Answer - The Scottish Government does not hold information on the subjects being undertaken by students, however the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) publishes some statistics which, whilst not providing exactly what you are looking for, may be of interest. They publish statistics on the number of entries to their qualifications broken down by subject – note that this is potentially different to the number of students undertaking a subject. They also publish breakdowns by subject and local authority and by subject and female/male. They do not present a breakdown by stage on a subject-by subject basis although they do include the overall breakdown by stage for each qualification type and level. The statistics can be found in the various spreadsheets available here: Attainment statistics 2022 - SQA.

Question 2 - Please provide an additional breakdown of the above figures to represent how many of these students were female\male.

Answer - The publicly available data does not provide cross-tabulations by subject, local authority, stage and sex although it is possible that the SQA may be able to provide this on request.

Question 3 - Please provide statistics for each of the requested academic years – detailing how many students dropped a computing relating science providing a breakdown per female\male.

Answer - The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of students who dropped a computing related science.

Question 4 - Is Computing Science a compulsory subject? If yes, please specify, how long is it compulsory for I.e. what year can the student choose to drop this as a subject?

Answer - There are no compulsory subjects in the school curriculum in Scotland. It is up to schools and local authorities to deliver a curriculum which meets the needs of their pupils. Throughout their Broad General Education (from the early years to the end of S3, typically age 15), we expect our young people to learn across all of the experiences and outcomes to the third curriculum level together with those selected for study at the fourth, as far as is consistent with each child or young person’s needs. Most students will have made a first subject choice as they enter S4 (the first year of the Senior Phase), with subsequent choices for S5 and S6. Students can decide to pick again any subject they may have previously opted out of. Within this framework, Computing Science forms part of the Technologies Experiences and Outcomes and is delivered throughout the 3-18 Curriculum, with computational thinking as the basis of coding and cyber skills and awareness being taught from the early years onwards.

Question 5 - What measures, if any, are secondary schools putting in place to address the gender imbalance of male to female students studying computing related subjects?

Answer - The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the Scottish Government is not responsible for collecting or measuring data from schools in relation to addressing gender imbalance (section 17(1) of FOISA). This information will be held by individual schools and/or local authorities.

Question 6 - Are any addition clubs\after school activities provided in relating to computing and technology? If so please provide the statistic of the pupils attending, providing a breakdown per male\female students.

Answer - We are aware that a number of additional clubs and after school activities are provided in relation to computers and technology. We are also aware of programmes such as the Cyber Discovery and CyberFirst and that there are 970 registered Code Clubs. The Scottish Government do not collect or hold statistics in relation to attendance of clubs.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.