Are Computer Scientists Geeks? Gender Differences In Attitudes And Experiences Related To Computing Among Secondary Education Students In Northern Ireland.

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

The worldwide scarcity of women studying or employed in ICT, or in computing related disciplines, continues to be a topic of concern for industry, the education sector and governments. Within Europe while females make up 46% of the workforce only 17% of IT staff are female. A similar gender divide trend is repeated worldwide, with top technology employers in Silicon Valley, including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Apple reporting that only 30% of the workforce is female (Larson 2014). Previous research into this gender divide suggests that young women in Secondary Education display a more negative attitude towards computing than their male counterparts. It would appear that the negative female perception of computing has led to representatively low numbers of women studying ICT at a tertiary level and consequently an under representation of females within the ICT industry. The aim of this study is to 1) establish a baseline understanding of the attitudes and perceptions of Secondary Education pupils in regard to computing and 2) statistically establish if young females in Secondary Education really do have a more negative attitude towards computing.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages4
Publication statusPublished - 09 Sept 2015
EventThe European Conference on Educational Research 2015 - Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
Duration: 08 Sept 201511 Sept 2015

Conference

ConferenceThe European Conference on Educational Research 2015
Country/TerritoryHungary
CityBudapest
Period08/09/201511/09/2015

Keywords

  • Computing
  • Attitudes
  • Gender

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