IT diplomas not helping gender gap

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The number of female students taking up new tech diplomas is low – and even lower for IT courses.

The first diplomas were introduced last September, with the aim of getting more skilled IT pros into the industry. Some 40,000 students reportedly signed up, which should help push more skilled IT workers into the sector as the number of students taking IT degrees continues to fall.

But the courses for 14 to 19 year old students aren’t doing much to close the gender gap. Across the IT sector, fewer than one in five IT workers are female - and so far the courses aren't going to change that.

"Participation by female students on the diplomas was low and below that for comparable IT courses," according to the Ofsted report.

The report said the IT diploma had good links with employers and students created a high standard of work, but said the schoolwork didn’t challenge the “more able” students.

“In all of the areas visited, the range of additional and specialist learning options available to students was limited,” the report said. “In some case, the range was restricted to what could be offered by the lead school or college. Provision varied considerably, so the entitlement for all IT students was not consistent.”

Overall, the five new courses were a “mixed picture.” Teaching for the main subjects of the courses - construction, media, IT, engineering and society – was described as “good”, but secondary functional skills such as ICT, maths and English still “need to improve,” the report said.

Christine Gilbert, Ofsted chief inspector, said in a statement: “Inspectors found a mixed picture but the introduction of the diploma programmes is still at a relatively early stage.”

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