Girls best boys in tech A-Levels

Female students are outperforming their male counterparts in technology subjects, according to the A-Level results released last week.

When it comes to ICT, 12.9 per cent of girls scored a grade A in the subject, compared with 7.5 per cent of boys, while 17.7 per cent of girls achieved the top grade in the computing A-Level, against 15.4 per cent of boys.

But, despite their successes, far fewer girls are studying technology subjects. The computing A-Level was sat by just 575 girls, compared with 5,035 boys. The ratio for ICT was a little less extreme: 4,986 girls to 8,374 boys.

The British Computer Society believes there is a crisis in technology education. It points to falling total student numbers: 600 fewer students studying computing at A-Level and 1,000 fewer students studying ICT compared with 2006.

Industry association Intellect accepts there is an issue with education but says that to focus purely on technology disciplines is to miss the point.

Carrie Hartnell, a programme manager for Intellect, said: "What's important is the IT content within the course that they are taught. Apart from computer science, maths, physics and chemistry - subjects that can have a direct relevance to technology - there's subjects like communications studies, art and design, media, film and TV studies, all of which can have a high technology component."

Hartnell says this doesn't lessen the importance of the core subjects. "Of course there are issues there and we have to address them," she said. "But we should be trying to ensure that we cater for the IT component of all courses."

Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK