Starting early

There is no doubt that the shortage of women in IT is partly due to a lack of girls interested in pursuing scientific and technological routes. And it doesn’t look like the situation is improving either. Recent research by Ofsted has said that primary school pupils are being put off science because of teachers lacking in knowledge and confidence to teach it, and a lack of practical experiments. Maybe the UK should take a look at Germany for guidance – their extreme shortage of engineers has led some companies to give money and materials to kindergartens to try and interest young children in technology and science. If we followed suit here, and especially focused our efforts on interesting girls and educating them about the opportunities available to them in technology, it could make a real difference.