On the eve of International Women’s Day, the peak body for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Australia is calling for an urgent professional review of tertiary teaching, curriculum and assessment to address the alarming decline in female enrolments.
‘We now have more than 20 years of gender research into learning styles and behaviours which tells us that young women learn differently to young men,’ says the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Sheryle Moon.
‘So, why is the research being ignored? Why aren’t we providing young women with the learning environments they need to study ICT?’
Australia’s deteriorating ICT enrolments – particularly among women – is having a drastic impact on Australia’s high technology industry and its international competitiveness.
Pointing to recent research from the Swinburne University of Technology, Ms Moon explained that while disciplines such as medicine and law have more than 50 per cent undergraduate women, female enrolments in ICT courses have decreased to 20 per cent overall.
‘ICT enrolments are in free-fall, with a decline of 29 per cent male enrolments between 2000 and 2005, and a frightening 51 per cent for women.’
With research revealing that girls and boys have unique learning styles, Moon believes Australia’s tertiary institutions can play their part in closing the gender gap.
‘We know young women tend to learn better in a learning-centred rather than performance-centred classroom, and that they prefer contextual curriculum which emphasises socio-technical implications, rather than simply abstract concepts, and yet our education system isn’t supporting those learning preferences,’ Ms Moon says.
‘What’s more, we know that women who embrace ICT careers find them to be personally and professionally rewarding.’
‘Our industry needs to get better at promoting the diverse range of careers available within the ICT discipline – we need young women to understand that they don’t need to score 100 per cent on every maths test to consider an ICT career,’ Ms Moon says.
‘We need to accept that, while the computing culture has traditionally been a masculine culture, Australia’s ICT industry isn’t masculine because more men like technology, but because more men are engaged and supported while learning about technology,’ Ms Moon says.
AIIA is involved in a number of initiatives designed to boost the number of women in the ICT industry, including the Set Up for Success program of workshops and mentoring. In 2008, AIIA will be working with the newly formed Council of Deans of ICT Education to encourage more young people, particularly women, to consider careers in ICT.
For more information, contact:
Sheryle Moon
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Information Industry Association
Mobile: 0419 708 675
s.moon@aiia.com.au