Schools running IT clubs for girls

Nearly half of all secondary schools are now involved in an employer-backed initiative to get more girls involved in IT.

The Computer Clubs for Girls initiative (CC4G), created by IT sector skills council e-skills, is an after-school programme aimed at changing the way girls think about technology and IT-related careers.

IT employers such as BA, IBM UK, Cisco Systems and MTV are closely involved with the programme which now involves 94,000 girls at 49% of secondary schools and 17% of primary schools.

CC4G gets girls involved with technology by showing how it is used in ways that interest them - through music, fashion, celebrity and design - and in some schools it has been integrated into the curriculum.

Spokeswoman Tilly Travers said, "The UK's IT industry is growing at five to eight times the national average, and around 150,000 entrants to the IT workforce are required each year. Currently, less than one in five of the IT workforce is female. Drawing new talent into the IT workforce is vital to its renewal and growth."