FREE Cyber Security courses for 15 and 16 years old

[Sally-Anne]

I disagree ... one-off event aimed at the middle classes won't help.

Where does it state that it is aimed at the middle classes?

[Guest55]

It's not exactly free is it? You need to be able to get there and where was it advertised?

Target it at schools who really need support to raise aspirations and pay a bursary.

[DC17C]

There are other courses to widen access specifically for hard to reach groups...Sutton Trust summer schools, University access summer courses...

[Stroller]

Bravo, Tinkers.

Tinkers - that may be how you see it but as a female mathematician who taught in mixed schools most of her career I do think 'special events' for women are condescending.

Teaching (even Maths) and Engineering are a world apart in terms of female emancipation.

Tinkers is truly an exception to have achieved as she has done in her career. I know too many women of a similar age in Engineering who fell at hurdles presented to them along the way.

The Glass Ceiling is still there for women in some careers, and they need to be given the confidence to believe that there are no limits. "Women only" events make a real difference in some fields, and computing is still one of those.

Sally-Anne, I agree.

For those in doubt about the glass ceiling, this 2015 article is worth a look.

Among chief executives and chairs of FTSE 100 companies, there are 17 men called John (or Jean) - outnumbering all the female bosses put together. Men called David or Dave also outnumber women, by 2:1.

By contrast, the number of women at the top of British companies can be counted on two hands: a grand total of seven.

...The Guardian’s survey of the FTSE 100 reveals a particularly British twist: there are more men with knighthoods leading British companies than women. A total of 19 company chairmen and chief executives use the title ‘Sir’, nearly three times as many as women of any rank.

The New York Times did a comparable investigation - the dominant names were different but equally male.

[stroudydad]

So much to reply to but so little time to do it... I fear my response won't be until the weekend...

[Surferfish]

While its true that STEM subjects tend to be dominated by males, overall girls are a third more likely to go to university than boys these days.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... n-accepted" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Guest55]

You could say the glass ceiling also applies to state educated males. This is so much more complex than gender ...

Let's scrap Private schools and we'll see women breaking through into all sorts of things as Tinkers and I have done. Married women weren't even allowed to teach in the 1940s so we should celebrate where we've come from and continue to move forward. Every glass ceiling broken through makes it easier for the next woman ..

Now way off topic.

[DC17C]

It’s important to know that not everyone aspires to do these types of jobs and some families wouldn’t want their children to aspire to leave their communities and have such ambitions and they are not for everyone...the so called middle class reflects a broad range these days and full of people from all sorts of backgrounds who have had to work really hard to buy or keep renting their home and bring up children and pay taxes....why shouldn’t these children be getting some of these places? They are still part of the diversity of this nation?