Empowerment beyond skills: Computing and the enhancement of self-concept in the go_girl code+create program
Introduction
Governments around the world are requiring that computing, including programming, be taught in schools (The Royal Society, 2012; Hubwieser et al., 2015; Smith, 2016; National Innovation and Science Agenda, Australian Government, 2017). Developing computing skills has been promoted as a way of boosting the economy and increasing social mobility (Armoni, 2012; Kohli & Quartz, 2015; Singer, 2017). In non-formal education settings, an increasingly strong emphasis is placed on the enhancement of programming skills in particular, to prepare workers for the “digital transformation of society” (Balanskat & Englehart, 2014, p. 5). These non-formal settings include an ever-increasing number of coding clubs, particularly clubs created to increase opportunities and interest among young girls (e.g. Code.org and GirlsWhoCode) and women in response to the longstanding underrepresentation of women in computer science (CS) (Ashcraft et al., 2017; Lang et al., 2015; Margolis & Fisher, 2002; Meelissen & Drent, 2008; Sax et al., 2017; Varma & Hahn, 2008). For a detailed history of women in computing, barriers and causes of underrepresentation, see Gürer & Camp, 2002; Kelleher & Pausch, 2005; Abbate, 2012; Aspray, 2016; Hicks, 2017; and Blair, 2018. For data pertaining to the underrepresentation of women in the tech-related fields in Europe, see European Commission, 2019.
We agree that more women are needed in computer science, as inclusion of their views, talents and skills will ensure that the field is representative of society. However, as discussed by Davies and Eynon (2018), government agendas tend to focus solely on the national economy, echoing existing research on the broader relationships between computing and economic nationalism (Vitores & Gil-Juárez, 2016). Put simply, an overtly economic motivation results in interventions that are often too “narrow” and “deterministic”, and leaves untouched existing structural inequalities and the conditions that hinder progression, including lack of work experience, lack of soft skills and inability to relocate for jobs (Shadbolt, 2016). Thus, learning to code is not a panacea for increasing the socio-economic status of women, particularly those who are marginalized. This is because marginalized young women (in a UK context often referred to as NEETs - not in education, employment or training) often have complex needs including dealing with the everyday consequences of poverty, mental health issues and childcare responsibilities. So although there are numerous coding clubs, such as Code First Girls (see www.codefirstgirls.org.uk/), Girls Who Code (Saujani, 2017), CompuGirls (Scott & White, 2013) and Black Girls Code (see www.blackgirlscode.com/), aimed at young women, much of the training offered may not be structured to meet the complex needs of those who are living at the margins. In addition, research shows that young people from lower socio-economic status (SES) groups often lack high-quality access to technology as well as sufficient knowledge and abilities to utilize technology in sophisticated ways (Eynon & Geniets, 2015; Livingstone & Helsper, 2007). How do we ensure that this group of women will not continue to be excluded from our increasingly digital society, potentially at risk from digital structural violence? Digital structural violence is understood as the combination of everyday injustices in society, which include issues of health, education and employment as well as other factors like biases in search engines, MOOCs and YouTube, that increase disadvantages for those already at the margins (Winters et al., 2020, p. 3).
To address the broader range of needs for this demographic, we developed go_girl code + create, a community outreach program designed to empower marginalized young women who are NEET, or at risk of becoming NEET, utilizing technology as an integral tool. The program's holistic approach combines social, emotional and psychological development with technological training to facilitate inclusion in the digital society by developing confidence, resilience and a plan to transition into education, employment or training. Critically, the approach, while tailored to participants' needs, does not assume that they are digital natives (Kirschner & van Merriënboer, 2013).
The go_girl code + create program has multiple aspects and in this paper we focus on findings from a qualitative study that examined changes in self-concept among program participants. Our conceptual framework draws from literature on self-concept, particularly research in educational psychology that identifies a reciprocal relationship between self-concept and achievement. We review research investigating self-concept and identity for young underrepresented women participating in computing initiatives. However, few studies investigate computing as an integral tool used to enhance self-concept or identity, perhaps because few technology programs explicitly aim to enhance self-concept. Therefore, our research questions for this study are: What changes were identified in participant narratives related to their self-concepts? What aspects of the program likely contributed to changes in self-concepts? These research questions address an important gap identified by Scott et al. (2015), who reviewed over 50 technology programs for economically disadvantaged or ethnic-minority groups and found that “the vast majority focus exclusively on technical literacy (i.e., programming) and do not mention issues of diversity, community, culture, or identity.”
Section snippets
Self-concept in educational psychology
The singular term ‘self-concept’ refers to the total set of cognitive representations that each person has of himself or herself. Within this whole, there are ‘self-concepts’ linked to specific domains such as cognitive abilities, physical appearance, or social status (Pekrun & Stephens, 2015, p. 469). These distinct self-concepts include academic self-concept (Luttenberger et al., 2019). Put another way, self-concept is one's knowledge and perceptions about oneself and these perceptions are
The go_girl program: context of the study
go_girl code + create, which began in 2015, is a community outreach program based at the University of Oxford Department of Education, in partnership with the Oxford County Council. The original idea for the program stems from an understanding that the University has a responsibility to engage with the surrounding community in meaningful ways and to support widening access. The program seeks to accomplish this in a fundamentally new way that utilises technology. It seeks to empower young women
Methodology
We examined the narratives of the participants and constructed an understanding of their points of view as they reflected on their experiences of the go_girl program and how it influenced their lives, with particular focus on changes in their self-concepts related to education, career aspirations, and technology. Our goal was to identify changes in participant narratives related to their self-concepts and to understand which aspects of the program likely contributed to these changes. The
Participants’ life experiences that negatively impacted their self-concepts
The baseline interviews revealed important information about participants' life challenges and views of themselves and their capabilities. For example, Claire and Susan were very discouraged by their inability to find suitable employment and Natalie seemed a bit lost, stating, “I've been thinking about going back to college and stuff and maybe doing more computer work, but I just – at the moment – I really don't know what I need to do.”
Allison struggled in college, became overwhelmed and
Discussion
This qualitative study sought to examine changes in the self-concepts of participants of the go_girl code + create program. Our analytical approach explored participant narratives that shed light on how social contexts, including formal education, negatively impacted self-concepts. These narratives illustrate the ways in which circumstances have limited participants’ capacity to aspire in terms of their education and career trajectories and how they view themselves in relation to computing. We
Conclusion
The narratives of participants in the go_girl program revealed a variety of influences that negatively impacted their academic self-concept and hindered their full participation in society. The go_girl program sought to counteract these influences and empower these young women by helping them clarify or broaden their aspirations and develop their capabilities in the use of digital tools, media production and coding. It was hoped that achievement in these areas would provide a pathway for
CRediT author statement
Tracey Denton-Calabrese: Conceptualization; Methodology; Formal Analysis; Investigation; Writing – Original Draft & Review and Editing; Funding Acquisition, Paige Mustain: Conceptualization; Methodology; Formal Analysis; Investigation; Writing - Original Draft & Review and Editing, Anne Geniets: Conceptualization; Methodology; Investigation; Resources; Writing – Review and Editing; Supervision; Project Administration; Funding Acquisition, Laura Hakimi: Formal Analysis; Writing - Review and
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the University of Oxford IT Innovation Seed Fund and Goldman Sachs Gives. We thank the funders and also the go_girl participants.
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