Technology-loving Luddites? : declining participation in high school computing studies in Australia

The research discussed in this article is based on an Australian Research Council-funded study carried out over three years (2005-2007) in three states1 in Australia. The study sought to understand students' experiences and decisions at secondary school to ascertain why few girls choose to enter tertiary-level Communication and Information Technology (CIT) courses, and what strategies could be implemented in schools to remedy this problem. The results suggest that while boys still tend to dominate the higher levels of CIT subjects in Australian high schools across the three states, there was also a general decline in participation at all levels. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, the article examines patterns and explanations regarding the nature of participation in CIT subjects. The article develops a Luddite analysis in order to understand the strong rejection of this area of study in the three Australian states.