Cyber Security in English Secondary Education Curricula: A Preliminary Study

Human error continues to be a contributing factor within the majority of cyber security incidents. Despite this, the education system is not providing the skills individuals need to protect themselves against cyber threats leading to poor cyber hygiene and a lack of cyber security professionals. Knowledge is primarily only available to those who partake in more advanced qualifications such as computer science. This paper utilises CyBOK, a cyber security content framework methodology alongside qualitative data collected from experienced computing educators in order to evaluate the current landscape of cyber security in English secondary education curricula. The content analysis of secondary education computing qualifications with regards to CyBOK, and the thematic analysis of interview data led to the discovery of how cyber security is an imperative educational topic that is largely absent in secondary education curricula. Interviews also revealed a discrepancy in pedagogical methods used to deliver computing education and assessed the issues associated with further inclusion of cyber security education.