It is well known that the most common surname in Scotland and the rest of the English-speaking world is Smith. At one time every village needed someone who could create the tools needed by the local economy and so, legend says, a Smith's children would always eat well.

It is well known that the most common surname in Scotland and the rest of the English-speaking world is Smith. At one time every village needed someone who could create the tools needed by the local economy and so, legend says, a Smith's children would always eat well.

There is once again a need for tool-makers in Scotland. As reported in Saturday's Herald (Pupils showing a lack of interest in computer studies, April 12), pupils in Scotland are not taking up the places in our country's prestigious computer science courses: places which their counterparts from "new" Europe and the rest of the world are more than happy to fill.

Policy-makers at all levels need to understand that being able to "use" Microsoft Word or Google doesn't make you a computer expert - it merely makes you just another consumer. If we want our children to be prepared for a better future than as readily replaceable call-centre fodder, then we need to understand that the wielders of tools are always under the control of the creators of tools, and that ICT is not computer science.

Morna Findlay, Schools Liaison Officer, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh.

I was pleased to see The Herald pick up on the issues affecting computer education in Scottish schools. Unfortunately I feel the article only touched on the main problem with computer education.

I would like to elaborate on the claim that the difficulty "stems from the difference between computing studies and ICT." This is quite correct: Pupils' first experiences of secondary-level computing are often through an ICT course - taught through any IT-related subject - resulting in boring lessons about word processing, searching the internet and other such rubbish they are more than capable of doing anyway.

Many pupils thus do not get a chance to experience what computing is about, let alone appreciate the difference between computing science and ICT skills, and are turned off from studying the subject any further.

The Government also seems blinkered into making sure all pupils possess ICT skills by the time they leave education (wake up - they already possess far better skills than many of the teachers delivering the course). It fails to recognise that ICT training prepares pupils for low-level, low-paid non-specialist jobs: a "call-centre culture".

The net effect of all this confusion is to turn pupils away from the subject in the large numbers we are seeing, and give the impression that the subject is unimportant and has nothing new to offer.

Faced with falling numbers in a department that requires costly equipment and resources to run, it is hardly surprising that head teachers are choosing to close computing departments. I would, however, implore them not to take the easiest option, but rather work with the departments to re-invigorate their computing courses for pupils, right from the start of secondary school.

The anticipated Curriculum for Excellence technology outcomes (now released in draft form) do not place enough computing content in the early secondary, rather they are still fixated on delivering ICT skills and only including computing content as "possibilities for choice." It has the potential to cause huge damage if computing is not given a high priority by head teachers in planning a new curriculum.

I hope the consultation over the draft outcomes is a genuine one. The universities and industry are all attempting to gain the government's ear on this matter, yet so far are receiving only bland assurances that the Curriculum for Excellence will fix everything (eg The Herald, April 14: "Computer games design goes on the curriculum"). This demonstrates a jarring lack of understanding of the key problems.

Mark J Tennant, Teacher of Computing & Subject Support Co-ordinator, Dunbar Grammar School, East Lothian.