ONE key statistic illustrates the importance of improving computer science education in Scotland and the cost of failing to do so.
The 10,000 vacancies going unfilled in the IT sector each year are a national calamity.
We know Scotland can thrive in this field. The games industry centred on Dundee and the success of related higher education courses at Abertay University are evidence of that.
But for potential to develop, children need to be learning skills from an early age. We may be raising a generation of young people who are at home with social media, and who live their lives in parallel in the real world and online. Schools may teach them how to use spreadsheets and databases.
That is far from enough, however. To equip our nation – and not least our economy – for the future, pupils need the computational know-how and the thinking skills to imagine and create new digital products. Young people need to know not only how to use the controls of digital devices and computers, but how to use programming skills to control them directly.
The launch of a new computing science education centre at Glasgow University is an important step in the right direction.
Those behind it insist that computer literacy in the broadest sense must become as key a part of education as numeracy and literacy to help Scotland compete. Like those basic skills, teaching in computing science should begin in primary school, they contend.
This is needed to stay in touch with other nations – for countries around the world are focusing on the same areas, many recognising that this is a source of highly-skilled employment which can help offset the decline in traditional industries.
Scotland is ahead, according to Quintin Cutts, professor of Computer Science Education at Glasgow University, by virtue of the strength of its curriculum, which takes account of the latest research and developments in the field. But that is of little comfort when the teachers are not there to deliver it.
Most education authorities have struggled to fill computing science vacancies in recent years, as part of a general shortage of teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The fiasco over a Computing Studies exam paper sat by pupils last year which was riddled with errors, including questions which were impossible to answer, was far from reassuring.
Progress has been uneven, but, by bringing together Education Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Agency, teachers and industry, this new centre provides a focus and the potential for rapid improvement. By helping equip teachers, as well as encouraging those with experience in industry to share their knowledge and skills, the centre can help develop the prerequisite for the digital workforce of tomorrow – an inspiring and able teaching workforce today.
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