Computing at School

I attended the annual Computing at School Scotland event on Saturday, held at Napier University. Computing at School is a UK-wide organisation that aims to promote the teaching of Computing in schools. It is supported by BCS, Microsoft and Google.

Saturday's event was the usual interesting mix of talks and workshops. The keynote was given by Elizabeth Montgomery (HMIe) about the importance of computer science to the UK economy. A couple of the workshops related directly to SQA, including one on verification, presented by Ray Simpson, who is the Implementation Manager for CfE Computing Science.

Computing is one of the vocational subjects that is popular in schools. Qualifications such as Internet Safety, PC Passport and Computer Games Development have large uptakes in the school sector. Digital Passport is also proving to be of interest to many schools.

The recent Education Working for All report emphasised the importance of vocational qualifications in schools (up to and including HNCs) and I hope to take this forward in the coming months.

Contact Liz for more information about vocational qualifications for schools.