Scotland’s schools are woefully behind in the tech revolution

In August 2020 Mark Logan completed his review of the Scottish tech ecosystem. Describing the system as a funnel, with school as the base layer, he noted that “the larger the pool of engaged and skilled young people at this stage, the easier it will be later for start-ups to form and to grow”.

However, despite the welcome his report was given by politicians, our base layer remains in poor condition and is getting worse, not better.

Using freedom of information requests, Reform Scotland discovered that more than 32,000 pupils attend a Scottish secondary school with no qualified computing science teacher. That is roughly 12 per cent of all secondary pupils. This rises to about 50 per cent in rural areas such as Dumfries and