More than 27,000 school pupils and teachers have benefited from Skills Development Scotland’s Discover Cyber education programme in the last two years, the organisation said.
The country’s national skills agency chose Cyber Scotland Week to announce the figures, at the same time as unveiling a revamp of its Digital World website designed to boost the numbers trained in tech skills, such us online protection, data science and coding. Discover Cyber launched in 2017, with a target of reaching 4,000 pupils and teachers in the space of four years.
According to Claire Gillespie, sector manager for digital technologies at SDS, the fact that the targets were hit early demonstrates that “the message is getting through about the great career opportunities in Scotland’s fastest growing industry
“There are nearly 13,000 vacancies digital job vacancies each year which need to be filled, and that is growing rapidly. We need to look at all avenues to plug this skills gap, and although this is part of our longer-term strategy, our work in schools is so important.
“These numbers show that it’s not only important, but it’s also a very welcome addition to the school curriculum which is heartening to see. Year three of Discover Cyber hasn’t even started yet, and look where we are.”
She added: “Our new website also encourages people to become digital humans. It will focus on inspiring youngsters to see tech as the cool industry it really is, with a wealth of game changing opportunities, while also ensuring people see the benefits of retraining and upskilling to fast forward our future, and theirs, right here in Scotland.”
To find out more about digital careers, to see the new website, and to get a flavour of the Discover Cyber programme, including a sample of the ‘Meet The Expert’ videos, visit www.digitalworld.net.