Dr. Alasdair Allan MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, will today visit Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh to see first-hand the one-to-one Continuous Professional Development (CPD) technology support for teachers being provided by Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation.

The visit is part of a programme of events during Make Young People Your Business Week, focussing on the benefits of young people learning digital skills and encouraging more employers in the digital sector to take on young women and men.

Nesta’s report, Decoding Learning, published in 2012, found that in the previous five years, UK schools spent more than £1 billion on digital technology but there was little evidence of substantial success in improving educational outcomes. The same research found that, instead, teachers need to develop and share ways of using new technologies either through informal collaboration or formal professional development. 

Nesta’s Digital Education programme in Scotland is part of addressing that gap. Digital expert and computing teacher, Kate Farrell, is working with teachers at 8 schools across Edinburgh and East Lothian at both primary and secondary level to pass on skills to teachers and act as a mentor to give them the knowledge and confidence to be able to teach digital skills more effectively.

Jackie McKenzie, Head of Innovation Programmes Scotland for Nesta said: “Ensuring that our young people are digital creators will be essential to the future life chances of young people, as well as the success of the Scottish economy. The digital mentoring work that Kate has been doing is part of a package of initiatives Nesta is working on to find out how best to support Scottish teachers and give them the confidence and knowledge they need to teach digital skills effectively to children and young people.”

She went on to say: “In the past, we have organised successful “One Day Digital” events across Scotland, where teachers and young people can learn about new technology.  We will shortly be running a new partnership based on hubs of schools located near each other to see if that supports teachers to learn together better.  The flexibility that has been provided by Curriculum for Excellence has made this possible and we are delighted that Dr. Allan has been able to see some of this in practice today.”

Commenting on the visit, Dr. Allan said: “As part of Make Young People Your Business Week we want to highlight the benefits of young people learning digital skills and it’s fantastic to see schools working with innovative organisations like Nesta to deliver relevant and engaging experiences for pupils.           

“The Scottish Government is committed to supporting growth across the digital economy in Scotland and ensuring that young people in Scotland have the skills, desire and opportunity to capitalise on the opportunities that the ICT and digital technologies sector presents. The learning young people experience in schools is a key part of this.

“We were pleased to provide £180,000 funding to Nesta this year and we welcome the pilot work they are doing to support a range of digital activities including programming in primary schools.”

Notes to Editors

Broadcast media, photographers and journalists are invited to attend this visit but must contact Orbit Communications or Scottish Government in advance.

Interviews will be available with Dr. Allan, Jackie McKenzie (Head of Innovation Programmes Scotland, Nesta), Kate Farrell (Nesta Digital Mentor) and Liz Walshe (Headteacher, Oxgangs Primary School).   There will be also be an opportunity to see the P5 class programming using “Scratch.”

This should be coordinated by contacting Graeme Downie, Orbit Communications at [email protected] or on 07973 300 184.

Dr. Allan will be visiting Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh (60 Oxgangs Rd N, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH13 9DS) from 9.30am to 10.15am on Friday 14th March 2014 as part of a week-long programme of events to promote digital skills and the Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s ICT and Digital Technologies sector  that has been published by Skills Development Scotland (SDS)