The lack of computing science taught in primary and early secondary, a dearth of computing teachers and a course that is seen as “among the toughest” have all contributed to a huge drop in Higher computing entries this year, say teachers.

Yesterday, Tes Scotland revealed that entries for Higher computing science had fallen by 21 per cent since last year.

The drop comes amid calls from Scotland’s technology industry for the education system to produce more young people with an interest in areas like software and web development.

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Polly Purvis, chief executive of industry body ScotlandIS, recently said that Scottish technology companies needed around 12,500 people every year, but only around 5,000 were produced from the usual sources, such as college, university and apprenticeships.

Computing science ‘lacks basic infrastructure’

However, one computing teacher said he was “sick” of hearing about how important computing science was for the future when no effort was being made to sort out “the basic infrastructure” in schools.

Other teachers said the drop could have been predicted given the failure to get that “basic infrastructure” right.

Another common concern among teachers was that the subject was viewed by pupils as too hard.