A new esports qualification in Scotland aims to provide a route into the fast-growing gaming sector.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which is behind the idea, says it gives school and college students “a stepping stone into the billion-pound esports industry”.
The one-year National Progression Award (NPA) in esports - widely available for the first time this school year - provides an overview of the industry, in which teams compete against each other in organised competitive gaming events.
Through the qualification, students explore game performance and event management, while building knowledge and understanding of esports with a view to exploring the gaming sector further.
The qualification - part of the SQA’s computing, software and IT qualifications- was created after interest from further education colleges, and after one school led the way in meeting demand for learning around esports: in 2022, Tes Scotland wrote about Scotland’s first school esports centre, at Alva Academy in Clackmannanshire.
Esports ‘emerging and growing’
After more research with schools and colleges, the SQA said that 88 per cent of those that responded “agreed that esports is an emerging and growing industry with considerable interest from learners”.
The SQA, Scotland’s national qualifications and assessment body, says the esports NPA was designed “with an ever-growing industry in mind”, and aims to “provide a pathway into employment and further study and mitigate the risk of a skills gap in Scotland in the esports sector”.
There were 15 entries during the Dunoon Grammar pilot, and there have been 131 this year so far, the SQA told Tes Scotland, across five schools and seven further education colleges. The SQA said this looked “fairly standard for a brand-new qualification”.
Dunoon Grammar’s principal teacher of business and computing, Paul Gallanagh, who runs the esports qualification at his school, said: “Courses like this are very important to the school curriculum to ensure pathways into further learning, training and potentially employment are available for all young people.
“Traditional subjects like maths and science are still really important, but we’ve been really pleased with how many pupils here have engaged positively with this new course.”
He added: “In terms of progression, we’re seeing more higher education establishments offer esports degree courses and there are lots of employment opportunities. The beauty of a rural school like ours is that most people can continue to live in our town while working in this industry.”
Bobby Elliott, SQA qualifications manager for technology, engineering and construction, said: “This qualification is the first of its kind offered by SQA. It’s designed to engage and motivate learners and deliver a wide range of current digital knowledge and skills.
“We offer a variety of computing and gaming qualifications, which are designed and developed with subject experts and industry to ensure they meet the skills needs of the sector.”
Mr Elliott believes the esports course could become the SQA’s most popular NPA - a title held for now by the computer games development NPA - and that in around five years there could be 3,000 entries annually.
Gabriella, an S4 student at Dunoon Grammar who is taking the esports NPA, said: “I’m really enjoying the gaming side but the theory side, too, like learning how esports has grown and what happens behind the scenes.”
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