A Scottish independent school is offering online “live taught” Highers to pupils across the country in applications of mathematics and computing science at a cost of up to almost £800 per course.
Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen says it is committed to ensuring that at least one in five students who take up the online offer are on full scholarships.
Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, has responded by saying that, while it is important for education to embrace technology, in-person learning with a teacher should remain the priority and that no school student should ever be compelled to pay for the qualifications they wish to study.
The full cost per Robert Gordon’s course is £795. However, scholarships will be “awarded to the most deserving applicants based on merit and financial need” and the school is aiming to “remove financial barriers, ensuring pupils across the country can take part”.
Robert Gordon’s College says the resource, RGC Online, has been created to address the “major talent shortage” identified in the Scottish government’s review of the technology sector’s role in helping Scotland bounce back from the Covid pandemic.
That review - led by former Skyscanner chief operating officer Mark Logan and published in August 2020 - said that equipping more pupils with “a basic level of competence in computing science” would lead to more start-ups and a greater pool of engineers.
However, the review found that the number of computing science teachers in Scottish schools was falling, as was the number of students taking the subject. It called for computing science to be treated “seriously, as if it were mathematics or physics”, and to be taught from S1 by specialists - not teachers “co-opted from other disciplines, such as business studies”.
Since the review was published, the number of computing science teachers has fallen further: in 2020 there were 595 computing teachers working in Scottish schools, according to the annual teacher census, but last year there were 588. A decade ago, in 2012, 660 computing teachers were recorded as working in Scottish schools.
Other official figures show that just half of places on university computing science teaching courses were filled this academic year.
Now, Robert Gordon’s College is looking to plug the gap and “provide young people with opportunities to learn National Qualification courses that they might not otherwise be able to study in their local school”.
The school says it will aim to run two classes each for the live-taught Higher computing science and Higher applications of mathematics, with a cap of 15 students per class. The school has already been running a Higher computing science class this school year, with students from East Lothian, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen.
Robin Macpherson, headteacher of Robert Gordon’s College, said: ”Their prelim results and assignment weekend have each displayed significant achievements from when the students joined in August 2022. They speak highly of their teacher and also the timing of the classes, which shows the programme is working well for students across the country.”
Responding to the development, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said that “no young person should ever be compelled to pay to gain access to education or qualifications”.
She added: “While technology is clearly an important educational tool, the main focus for learning and teaching must always be in the classroom, with teachers leading learning activity for young people in the room, while providing appropriate support for all students.
“Equity of opportunity must always remain an essential element of our education system, to ensure that all young people - no matter where they live - can enjoy equal access to high-quality, properly resourced and fully-funded educational opportunities across all areas of the curriculum.”
According to Robert Gordon’s College, the Highers it is offering will be delivered mainly online, with live lessons taught twice weekly, and online resources updated throughout the week. Students will also have the opportunity to attend an in-person welcome workshop and will undertake key assignment work at the school.
The school says the offer has been “developed in collaboration with tech industry experts and academic leaders from Robert Gordon University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)” and that included in course fees are optional modules in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, game design, entrepreneurship and cybersecurity.
Mr Macpherson said: “At Robert Gordon’s College, we believe that everyone deserves access to high-quality education. By offering scholarships for RGC Online, we aim to remove financial barriers, ensuring pupils across the country can take part. A significant number of places are fully funded to facilitate social mobility and open up a gateway to future success in the growing tech sector.
“These scholarships are part of our ongoing commitment to making our education accessible to all students. We want to give young talent the opportunity to shine and learn from the brightest minds in technology.”
These online Higher computing science and Higher application of mathematics courses are not aimed at Robert Gordon’s College students, as these qualifications are already available through their standard curriculum.
However, the ”tech-focused modules” - which can be completed as standalone qualifications or combined for an “RGC Online Diploma” - are open both to S5-6 students at the school and to students from around Scotland. These take around 10 hours and - as well as covering AI, data science and machine learning, entrepreneurship, game design and cybersecurity - quantum computing is expected to be added at some point.
