Chamber and committees

I want to ask about the right to rehabilitation. Can you explain where that rationale comes from? Has it been supported by evidence from agencies such as Who Cares? Scotland?

I am sorry, but we cannot quite hear you. We will move on to Dr Coull while we try to sort out your sound. Thank you for your patience.

That is a helpful point. We are still not ready to go back to Mark Logan, so I will carry on.

I am trying to delve into the issue. There is underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in every workforce. What more could be done to reach out to communities that to an even greater extent than others do not consider computer science or digital technology as careers? Does that need to be addressed by the educational professions, by schools or through a Government campaign?

Any ideas on that would be welcome. I will bring in Nicola Taylor on that, as she has not had a chance to say anything.

That is a fascinating example. That is super.

Is Mark Logan back with us yet? If he is, could somebody let me know?

Nicola Taylor gave quite a comprehensive answer, but would anyone else on the panel like to comment?

Good morning. I note that the submission from ScotlandIS says that

“80% of future jobs will require STEM skills”

and it goes on to talk about the gender imbalance in that regard. It also talks about staffing and the issue of getting digital skills teachers.

As a practitioner in the field, I know that schools do a lot of good work on that already, so clearly that is something that is not transferring through. Could you shed any light on that to enable us to make recommendations about what could be done better? I put that question to Karen Meechan, first of all. If anyone else wants to chip in, that would be grand.

The Scottish Government has committed substantial sums of money to teacher recruitment. Is it just a question of money, or is there something else? Is the problem to do with people not wanting to go into digital skills teaching? Why do we not have enough of those teachers?

We had moved on in an attempt to get underneath the skin of the issue. My original question was about the shortage of teachers in computer science and digital skills. The Scottish Government has committed substantial funds to addressing that, and I am interested to learn what impact that has had. Is the issue just about money, or are there other factors? Why are people not coming forward to be computing teachers?

Thank you. I think that I caught most of that.

I will move on to a slightly different issue while I still have my time. I remind everyone of my entry in the register of interests: I am currently an associate member of the NASUWT.

I come to Mike Corbett first. Your written submission states:

“Any strategy”

for effective recovery as we move forward is going to

“require an effective focus on the workforce”.

Can you give us your top three tips on workforce planning and how we can ensure that the education workforce is taken care of as we recover?

As a final question, I have a small supplementary. As the witnesses will know, I was a teacher for many years, and I know fine well about workload. The reports of the curriculum for excellence working group on tackling bureaucracy have been available for a while. What are the barriers to implementing the group’s recommendations and making a difference in tackling bureaucracy?

A lot of groups were set up to look at the impacts of Covid and how progress could be made. I am thinking, in particular, about the work of the Covid-19 education recovery group—CERG—and how that compared with pre-existing policy groups such as the Scottish education council. Do you feel that CERG was more collaborative? How much influence did, and does, CERG have on key policy decisions?