Interest in software and ICT skills is on the increase in Irish secondary schools, shown by the record number of applications in this year’s Scratch competition.
The Scratch Programme, run by Lero (the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre) and supported by the Irish Computer Society with support from IT Tallaght and IT Sligo, encourages students to be creative with software and highlights opportunities that are available in the technology sector.
Now in its third year, the competition is building momentum amongst students and teachers alike.
"We are delighted with the high number of submissions for this year’s competition", said Clare McInerney, education and outreach officer with Lero. "It is great to see so many schools and organisations, teachers and students embrace the Scratch software and programming, and to see that software is now viewed as an interesting and valuable topic in Irish schools."
Jim Friars, CEO of the Irish Computer Society, said: "The ICS is proud to sponsor the Scratch project. The computing field has weathered the economic storm better than most, but although enrolment in computing courses rose again this year, we need many more to meet the demands of our economy. We believe students don’t appreciate how interesting and creative a career in computing can be, because they are not getting the chance to experience it. The Scratch project empowers students to make more informed college and career choices."
For the first time, Lero has received projects from Northern Ireland. Projects that qualify for the national finals will be announced in mid-April. The national finals will be held in IT Tallaght on 19 May as part of International Scratch Day.
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