The Data Education in Schools programme was established in 2019 with an 8-year grant from the Scottish and UK governments to nurture data literacy and skills across the 3-19 curriculum in Scotland. We are part of a wider Data Skills Gateway that has created new qualifications in Data Science including the world’s first school level qualification for learners in Scotland, as well as new pathways into data skills careers.
Our focus has been to support teachers to develop their confidence and knowledge in data literacy and how it integrates across the school curriculum. We create and provide free-to-download, high-quality teaching resources as well as running professional learning programmes for primary and secondary teachers and offering innovative learner-focused activities and initiatives.
We do not solely focus of data literacy, however. During 2020-2022 we responded to the pandemic and post-pandemic by broadening our services to include digital literacy support for parents and teachers and since 2024, a lot of our work has included supporting teachers to understand Generative AI and its impact on education and learning.
In 2025, Professor Judy Robertson led an expert group to establish an AI literacy curriculum framework for Scotland and the team also developed a set of co-created teaching resources through our Teachers-in-Residence programme and launched the TRAILS.Scot website as a repository of teaching materials that focus on AI literacy.