The course was launched as a pilot programme last year, with the aim of introducing a cybersecurity education in secondary schools.
A course to teach cybersecurity to Junior Certificate students is being extended to a larger group of schools this year.
The short course aims to help students understand key aspects of cybersecurity, to help them evaluate if a career in this field is suitable for them. It was launched last year in a select group of schools in Offaly, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Carlow and Cork.
The course takes a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing aspects of computer science, psychology, law, ethics, communications and crisis management.
The short course was a recommendation of Ireland’s National Cyber Security Strategy, with the aim of introducing a cybersecurity education in secondary schools.
The initiative was developed by educators and researchers from University College Dublin (UCD), with a steering group comprising members of the National Centre for Cyber Security, the Computers in Education Society of Ireland, the NCCA and Cyber Ireland.
The UCD team arranged webinars, developed units of learning to support teachers, created a website and organised a shared learning day event last May with teachers and pupils.
The pilot programme is being extended by a further two years to refine the course materials, obtain feedback from a larger pool of participating schools and explore how to sustain the initiative in the future.
The programme extension follows an interim report, which provided guidance on how to sustain the initiative. The report was received by Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth TD.
Minister Smyth met with working group chair Prof Joe Carthy, and project implementation team head Dr Rachel Farrell, to hear about the pilot implementation of the course.
“This short course is a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn about cyber security, particularly how to better protect their data, devices and ultimately themselves from malicious cyber activities,” Smyth said.
“The short course also facilities early pathways towards STEM-based career options, helping us to address the cyber security skills gap as we evolve towards a digital economy and society. I look forward to further updates on the implementation of this pilot.”
In July, cybersecurity non-profit (ICS)2 rolled out a cybersecurity professional education programme to 1m people, with plans to make the course available on a larger scale to combat the worldwide skills shortage in the industry.
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