Minister for Education and skills, Joe McHugh, revisited his roots when he presented the Loreto Letterkenny students with their Junior Cert Profile of Achievements.
Transition Year students in Loreto Secondary School Letterkenny were also presented with the opportunity to participate in a new coding module in conjunction with Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
The Junior Cert Profile of Achievements were introduced in 2017 along with the new Junior Certificate.
A group of twenty-five girls are taking part in this module which incorporates developing mobile applications and learning about the IT industry.
These students have also built a robot in which Science Foundation Ireland sponsored materials through the VEX robotics programme.
The students spoke to women with roles in IT and learned of how there is a gap in the market for women in IT-related jobs for which coding is essential.
The IT industry is a male-dominated field but there is a demand for a female perspective.
A teacher of IT in Loreto, who enabled this opportunity to be possible, said: “Our staff in Loreto Letterkenny are also developing their own skills in this area in acquiring the qualifications of the higher diploma in computing for educators in LYIT.
“These teachers will implement this programme in our own school for next year, with the continued support for LYIT. This guarantees the long-term sustainability of the programme.”
