A teacher committed to closing the gender gap in cyber security and computing science has been praised by Scotland’s industry leaders.

In the coming months, Toni Scullion, who teaches at St Kentigern’s Academy in Blackburn, West Lothian, will formally launch dressCode – a modern lunch club for schoolgirls keen to learn and apply coding.

In recent years years, Toni has helped three schoolgirls from St. Kentigern’s form Turing’s Testers, a cyber security team that placed highly in a number of Scottish and UK competitions.

The success they experienced helped Toni and the trio land the feted Champion of Champions award at last year’s Scottish Cyber Awards. The girls are now using their skills to build a nationwide cyber treasure hunt.

Toni was also recognised as Cyber Security Teacher of the Year – putting her firmly on the radar of an industry who see her as the leading example of a teacher preparing students for the requirements of the modern world of work in a crucial part of Scotland’s economy.

Mandy Haeburn-Little, chief executive of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), said: “Toni is a marvel. She is a self-confessed latecomer to cyber security, but what she has been able to do in recent years is breathtaking.

Diverse criminal threat

“For Scotland to reach its potential as a leading cyber security nation, it needs talent coming through. Not only that, the threat posed by criminals online is diverse – and so it needs a diverse workforce to deliver the creativity required to combat this effectively.

“The judges were delighted to award Toni and the girls with the top award last year. It’s great to see her now use that as a springboard – and with the launch of dressCode it is clear she is going to make a difference to the lives and careers of many more schoolgirls around the country.”

dressCode is an all-girls code club aiming to close the gender gap, exploring game design, app design, web development and cyber security. An interactive website and syllabus will help girls from around Scotland to get involved and learn important, practical skills, with potential for future events and collaborations.

Toni, who is originally from Gorebridge in Midlothian, said: “If you can code, you can change the world – and I want girls to feel empowered about this.

“Coding is such a core, fundamental skill for swathes of the workplace now – and it is only going to get more important. I honestly don’t think I would have had the confidence to try to make a real difference if it wasn’t for all the support and kindness that has come since winning the Scottish Cyber awards.

“I’ll be launching dressCode this year just trying to get finishing touches to website done. Games design and web design will be launched this year with cyber security and app development coming later. I’m so excited about it.

“It’s just dire when you look at the gender diversity numbers in Scotland and the uptake of girls in STEM roles. It is worrying that there are so many schools with no computing specialists or exposure to those skills either. I just felt like I needed to do something to help.”

Typifying the growth in the sector, the past six years have witnessed 660% growth in the number of specialist cyber security firms in Scotland, from 12 in 2012 to 91 currently operating.

Dr Martin Beaton, Cyber Security Cluster Coordinator supporting collaboration between industry, academia and government, said: “Supply of skills are a key component in growing the Scottish Cyber security goods and services industry and tap into a £759 billion global market.

“Toni’s innovative and inclusive work with the talent of the future compliments a number of initiatives successfully tackling the global skills shortage and creating fantastic opportunities for young people of all backgrounds to get involved in this vibrant sector.”

The great and the good of the industry are being encouraged to apply for the third Scottish Cyber Awards, with applications closing on 7th September. The awards have gained backing from lead sponsor CGI, who is joined by key partners Clydesdale Bank, Accenture, Trend Micro and Symantec.

Among the 11 awards on the night are; Best Cyber Start Up, Best New Cyber Talent, Outstanding Woman in Cyber and Best Cyber Breakthrough. This year’s event will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh on Wednesday 28th November.