The TechFirst youth programme is launching in schools across the East of England this academic year, and we can't wait to get started.
If you're a teacher, a parent, or a school leader wondering what that will mean for your students, here's the rundown.
What is the TechFirst youth programme?
TechFirst youth is a free programme, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and delivered by us at Tech Educators, connecting students aged 11 to 18 with real technology careers. It runs across six counties of the East of England: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
It's built on a simple idea. Tech isn't a career on its own. It's inside every career.
From music to medicine, farming to fashion, technology touches all of it. A student who loves football might end up in sports data analysis. Another who loves art might end up building the tools designers use every day. The programme is about showing young people that variety, and letting curiosity do the rest.
This year, we'll be reaching around 21,000 students through:
- In-school workshops delivered by people who genuinely work in tech and spend their days at the frontier of it
- Hackathons and employer events, including our flagship HackEd hackathon, which runs across the East of England at various points in the year
- A formal TechFirst accreditation pathway for schools
- Tech Pathways, a free, interactive tool that helps students explore their interests and find a route into a tech career, with options spanning GCSEs, A Levels, T Levels, diplomas, apprenticeships and degrees
This is a programme for students who haven't yet considered tech as an option. It gives them the chance to explore their interests and skills, see where those could take them, and picture a future they may never have considered before.
We'll be working particularly closely with schools that reach underrepresented groups, including girls, rural communities and schools with a diverse mix of students. Every school we partner with matters, but for these students especially, seeing a clear and realistic route into tech can make all the difference.
How to take part
Being part of TechFirst youth looks a little different depending on who you are.
Teachers and computing leads can book a free in-school workshop, curriculum-linked and delivered by working tech professionals, along with Gatsby Benchmark aligned resources and lesson plans.
School leaders can register interest in TechFirst accreditation and see what it means for Gatsby Benchmark evidence.
Students can explore Tech Pathways themselves: pick up to three interests, discover the tech jobs inside them, and build a learning and careers pathway ready to share with a parent or teacher.
Parents can find out what their child will experience at each stage, and what safeguarding is in place.
Employers can pledge their team's time, whether that's a workshop, a mentoring session, or supporting at a hackathon.
Whichever seat you're in, the TechFirst youth hub is the place to start.
What it means to inspire young people
Schools are working hard to give young people the careers guidance they need, often with limited time and resources. But there's only so much a school can do on its own. Meeting someone who works in AI, cyber security or game design can make a career feel real in a way that a careers guide or a job description simply can't.
That's where TechFirst youth comes in. Through every workshop, hackathon and Tech Pathways result, we're giving students the chance to explore what interests them, meet people working in the industry, and find a real answer to the question: "Could this be me?"
We're already building a strong network of industry partners and expect to pass 30 this year. That means more opportunities for students to ask real questions of real people doing the job. Across the year we're aiming to bring more than 400 hours of business expertise into classrooms.
Want to help students see what's possible? Get in touch with the team and let's make it happen.
Dan Brownsey
Dan is our Head of Regional Project Delivery and leads TechFirst youth in the East of England, the DCMS-funded programme inspiring 11 to 18 year olds into technology careers across six counties. He drives the operational delivery of inspiration events, school engagement and employer partnerships, with a particular focus on reaching students in rural, under-represented and disadvantaged communities.
