Programme
CodeYourFuture
Supporting refugees, asylum seekers, displaced migrants and low-income groups to change their lives through free technical and soft skills training.
Attracting computer science specialists and other career changers with a technology industry background into teaching and supporting them through the first two years of their career.
Now Teach’s mission is to attract and recruit experienced successful people to change career into teaching. This partnership will support the recruitment of Computer Science teachers directly from the worlds of business and science, to teach in secondary schools across England. Computer Science is one of the most in demand subjects with the largest shortage of specialist teachers.
The Hg Foundation’s £150,000 grant will offer candidates a free two-year support package of 1-2-1 guidance, wellbeing, subject and career coaching and access to a wider support network of 1,000 peers. The programme will also enhance technology and AI knowledge across the organisation, through working groups and online hubs.
As a result of the programme, at least twenty schools will gain a new Computer Science teacher, with candidates bringing years of professional and real-world experience to inspire the next generation of AI specialists and app creators.
“A move into teaching can be a hugely rewarding career change for those currently working in tech. The UK’s digital skills deficit combined with years of underrecruiting computer teachers, makes Computer Science educators gold dust for the UK education system. The Hg Foundation’s support means trainees can help young people access new fields and teach them the transferable skills to open up sectors, from engineering to healthcare, that could lead to careers in software engineering and web design.”
"The most important factor driving social mobility in tech is access to expert teachers in tech-relevant subjects. The shortage of teachers in Computer Science particularly impacts those from lower income homes and in less affluent schools – so we are delighted to be partnering with Now Teach to identify a new cadre of specialists who can bring their real world knowledge to bear on the next generation.”
