Leeds City Region�s #techgoals makes digital a (virtual) reality for over 10,000 young people

A ground-breaking campaign to improve digital teaching in schools across Leeds City Region has reached over 10,000 young people between 11 and 16 years old.

The Leeds City Region’s #techgoals initiative, the first of its kind in the UK, has established a revolutionary model that has since been adapted by the Mayor of London. Uniquely, a budget of almost £50,000 was set aside to allow schools to cover the cost of release time for teachers in training.

As part of the first phase of a four year strategy to raise awareness of digital skills and careers in schools, the campaign saw the delivery of a number of continued professional development (CPD) workshops for secondary school teachers up and down the City Region.

Delivered in partnership with a number of the City Region’s most prolific digital employers, such as Sky, Barnsley Digital Media Centre, the Digital Health Enterprise Zone, and NHS Digital, #techgoals provided an insight into the vast range of digital roles available both locally and globally for Leeds City Region’s young people.

The impact of initiative is already being felt, with 90% of the teachers who attended the workshops reporting that they are now more confident delivering high-quality digital learning that’s relevant to both their students and City Region employers. This has equated to over 10,000 students receiving a new and greater understanding of the breadth of digital, the scope of careers available and the strength of Leeds City Region in the sector.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Skills lead for the LEP and Leaders of Bradford Council said:

“Leeds City Region has an ambition to become a globally recognised digital centre. Cultivating the potential of our future workforce, by overcoming our barriers to growth in manufacturing, infrastructure and digital through pioneering initiatives such as #techgoals, is fundamental to achieving this and I am thrilled by the success of the campaign so far.”

“By supporting teachers to become more confident using digital in the classroom, raising awareness of digital careers and highlighting the world-leading strengths of the City Region, we can ensure that our young people add to the region’s ‘brain gain’ of high skilled young professionals, not just in Leeds but across the entire City Region.”

Rachael Duchovny, Teacher of Computing and English at Beckfoot Thornton said:

“Digital is becoming an increasingly important element of every subject. Any job my students have in the future will use information technology (IT) in some form. It’s vital that they know how to use them safely and effectively, right down to how to send an appropriate email. #techgoals has been brilliant in helping me to provide exactly that experience and knowledge.

“My Year 9 students have raced through the #techgoals resources and have found them incredibly engaging. By attending one of the CPD workshops and having access to these fantastic, fully-packaged resources I’m able to make my lessons and digital skills in general that much more engaging and fun.”

Nathan Greenwood, Year 9 pupil at Beckfoot Thornton said:

“I have enjoyed #techgoals as it has added a new concept to ICT lessons by making them more exciting.

“I have learnt lots about HTML code and now we’re learning how to debug an app. It’s definitely enhanced my computing knowledge.”