Last month, we held our second Computing, Curriculum and Career’s (CCC) event for schools and colleges across Greater Manchester.
The purpose of the event is two-fold; through a blend of talks from industry experts, panel discussions and interactive workshops, we aim to:
- help support and equip teachers to deliver an effective and relevant curriculum
- help support and equip careers advisors with the sector knowledge necessary to help young people make informed decisions on a possible career in tech.
How did it go?
The event was a great success and built on the momentum we gathered during out first CCC even, launched back in February as part of our week-long Digital Skills Festival.
The buzz and engagement were clear for all to see, and this has been reflected in the feedback we’ve received from teachers.
Learning real-life scenarios and key concepts is really important to take back to teaching.
Very relevant and worthwhile attending. I have been talking to my Y8’s about it today.
It was an excellent day. I almost didn’t come today, I’m really glad I didn’t miss out on this.
I found the Auto Trader programming workshop very useful.
We were also delighted to be back at Auto Trader, sponsors and superb hosts for the day.
What we learned...
Firstly, how important it is for industry and education to work together.
It is only through doing this can that we can improve education so that young people can be successful and fulfil their potential in our industry.
Digital and tech is a fascinating and exciting sector to be in and we want to ensure that young people are made aware of it. CCC is just one way we are working with our members to achieve this.
Our panel topic discussions covered
- The introduction of T Levels; technical programmes designed with employers to give young people the skills that industry needs.
- How school's can manage and enable 'meaningful' work placements that meet the Gatsby Benchmarks
- The challenge teachers and careers advisors face when trying to understand and convey to young people information about the job roles available in our sector
There were then workshops that provided businesses with the chance to offer some practical learning that is relevant to the industry and could be used in a classroom/education setting.
- Auto Trader: Discover Digital: skills, talent & opportunities
- DWP Digital: Covering your tracks within the Software Development Life Cycle
- Missguided: It’s not all about coding…
- Auto Trader: Divide and Conquer: an iterative approach to writing software
Delegates also benefited from the 'time-out' opportunity to engage with and learn from industry experts. It’s vitally important that in an industry that changes so quickly that we remain connected to the education sector so that we may help them to keep up and adapt to our needs.
A special thanks to...
A huge thank you to our sponsors and avid Digital Futures supporters, Auto Trader.
And a big thank you to all the rest of our Digital Futures ambassadors - our employers and industry experts who contributed to making it an engaging and impactful event; MAG-O, Missguided, DWP Digital and Co-op Digital.
As part of this event, we teamed up with STEAM School to offer delegates a free terms' subscription to their amazing virtual classroom resource.
St Joseph’s RC High School in Bolton will be taking advantage of this next term!
What’s next?
What do schools and colleges say they most want help with? You'll have to wait and see.
We’ve already scheduled the next CCC event for 21st November.
If you’re a teacher or advisor who would like to attend the next event, booking is open now, with announcements to follow in September.
Also, if you’re a business that would like to talk to us about offering your support, please contact emma@manchesterdigital.com for more details.
If you would like to find out more about other Digital Futures initiatives, learn how to become an ambassador, or are an educator looking for support, you can find further details here.
