A new partnership between Scottish digital skills academy CodeClan and Glasgow-based apprenticeship education provider tigers aims to help young Glaswegians move into tech jobs.

The two partners will co-deliver an education and mentorship programme to provide participating 16–24-year-olds with digital and tech skills.

The eight-week programme, which be available for people in Glasgow, will teach computer programming skills and personal development, underpinned by a wellbeing programme, to help them move into tech jobs.

Following the programme, the participants will be able to move into a Modern Apprenticeships in IT and software development with partner employers. They will have the opportunity to continue their development supported by tigers’ trained assessors and CodeClan’s digital skills courses.

To make the programme as inclusive as possible, there are no significant entry requirements to the course, although eligibility criteria dictate that applicants are not currently in education or employment.

The programme is funded through the Employability Fund managed by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) on behalf of the Scottish Government.

CodeClan CEO Melinda Matthews-Clarkson said: “Historically, CodeClan has worked to bridge Scotland’s digitals skills gap by re-skilling career changers, and we’re excited to expand our reach and work with young people in collaboration with tigers, to equip them with the skills needed to work in Scotland’s fast-growing technology sector.”

She added: “We know it’s a critical time for our digital economy, there has been a lot of collective talk but now we need to execute. It’s so important, because it’s about equipping the future workforce and developing a competitive future economy in Scotland. If we don’t act now, we do so at our own peril.”

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With the number of school students studying Computer Science at an all-time low – latest statistics reveal that 9,873 pupils took the subject in 2020, with girls totalling just 1,895 – the collaboration aims to bridge the digital skills gap by supporting more young people around essential coding skills including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Director of Operations at tigers Jeremy Miles said: “This is a really exciting collaboration for tigers as we look to build on our success with supporting young people into tech roles through Modern Apprenticeships by working with an exceptional training provider. We are also very keen to work closely with CodeClan to tackle the gender imbalance that exists in the tech sector.

“We believe our whole person approach to education, combining the wellbeing of our learners with a vocational, employer led focus steeped in innovative practice will really compliment the CodeClan approach.

“We are deeply aligned in our desire to support young people into sustainable employment and look forward to seeing where we can go together.”

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