Tech program for teenage girls in the UK gets help from Sony

InnovateHer is teaming up with Sony’s PlayStation brand to expand its eight week tech program for teenage girls to more locations across the country. The Digital Bootcamp program aims to give girls aged between 12-16 key tech and interpersonal skills whilst encouraging them to consider STEM subjects and careers in tech.

Currently, girls make up only 20% of computer science entries at GCSE, and just 10% at A-level, with nine times more boys than girls gaining an A level in Computer Science this year. InnovateHer, whose mission is “to get girls ready for the tech industry, and the industry ready for girls”, recently pledged to tackle these figures by committing to work with schools to reach over 1,000 girls by 2020. 

PlayStation previously worked with InnovateHer’s sister brand Liverpool Girl Geeks to deliver a similar educational program in Liverpool in 2016. The program saw 20 girls take part in technology themed workshops across 6 weeks, and included an invitation to PlayStation’s Wavertree offices to meet technical staff and learn more about how games are developed and tested.

Now, InnovateHer is working with PlayStation again to develop a scalable 8-week Digital Bootcamp program in order to reach more girls in new locations across the UK. The after school program will teach girls technical skills, build confidence, and highlight local opportunities within the tech and digital industries. Working with PlayStation has allowed InnovateHer to extend the program further afield, including Guildford and London.

Programs will start in selected schools during January 2020, and graduates of the program will have a chance to showcase their work at next year’s Develop conference in Brighton.

Chelsea Slater, Co-founder of InnovateHer says, “We’re proud to be working with PlayStation again on our tech program for girls. The issues we see around the gender pay gap and low numbers of women in the tech community are the culmination of the seeds that get sown early in young women’s academic careers. Our mission is to get girls ready for the tech industry, and to get the industry ready for girls, and a huge part of this is challenging the misconception that girls “can’t do” STEM subjects like Computer Science, equally that the STEM industry doesn’t cater for women. That’s why it’s important for us that our program reaches girls not just locally, but nationally, too, and that it aims to show young women just what opportunities are open to them. Thanks to PlayStation’s support and recognition, we are able to do just that.”