BBC Make it Digital Traineeship

The BBC Make It Digital Traineeship is described as the largest programme of its kind, delivered through a partnership between the BBC Academy, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), the Scottish and Welsh governments, and training providers across the UK, working closely with Job Centres nationwide.

The programme aims to grow basic digital skills among 'Digital Immigrants' — people not making full use of digital technology — and people with lower educational attainment, preparing trainees for employment or progression into apprenticeships while boosting employability skills and self-confidence.

Training covers two areas: basic digital skills (planning social media campaigns, building Facebook pages, using platforms such as TripAdvisor, building simple websites, creating short web videos) and employability skills (giving/receiving feedback, cover letters and CVs, budgeting, basic project management, teamwork, English and Maths). The central activity has been distributing BBC micro:bit mini-computers in UK schools, with a total of 1 million distributed. The traineeship concludes with a three-week structured work placement in companies likely to need basic-level digital skills.

A total of 1 million micro:bit devices have been distributed in UK schools as part of the programme.

The practice record describes this as the largest traineeship of its kind because of the scale of the BBC/DWP/SFA partnership, combining formal classroom learning resources for teachers and pupils with employability training and a work placement. It has been replicated in Iceland and Norway, with more limited versions developed in the US, Singapore and Croatia.