Teachers Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators – Today!

By Lori Forte Harnick, general manager, Citizenship and Public Affairs

More than a thousand global education innovators are in Barcelona this week for the Microsoft in Education Global Forum. As I listen to the many conversations among teachers unfold, I’m inspired – but certainly not surprised – by their passion to make a real difference in the lives of young people around the world.

It’s not easy. Most educators and school leaders are required to do more with less funding and resources.  Indeed, educators today must help young people bridge a widening opportunity divide – a gap between their current skills, education, and training and those elements that are required for a growing number of jobs and careers in the 21st century. At 75 million unemployed youth today, the average youth unemployment rate still stands at more than double the average adult unemployment rate. 

That’s why we created the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative in September 2012. And, as we’ve implemented YouthSpark around the world in the past 18 months, working closely with nonprofit partners, educators, governments, parents, and of course, youth…we’ve seen a new emerging trend. More and more people and organizations are recognizing the role that computer science education – coding, computational, analytic, and problem-solving skills – can play in helping youth capture more employment and career opportunities ahead. 

As I’ve visited many of our partners – whether it’s an after-school community center program in South Korea, a Catholic elementary school in El Salvador, a Saturday coding class for girls in Japan, or a high school in the U.S. where students are waking an hour earlier to attend a computer science class – I see more and more students who are eager to learn not just how to consume IT, but how to create IT. And, as I see here this week in Barcelona, their teachers and community leaders are moving quickly to tap into this enthusiasm and creatively find ways to provide computer science education to more youth through a variety of in-school and after-school programs.

Sor Carmen María, teacher at the Catholic Education Complex “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” in San Salvador, El Salvador, with some of her students. She teaches robotics to students of all ages from kindergarten through high school.

To do our part, the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative is providing young people with greater access to computer science education through a number of resources and programs, such as TEALS, Kodu Game Lab, DigiGirlz and the Imagine Cup, and through the support of Code.org, which a few months ago encouraged more than 20 million youth to try basic programming through its inaugural Hour of Code online event.

And, we’re thrilled to help…to help youth capture the opportunities that will change their lives today….and create the innovations that will change all of our lives – for the better – tomorrow. Join us!