How social mobility data is unlocking the next generation of tech talent

Tech She Can is the UK’s leading tech careers education and social mobility charity working to close the ‘inspiration’ and ‘aspiration’ gaps for children across the UK, encouraging all to consider and enter careers in the sector.

Their work unlocking tech talent is particularly targeted at girls and those from low socio-economic backgrounds who are currently underrepresented in the sector – changing perceptions about who does, and can, work in technology with relatable industry role models, understanding of the opportunities, training and career paths available.

Initiatives across their free schools’ programme, Tech We Can, range from working directly in schools across the UK, upskilling teachers, partnering with top UK employers’ as well as creating virtual tech careers events and accessible online education resources.

Tech She Can has reached over 300,000 children directly in schools across the UK and +1.2 million through their free educational online resources globally.

Crucial in making this work effective is ensuring they are reaching the pupils that need the most.

Identifying most in need schools

Tech She Can’s virtual resources and experiences are available to all schools and pupils, with global reach. When it comes to in-person delivery in UK classrooms and workplaces, Tech She Can is focused on reaching disadvantaged schools and pupils and those underrepresented in the technology workforce. Accurately identifying the schools most in need and quantifying disadvantage is vital to their impact.

While considering different measures of disadvantage, members of the Tech She Can team who had previously worked in schools at opposite ends of the advantage spectrum, recognised Free School Meals (FSM) did not always accurately reflect the level of opportunity and resources available to pupils.

While FSM remains the most commonly used proxy for measuring disadvantage, over recent years there has been widespread acknowledgement in the social mobility sector that using this ‘traditional’ measure alone has limitations. FSM is a binary measure, with no gradation of disadvantage, only those at the lowest end are captured. FSM eligibility only shows a ‘snapshot’ of the factors influencing a child’s opportunity, ignoring important factors like the local labour market or geographic obstacles.

Creating a unique, nuanced data picture

In order to create a more in-depth understanding of which schools were most in need, Tech She Can started using a more holistic eligibility criteria for their partner school programme, schools had to meet any one or more of the following:

•    Located in a ‘Least favourable’ or ‘Unfavourable’ for one or more of the 4 indices outlined in the Social Mobility Commission’s State of Nation Report (UK-wide)
•    Above average number of students eligible for Free School Meals (England/Wales/NI)
•    Located in a Very Low, Low or Just Below Average area according to the Sutton Trust Opportunity Index (England)

The Social Mobility Commission’s annual State of the Nation report categorises local authorities across the UK into one of 7 categories, ranging from ‘most favourable’ to ‘least favourable’, across four indices:

1. Promising Prospects (Measures levels of education, professional work and earnings from people from similar socio-economic backgrounds)
2. Conditions of childhood (Measures earnings, qualifications and occupation levels of parents)
3. Labour market opportunities for young people (Measures occupation level and unemployment rate over time)
4. Innovation and growth (Measures area’s productivity level, ‘new economy’ jobs and economically-active residents with postgraduate qualifications)

 This combined comprehensive data – UK-wide and updated annually – is transformative. 

It has enabled Tech She Can to equally assess need and reach schools across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, closing a data gap that previously existed in reaching all four nations. The breadth of the four State of the Nation indices also enables the team to measure more than education-based prospects alone – it takes into account wider factors like future employment opportunities in the area.

This regional data-led approach has enabled Tech She Can to regularly reach hundreds of priority schools across the UK – with even more schools taking part in their wider initiatives and training.

Locating schools and priority postcodes is just the first step. Once the team has delivered resources or experiences in the school, highlighting the careers available in the tech sector, they are changing the perceptions, aspirations and access for individual students and their life outcomes.

Leading the way with employers

Tech She Can are as passionate about improving data collection and measurement of disadvantage as they are about closing the tech skills gap. Another key part of their work is utilising their network of corporate partners and employers’ to raise awareness of the limitations of a single data measure for disadvantage and demonstrating new ways to accurately target those facing the biggest obstacles to employment.

This includes encouraging place-based approaches to corporate social mobility initiatives and highlighting the barriers people outside of major cities such as London can face. Tech She Can builds in inclusion at its core, encouraging their strategic partners to host Career Insight Days across all regions or funding travel for students located further away.

Breaking down geographic boundaries

Recognising that technology and AI narratives are often male and London-centric was part of the inspiration for Tech She Can’s Girls in AI Summit 2025 in Manchester. The inclusive AI schools Summit was a UK-first – bringing together 240 Year 8 girls from 8 schools in Greater Manchester.

This involved bringing 20 AI industry role models and speakers to Manchester for the pupils and teachers to see the opportunities and careers that can be accessible to them, even if they currently feel metaphorically and physically far away. As one student after attending the event put it: “I didn’t realise so many people cared about us.”

Further reading:

•     Read more about Tech She Can’s work at techshecan.org

•     Listen to Tech She Can co-CEO, Dr Claire Thorne, speaking on the importance of representation in the tech sector on our podcast here

•     Explore our State of the Nation data on our interactive data explorer tool at social-mobility.data.gov.uk