Sanctuary staff talk technology at Worcester Sixth Form College

Staff from Sanctuary Group visited Worcester Sixth Form College to speak to young people about careers in technology. The group, made up of staff from Sanctuary’s Technology, Care and Maintenance teams, talked to students about their own career pathways and delivered a variety of hands-on activities for them to participate in. These included a brief overview of how hardware has advanced – from floppy discs to the latest virtual reality (VR) headsets – and a challenge asking students to decide which new technologies could be put to best use in a care home environment. Feedback from students was very positive, with more than 80 per cent saying the event had changed their perception of working in the technology industry. The visit was organised as part of an ongoing commitment by Sanctuary to encourage a more diverse range of talent – particularly women – to pursue technology as a career. While women make up 33 per cent of Sanctuary’s technology workforce, just 17 per cent of information and communications technology (ICT) workers across the UK are female. As part of its efforts, Sanctuary has also signed up to two charters designed to address gender imbalance in technology roles­ – the Tech Talent Charter and PwC’s Tech She Can.

David Lyall, Business Architect in Technology at Sanctuary, said: “It was great to engage with students about our work and the ways that Sanctuary makes use of technology. Events like this are a great way to challenge perceptions about the type of people working in technology and encourage a diverse range of young people to consider it as a career.”

Mark Douglas, Subject Leader for Computing and IT at Worcester Sixth Form College, added: “The event was a huge success and of great benefit to our students. We are grateful to Sanctuary for their time, enthusiasm and professionalism.”