Exclusive: MyTutor snaps up tech platform amid digital skills shortage
MyTutor has snapped up Fire Tech, a coding and technical training platform for children, in a merger aimed at improving digital skills.
Following the take over the expanded tutoring platform, which connects university student tutors with online pupils, will offer extra-curricular classes covering programming with Python, creating games with Roblox, and coding with Minecraft.
The drive to increase the uptake of coding among students comes as the UK faces an acute shortage of software developers and programmers.
“I see the impact of the digital skills gap firsthand as an employer, which is why I’m so delighted to have found a team who have created such engaging and high impact tech courses” said Bertie Hubbard, the chief executive and co founder of MyTutor.
“We also know that access to a high standard of digital learning is limited across the UK, and so we are excited to put digital skills at the heart of a broader curriculum strategy for the parents and school partners we work with across the country to make access to make life-changing learning available to everyone,” he continued.
A survey by MyTutor emphasised concerns about the current school curriculum for digital skills which one in three parents believe is poorly suited for future careers. One in four parents agreed that their child wanted to learn about STEM field subjects in order to pursue their future career highlighting the importance of high quality tuition.
Demand for online tutoring has surged during the pandemic with MyTutor sharing with Morning Wire that the company had seen a 170 per cent increase in tutees during the year to April 2021.
According to Fire Tech the platform has delivered learning experiences to over 80,000 students since it was founded in 2013.
Read more: Exclusive: Online education booms during pandemic as MyTutor’s userbase grows by 170 per cent