CitizenCode
CitizenCode is an initiative launched by TRALALERE in 2021 to make digital culture, skills, and jobs accessible to everyone, from primary and middle school onwards. It offers free digital workshops and turnkey resources for teens and educators to discover on their own or in class, allowing all students to become digital creators.
Expanding the field of possibilities
Despite an abundance of digital job opportunities, companies struggle to foster diverse teams. Women, alongside rural and structurally marginalised populations, remain underrepresented in these roles. Data shows that 57% of girls believe they have less ability to follow training in computer science (Ipsos, 2021). Moreover, few young middle and high school students are considering going into the IT sector. CitizenCode aims to democratise access to this sector by shifting mindsets and encouraging vocations from an early age by expanding their field of possibilities. The goal is for young people, as early as possible, to master digital technology and envisage themselves as tomorrow's digital players. Prioritising those in greatest need, CitizenCode adopts an inclusive approach, supported by after-school mediators and teachers.
Discover CitizenCode
CitizenCode primarily targets middle school students, guiding them in career choices, academic paths, and internship preparation, especially focusing on young girls, students from rural areas and working-class neighbourhoods, which are underrepresented in tech jobs. The secondary beneficiaries include teachers and educators, who may not have equal abilities to teach digital culture. CitizenCode provides them with turnkey resources and support.
CitizenCode offers self-guided digital experiences, tailored to the educator’s and young person's levels, aiming to introduce them to digital culture and professions. CitizenCode ensures digital culture accessibility for all, providing engaging and accessible free resources tailored for young people from primary school through high school and beyond.
CitizenCode's digital resources empower users to grasp key concepts and implications such as data, video games, and AI. They also facilitate exploration of digital career opportunities and role models, with a particular emphasis on promoting representation for girls. CitizenCode offers hands-on activities where users can engage directly, realising their potential to program and create within the digital realm.
Digital workshops
CitizenCode presents a novel format of turnkey digital workshops, offering interactive "serious game" adventures. These workshops blend discovery, audiovisual narratives, immersion in the professional world, and open creation tools, empowering young people to craft their own video games. Furthermore, these digital interactive courses are accessible online and can be facilitated in face-to-face or remote settings, accommodating various environments such as schools, extracurricular programs, or informal learning settings.
CitizenCode offers a diverse series of digital workshops:
- CitizenCode Junior: digital courses introducing 6-10 year olds to major themes of digital culture such as pixel art, data and computer programming
- CitizenCode Teens: digital interactive workshops which offer the basics of computer programming targeted towards 11-16 year olds
- CitizenCode Python: a course teaching all age groups to code in Blockly and Python through 67 challenges. The course uses video game concepts to engage players
The workshops help students grasp complex terms such as data and AI, and facilitates the discovery of digital professions, with a focus on promoting representation for girls in the field. The participants engage in hands-on activities, where they can realise their potential to program and create within the digital landscape. With interactive, engaging, and accessible resources, learners are empowered to explore the world of coding with ease and enjoyment.
Why is this a good practice?
CitizenCode empowers children, teens, educators, with essential digital skills and an understanding of the key elements of digital culture – with a focus on digital jobs. The project places an emphasis on promoting diversity in tech by including girls and structurally marginalised groups within its approach. In addition, CitizenCode promotes inclusive design and strive, collaborating with specialised associations like HandiTech to adapt resources to include numerous children with special needs, with cognitive or motor disorders. The project is addressing a real need in the current digital job market.
In June 2024, a dedicated platform gathering all digital workshops will be launched to enable direct dissemination by academies and local authorities in France. CitizenCode disseminates its resources across France through its local partners, and thanks to the development of a network of ambassadors (which includes, for example: popular education federations, and associations).
Having started in France, CitizenCode is also expanding to other countries: it has been localised and released in Belgium in 2024 (in French and Dutch). Since 2021, CitizenCode has reached over 63,000 young people in France, and is has already reached 1,000 young people in Belgium. The platform will be fully multilingual by the end of 2024, ready to be launched in other European countries in 2025 (Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain). In the long term, the project aims to expand to all European countries.
