Skilling Europe’s Future Workforce

Our pledge

Apple provides a range of resources, programmes, and certifications that promote a host of digital employability skills. This is leveraged in support of learners, educators, and education institutions across Europe. The development of such important digital literacy and creativity skills can be used across a range of industries. It also creates pathways to the EU App Economy which supports 2.9 million jobs in Europe. The range of career skills contributes to the 2030 objectives of the EU Digital Decade to have 20 million ICT Specialists and at least 80% of the population with basic digital skills.

Our initiatives

Our commitment and approach consist of the following:

• Inspiring students to start their digital skills journey - A variety of free resources can inspire students to begin their journey in coding and creativity. Apple’s app development curriculum makes it easy for anyone to code in Swift and design apps just like the pros. While in-person ‘Code Your First App’ sessions are organised in Apple’s Retail stores across the EU. The start of this journey is further enhanced through our long standing commitment to Europe Code Week. This includes programmes in support of Educators and the deployment of technology in classrooms, including Apple Learning Coach. 
• Providing professional programmes to enhance digital skills for schools, educators, and learners - In support of entire schools, Apple Professional Learning provides personalised professional learning experiences for educators, leaders, and IT. The tailor-made offerings help create innovative instruction, build capacity and support schools and organizations achieve their vision. Education institutions can also avail of the Apple Authorised Training Center for Education (AATCE) programme, and a fee waiver for the Apple Developer Program. For individuals, teachers can access the ‘Apple Learning Center’ and be recognised with Apple’s Code in Swift Playgrounds badges. Learners with a particular passion for coding can submit an incredible app playground on the topic of their choice to the Swift Student Challenge. The Challenge is designed for student developers who are cultivating their software development skills. Moreover, a year-long programme at the Naples Developer Academy, or 4-8 weeks in an App Foundation Programme, provides a structured in-person curriculum to foster digital employability skills for students or life-long learners.  
• Validating digital skills with internationally recognized certificates - Professionally recognized qualifications can further help to kickstart workforce readiness. Apple Professional Training Courses provide users with with self-paced, online courses that can result in a supervised certification exam. After passing the exam, a verified digital badge can be displayed on any professional networking site. Development with Swift certifications, administered by Certiport, can further help learners to stand out. This certification is intended for learners that have completed at least 150 hours of instructional time before taking the certification exam.

This pledge is being supported by a range of resources, programmes, and certifications that provide a pathway for Europeans in up-skilling for the workforce.

• Learn to code with Apple
• Swift Playgrounds 
• ‘Code Your First App Today At Apple sessions in Retail Stores 
• Education Deployment Guide 
• Apple Developer Program membership fee waiver for Education
• Apple Authorized Trace Center for Education (AATCE)  
• Apple Learning Coach 
• Apple Learning Center 
• Apple Professional Learning 
• Naples Developer Academy (Italy)  
• Apple Foundation Programme (France)
• Apple Professional Training Courses 
• App Development in Swift Certification (Certiport)