Skip to content

Why children should start their own startup this September

The academic year has just started, and with it so has the introduction of coding.

Teachers’ attention to tech shouldn’t stop at the end of a coding lesson though – they should foster an environment of hacking, and show pupils the value in starting a real business of their own.

With coding changing so quickly, an openness to experimentation matters more than ensuring every pupil is taught how to program in scheduled lesson time, by a teacher struggling to stay on top of the latest programming tools.

Have a hacking mentality

An environment of ‘hacking’ makes pupils feel they can do something by themselves, so as well as offering encouragement with extra-curricular coding projects, schools need to treat computers as something that can be interfered with.

Back when my schoolmate and I first created our learning platform, the school was quite wary, wondering if we would use code to abuse their trust.

Eventually they offered us spare computers to tinker with – computers were something we were able to disassemble and program, rather than purely something built by large companies that ran programs written by other large companies outside our control.

We kept our first server in the physics lab and our teachers championed our efforts to build our own business.

The value of starting a business

Starting a startup in school gives pupils something to own themselves and be proud of where they control the outcome instead of working within the limits of set schoolwork.

For some pupils, this could fundamentally change the way they see the world, and because all of them are being taught to code, a level playing field is created.

Even if they don’t find success with their product, the skills that pupils learn (including business, coding, and interpersonal) can be incredibly valuable later, for example when applying for college or university.

Their coding skills will be in hot demand, especially if the sector is as valuable as predicted, with the UK’s internet sector set to represent more than 12% of GDP by 2016.

3 tips for starting a school startup:

1. If you work in a school

Show them the creativity of code by asking what their favourite apps and games are, and ask them to come up with their own.

Suggest that they tinker with code outside of the classroom, and if possible ask parents to find mentors for their fledgling startups, though this will need careful management as regards pupil safety.

2. If you are a parent

You should bone up on coding with free services like Codecademy so you can share the experience and not be alienated by talk of code.

You should also be prepared to give business advice – but don’t be too brutal! Great ideas can come from those with the least business experience, solving problems they encounter in day to day (school) life.

3. If you are a school pupil

You could become one of the entrepreneurs you see on Dragons’ Den, or the next person to build an app like WhatsApp.

You can learn to build apps and games in your spare time with websites like Tynker or others on Code.org.

Your teachers and parents might not understand coding so be patient – show them what you’re working on and how you’re doing it, and they will happily help you begin to change the world.

Simon Hay is a founding partner of learning platform Firefly

Topics

Register for Free

Get daily updates and enjoy an ad-reduced experience.

Already have an account? Log in