As we all know, technology is here to stay, and the digital economy will continue its expansion. How can parents then prepare their children for the future and allow them to thrive in the digital world? Education and skills are key.
Photo: The Coding Goûter events have made the Code Club Luxembourg network successful since 2012 / Credits © Code Club Luxembourg
In Luxembourg, several options are available that introduce kids and teenagers to programming concepts, coding principles and logical thinking. Here is our selection of the best programs for the younger generation:
Learning is fun with “Code Club” and “Kids Life Skills” (4-13 years old)
– Code Club Luxembourg was initiated in 2012 in the UK and has grown to thousands of clubs worldwide in only few years. In Luxembourg, 6 associations have already been launched which are run by passionate volunteers who are more than happy to share their knowledge.
Code Club aims to familiarise kids from 8 to 12 with coding in a playful manner that’s adapted to their age. Gaëlle, a mother of two, found that the general education system was not focusing enough on science and digital topics. Her daughters attended Code Club workshops and, they enjoyed it! “Chloe was proud to build her own gaming console with Scratch”. The goal was reached, her kids want to go further and discover more about technology.
– Kids Life Skills uses coding games to develop kids’ independent logical thinking and autonomous learning while promoting creativity and co-operation. It is suitable for children aged 4 to 13 who are grouped according to their age. The different groups use specific tools and methods suitable for their age that include learning coding concepts through games without screens, using Scratch on a tablet as well as interacting with a child-friendly robots.
Workshops are available in three languages (English, French and Luxemburgish). To make it accessible to as many kids as possible, the organisation offers subsidy options supported by the Luxembourg National research fund (FNR) and Digital Luxembourg.
Explore further with the “Luxembourg Tech School” (11-19 years old)
The LTS, a non-profit founded in 2016, “is a new extracurricular school to support the development of future Digital Leaders”. Young people, passionate about the digital world, will have the opportunity to develop their skills and learn about the hottest topics such as Game Development, AI for Finance, Big Data and many others.
The program is organized around 3 blocks of 12 weeks and is very practice oriented as it focus on teamwork and encourages creativity and innovation. Each student works on his own project and will present it to the public at the end of the course. The school also organizes extra events on a regular basis like GameDev challenges and Hackathons.
Prepare yourself for a job with “NumericAll” (18+)
NumericALL is a coding school based in Esch-sur-Alzette. If your teenager is considering orientating his career to a web-related job or if he is still hesitating, then NumericALL may have the answer. They offer three different type of trainings to help their students orient themselves and eventually jump into a tech career:
– My Compass is a free online orientation bootcamp that allows young adults to discover jobs related to web programming and to start building their path towards a career in tech.
– CodeStart is a two-weeks program where participants will learn the basics of coding, build their first web pages and discover how to build a mobile game.
– Coding Jobs is a 4-months professional program that trains participants to become junior full stack developers and teach students both hard and soft skills that will prepare them for their future job.
There is clearly no lack of available options for learning coding in Luxembourg. Each age has its adapted course, from playful methods to more business orientated ones. Getting new skills always has an added value and the only way for child to develop an interest in a new topic is to make them try.
So, will you give your child that chance?
