Welcome to The Employable Child — a blog for parents, educators, and future-focused thinkers who believe we can’t afford to treat digital skills like an optional extra in childhood.
I’m Matt, a business owner, digital educator, and father, with over 11 years of experience in education and employability — from helping university students transition into careers, to running coding clubs that teach primary school children how to think digitally, create with code, and develop the problem-solving skills that will shape their futures.
🚸 What I’ve Learned Over a Decade Working in Education
In my role at a UK university, I’ve seen hundreds of graduates leave with strong academic records but lacking the practical, digital, and soft skills that employers desperately want. The World Economic Forum continues to highlight the most in-demand job skills — including critical thinking, complex problem-solving, tech literacy, and creativity — yet many young adults haven’t had meaningful opportunities to develop them.
This led me to a simple but urgent realisation:
If we wait until young people are in university to teach employability skills, we’ve already left it too late.
And when it comes to digital skills, that gap is growing even faster.
🌍 The World of Work is Changing — Fast
According to a Dell Technologies report, 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. At the same time, McKinsey estimates that nearly 375 million workers globally may need to switch occupational categories by 2030 due to automation and AI.
Let that sink in.
Now consider this: in a UK House of Lords report, schools were warned that digital literacy is now as important as reading and writing — yet many children still reach the end of primary school with only superficial exposure to IT, often limited to typing, online safety, or basic research.
And what happens next?
Many of these same children go through secondary school without ever learning to code, create digital media, build logical problem-solving skills, or collaborate through technology-first platforms — all of which are becoming essential for future careers.
👦 Why “The Employable Child”?
This blog exists to champion a bold, provocative idea:
That we should treat employability as a childhood priority — not something that starts at 16.
But don’t worry, I’m not advocating for CVs in Year 3 or interviews in Reception.
Instead, I’m arguing that children need early access to:
- Real digital skills (like coding, design thinking, and digital storytelling)
- Soft skills that matter (collaboration, resilience, critical thinking)
- And creative, tech-enabled learning environments that don’t treat computing as a once-a-week, bolt-on subject
Because if we don’t start building these competencies in primary school, we will continue to graduate young people who are digitally fluent in TikTok but digitally unprepared for the economy they’ll enter.
🚀 My Mission
The Employable Child is my way of challenging the outdated view that employability is something we tack on at the end of education. I believe children can be playful and purposeful, creative and career-ready, curious and future-proofed — if we give them the right tools early enough.
I’ll be sharing:
- Thought-provoking insights from the classroom and coding clubs
- Real stories from children learning to build, not just use, technology
- Actionable advice for schools and parents
- Interviews, research, and examples of what the future of work is demanding — and how we can prepare children now
If you’re ready to help shape the kind of future our kids deserve — not just survive in — then this blog is for you.
Let’s raise a generation who are not just consumers of technology, but creators, leaders, and thinkers in the digital age.
theemployablechild.com 