Education & Outreach
At GCHQ we believe in inspiring the next generation and empowering people across the country to play their part in the UK's national security
Throughout the UK our workforce are sharing their knowledge and are partnering with businesses, charities and schools to empower the next generation of innovative minds.
It's important to GCHQ and the UK that a diverse range of people across the nation learn skills in STEM. We need a digitally literate population because understanding the latest technologies and how to keep yourself safe online helps you play a small part in keeping the nation safe. It also means you can take advantage of the digital economy and may even set you up to work for us one day.
Education
You're never too young or too old to learn digital, STEM or language skills. Our people go out into classrooms, work with educators and run our own events to help people pick up new skills.
Our linguists offer in-person and virtual visits to schools to inspire pupils with their language learning, and to promote the importance of language skills in the workplace. They also host language taster sessions to give an insight into the rarer modern languages we utilise daily at GCHQ. We also run workshops in partnership with Manchester Digital that teach code breaking and problem solving techniques to give a glimpse of what our Intelligence Analysts do daily.
We have staff who are part of the STEM Ambassador programme which encourages young people to enjoy STEM subjects and supports teachers by explaining how STEM skills are used in industry and research.
GCHQ runs Summer Schools at our sites across the UK to give teenagers a glimpse of what it's like to work with us. They learn some key skills in cyber security and computer science to set them up for bright futures.
We also works alongside Universities through the NCSC to support those getting STEM degrees, masters and PhDs specifically focusing on technology, cyber security, mathematics and engineering.
Outreach
As well as teaching our specialist skills, sometimes we just want to inspire people to try something new or celebrate the talent of others. We also think its important to share the business and soft skills that can help people build their careers.
We host interactive displays and events at various National Science Fairs including the Big Bang Science Fair in Birmingham which sees the audiences test their skills against a variety of games. We have also sponsored HACKathons that get teams to work together and use coding skills to think of innovative solutions to problems.
We work with schools to help students with interview practice session and paired reading schemes which help to build confidence. And on Instagram and X we share insights into historical and modern cryptographic techniques and set puzzles and challenges that anyone can have a go at.