inspiring our future generations
Bridging the digital skills gap
Who are we?
The Brum Muse was founded as a roundtable back in 2019 to tackle issues around the digital skills gap and digital poverty. From there, it has grown into a CIC that has provided laptops and tablets to families in need during the pandemic and had very successful collaborations with Birmingham Tech and verious schools, colleges and universities.
The CX Squared group are action led, and constantly cultivating new ideas to innovate the talent space. We are fully committed to bringing the tech community together through collaboration, initiatives and inspiring the now and next-gen.
The
vision
The Brum Muse started as a forum that met bi-monthly to suggest working practices, ideas, concepts and tangible objectives with a number of key people from within the tech and educational professional network.
It was created in order to identify the issues within the digital divide and implement a pro-active system and list of actions that would lead to the realistic bridging of the digital skills gap in Birminham and the West Midlands.
It was created in order to identify the issues within the digital divide and implement a pro-active system and list of actions that would lead to the realistic bridging of the digital skills gap in Birminham and the West Midlands.
"To collaborate with key tech organisations, local government authorities, charities, academic, education and training institutions, learning and apprenticeship hubs within the city and the West Midlands to work together to implement key strategies to solve the digital skills gap."
THE
Mission
Our Partners
WHAT DO WE DO?
YOU CAN'T BE WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE
TECH AND DIGITAL DEBATES
SPEED CAREER NETWORKING
TOUR OF A TECH COMPANY
HOW TO TURN AN IDEA INTO A BUSINESS
TECH PROJECTS AT SCHOOL
TECH TASTER SESSIONS
INTERACTIVE TECH SHOWCASE
DIGITAL SKILLS TECH COLLAB
"MY ROUTE INTO TECH"
WHY THE BRUM MUSE?
The Brum Muse is the alternative. We create opportunity, we nurture innovation and we level the playing field for young people that may not see success in typical avenues.
There are students from under-represented backgrounds that don't recognise themselves in successful people. We provide a mirror image, of people like them, becoming successful in Tech.
There are students from under-represented backgrounds that don't recognise themselves in successful people. We provide a mirror image, of people like them, becoming successful in Tech.
OUR PACKAGES
Our Packages are based on half day and full day initiatives and events. The needs of the students, teachers and in some cases parents, mean we want to ensure that every initiative and event we create not only has impact, but they are bespoke and curated in collaboration with everyone involved.
HALF DAY
3 hours (either morning or afternoon) including all resources and contributors
FULL DAY
6 hours including all resources and contributors
SCHOOLS
The importance of working with young people is absolutely fundamental to the bridging of the digital skills gap. We should be working with young people at an early age, not just at GCSE when it is too late and their minds are made up as to the direction they feel they should take. We do not forget the part that parents and teachers play in influencing their children and students and we want to help educate and make them understand the importance digital skills and tech plays in our lives now and will play in the future.
THE GOALS
Our goals are to work with young people of all ages to inspire, educate and understand the routes and careers available in tech and digital, bringing young professional tech people into schools to inspire pupils and tell them their stories, find employers to showcase what they do via school trips or product demos, bringing university students and lecturers doing a Computer Science or similar digital course into schools, and using STEM to support this through their Computing programme.
DIGITAL POVERTY
One thing the pandemic has demonstrated is the digital divide within certain pockets within our city and region. Families and young people are having to choose food over connectivity and in some cases all having to share one device between many siblings, which is causing many children fall behind in their education. We are supposedly living in a digital and modern era and this is simply not good enough. Digital inclusion should be for all and we want to help ensure that people have access to connectivity and devices.
THE GOALS
Our goals are to identify key areas of the city to work to promote and teach Digital skills with a focus on ALL people within a community, not just young people. We also want to look at widening participation backgrounds of young people in schools, increase engagement with schools considered to have a high nmber of students from widening participation backgrounds and analysing data from schools that have received Pupil Premium funding as an additional measure to help us to understand depravity within local authority areas of the city.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The topic of diversity and inclusion has come to the forefront over the last 12 months following the unlawful killing of George Floyd back in May 2020. This is a pivotal time in our history; to educate; to make a change in our organisations and to no longer stand on the sidelines. It should not matter who we are, what are background, where we come from or what our gender, but we should now stand together and be allies, in order to make a positive change. Birmingham and the West Midlands is one of the most diverse populations in the UK but this is not represented in the tech industry.
PEOPLE FROM DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS
There is a lack of BAME representation within the Tech community that has led us to want to support and promote tech heavily within Birmingham and the West Midlands. Guestimate figures from different sources include 1-2% (British Computer Society), 4% (Colour in Tech) 14% (TechNation). Where can we find clearer numbers?
WOMEN IN TECH
Women currently working in the tech industry across the UK is 17% - We need to establish a clear idea of this within Birmingham and the West Midlands: Tech Nation - Naomi Nash.
BAME women role models at senior levels whom have or would like to speak within the region and may have their business here: Oyinkansola Adebayo, NIYO Enterprise.
BAME women role models at senior levels whom have or would like to speak within the region and may have their business here: Oyinkansola Adebayo, NIYO Enterprise.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Further stats on improving access to work and the correct work environments to accommodate people with disabilities.
Understanding case studies of businesses that have already gone over and beyond that are not just corporates that must fulfill such standards.
Understanding case studies of businesses that have already gone over and beyond that are not just corporates that must fulfill such standards.
AN ANNUAL DIGITAL SKILLS REGIONAL CONFERENCE
The goal is to create an annual digital skills conference to connect all of the dots from the tech eco-system. Young people cannot be inspired if they have nothing to be inspired by and this annual regional digital skills conference will bring together schools, digital skills providers, tech companies, role models and whoever wants to play a part in inspiring, educating and more importantly being a vehicle for change. This is what we believe will be fundamental if we are to bridge the digital skills gap, be more inclusive and ensuring that digital access can be achieved for all.
ONLINE COMMUNITY PLATFORM
As of August 2021, The Brum Muse is now a community interest company. Now the hard work begins as we set out to empower the next-gen of tech talent who will be tasked with building an online portal that will be thebrummuse.io.
If you are interested in hearing more or being part of the journey, then please get in touch.
If you are interested in hearing more or being part of the journey, then please get in touch.
Did you
know?
ACCEPTANCES INTO COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSES HAS RISEN BY ALMOST 50% FROM 20420 IN 2011 TO 30090 IN 2020
UK GRADUATES FROM STEM DEGREES ARE TYPICALLY ABLE TO ACCESS A HIGHER STARTING WAGE COMPARED TO JUST GAINING GCSES
THE NUMBER OF UK 18 YEAR OLDS FROM DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUNDS ACCEPTED INTO FULL TIME COURSES HAS INCREASED BY 79%
ONLY 17% OF UK IT SPECIALISTS ARE FEMALE, 8% ARE DISABLED AND 21% ARE OVER 50
BETWEEN 2010 AND 2020, THE NUMBER OF WOMEN ACCEPTED INTO STEM UNDERGRADUATE COURSES INCREASED BY 49%
CODING IS AN EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY DUE TO A SKILLS SHORTAGE
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