Canterbury Tech Skills Pilot Programme

Did you know it is estimated 1 in 10 New Zealander’s are dyslexic?

Canterbury Tech has partnered with Dorenda Britten Ltd and Dorenda’s amazing team of researchers and dyslexic experts to deliver one of Canterbury Tech’s first special projects, that is, supporting dyslexic people into tech careers.

The project is in part responding to the much publicised lack of skills available to the tech sector.

Dyslexic people often have highly developed problem solving, visual communication and leadership skills that are well suited to technology sector roles, however many have had challenging experiences through educational and recruitment processes that haven’t supported them to reach their full potential.

This Canterbury Tech special project team includes facilitators, researchers and innovators co-designing a service blueprint for, and together with, dyslexic people currently working in the tech industry to improve their work experience.

The project is part funded by MBIE and with generous sponsorship from private donors and Vodafone. We are currently looking for more Sponsorship for Stage 1, the service blueprint & Stage 2, the pilot, before a national rollout based on the pilot findings.

Inde, Trimble and Phocas Software are the current industry partners who have been participating generously in the co-design of our service blueprint with their HR teams and neurodiverse staff members.

We are also collecting video footage to document and share the journey.

If you’d like to know more about the project or to support this important work through sponsorship please get in touch at info@canterburytech.nz

Image: Callum McKirdy, Chris Cole, Dorenda Britten, Ann Brown, Rachael Hurren (Inde) who hosted the second workshop.