‘Video games are still steered towards boys’: The start-up igniting a love for coding in girls

Cypher CEO Elizabeth Tweedale talks to Zlata Rodionova about empowering children –and breaking up the boys’ club – with her creative coding classes

More than 1,000 kids have attended the computer camps (Cypher)

Arguments over screen times and devices have become a constant source of conflict between parents and their children. Yet, Elizabeth Tweedale, the founder and CEO of Cypher, a start-up which offers creatively themed coding courses for children aged 5 to 14, thinks we need to put things into perspective.

As an entrepreneur, a computer scientist and a mother of three, she’s passionate about making sure that the future generation understands the language of technology and the power of coding. In fact, her 11-year-old son Jaeden already runs his own online shop selling a variety of trinkets, from Pokemon cards to accessories left over from his little sister’s birthday party. The takings are donated to his school charity and organisations such as Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

The question becomes how can parents harness the positive aspects of technology to use it effectively? Tweedale argues that there are four different types of screen time – creative, communicative, active and passive.

“How we regulate screen time always changes and is individual to every child. We’ll try to limit passive screen, that’s when they’re just watching TV or YouTube. But there’s also communicative screen time, where they might be writing an email or talking to their grandma on FaceTime and then there’s also the creative and active use, where they’ll use it to learn something or do a creative activity.”

Both her children (her youngest daughter is just 16 months old) have to ask for authorisation before using their screens and explain what they’ll use them for. There’s also no passive screen time allowed during weekdays. “Essentially, if they can come up with an argument to say, this is why I need the screen time and this is what I’m going to do with it, they can break the rules. ”

The idea that technology can empower children to be confident, proactive problem-solvers is also what she’s trying to encourage through Cypher’s week-long courses or after-school clubs. During the classes children will learn how to code and then use their skills for a creative project. For example, during the coding and fashion class, children are taught how to use their new skill to design digital artwork.

‘Tech will be an essential part of our children’s working lives whatever career they choose’ (Cypher)

Prices vary depending on location and timings (half-term or summer break) from £245 for a three-day course and up to £400 for a week-long workshop. After-school clubs are cheaper at £160 for the term with one hour of activity per week. Since its launch in 2016, Cypher’s team has grown from three to 50 teachers and the start-up has hosted over 1,000 children in its coding camps. About 150 students come to after-school clubs on a weekly basis.

So what makes it stand out from other coding workshops? According to Tweedale, it comes down to Cypher’s engaging creative themes as well as the company’s focus on getting more girls into the discipline. About 45 per cent of the camp’s participants are female – one of Tweedale’s proudest achievement.

“Video games are still more steered toward boys rather than girls. I grew up playing Super Mario Bros and at the time you couldn’t choose to be a girl as a character, you could only save the princess. Or you would have Tomb Rider but she was more of a projection for teenage boys.

“At Cypher we are trying to change that. Take our conservation and code workshops, one of our most popular modules. Instead of presenting it as a class where you’ll learn to programme a drone for a day, an activity which is probably better suited to boys, we’ll teach how drones are being used to find and collect plastics in the ocean – making it more interesting for both boys and girls.

Embracing the fact that we think differently can actually helps women go further in whatever career they want to do

“It’s often about getting over those initial hurdles and fears ingrained into girls. We need to show them how exciting tech and Stem subjects can be.”

Tweedale, who was both the captain of the cheerleading team as well as the president of the Computer Science club and a gamer, hopes Cypher coding camps will help break the traditional gender barriers and preconceived roles in tech.

“Boys and girls get more by working together than they would apart. At age eight, boys have this super competitive drive but a very narrow focus, while girls at the same age have a much broader understanding of what’s going on in a lot of different places. If we bring them together both can benefit from each other.

“Embracing the fact that we think differently can actually helps women go further in whatever career they want to do. At work, it’s about figuring out what will break down the preconceived idea of what someone can have of you, so that they no longer see you as male or female but can actually understand your skillset.”

In July last year, the Cypher brought its total funding raised to around £440,000. Revenue has grown by 300 per cent in the last two years and is now over £500,000. Tweedale’s next step is to franchise the business in the US and the Middle East. And at a time where gloomy headlines are warning us that robots are about to take over our jobs, the entrepreneur’s ultimate goal is to make sure children are confident they can succeed in the future.

“We know that technology will be an essential part of our children’s working lives whatever career they choose. Computer Science is now a compulsory part of the national curriculum, we know these skills are important. But Cypher’s adds real-life context and imagination to that. I want our students to get ahead and be inspired.”