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A new partnership co-funded by Atos — a global leader in AI-powered digital transformation — and Tech First Youth, is set to make Futures Readiness available for free to up to 650,000 learners across the West Midlands.
Futures Readiness is a holistic AI preparedness programme designed to help students and staff make sense of rapid technological change.
The partnership, delivered in collaboration with BMet’s Digital Technical Excellence College, the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust and the Rigby Foundation, and endorsed by Birmingham City Council, will enable schools and colleges to access the programme’s regular, real-time resources free of charge.
Society and the workplace are being reshaped by AI with new capabilities, risks and behaviours emerging in cycles of weeks and months. Futures Readiness is designed to help education keep up with the development of AI as responsive enrichment to the curriculum, rather than a static course or one-off intervention.
Every three weeks, Futures Readiness produces interactive videos helping schools respond to live developments in AI, education, work and society. Each resource distils complex and fast-moving change into accessible, critically engaging content. Built-in pause-points, discussion prompts and reflective questions enable students and staff to interrogate the implications of what is happening rather than passively consume information about it, as well as considering what the use of AI means for learning, relationships, wellbeing and privacy.
The programme centres around the concept of AI Discernment, which describes the judgement to know when and how AI should be used, when it should be approached with caution, and where it shouldn’t be applied. By teaching AI literacy and critical thinking, Futures Readiness equips young people and educators to live, learn and work in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
This partnership marks Atos’ third investment into the development of AI skills in the West Midlands this year. In February, Atos announced the creation of 30 apprenticeships at its Sovereign Delivery Centre on Birmingham Business Park in Solihull, which works to address the growing demand for sovereign UK-based IT delivery, agentic automation, data hosting and resiliency. The apprentices are on AI-proofed career paths, with Atos giving them the skills and experience they need to grow alongside AI and build resilient careers that evolve with technology rather than compete with it.
In March, it launched an online digital skills provision with its partner Lynx Learning, which includes courses on AI. Targeted at those in the region who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), these individuals have access to a catalogue of digital and employability courses, supported by a dedicated employment coach.
Futures Readiness already reaches tens of thousands of students and educators in Birmingham. It provides age-appropriate resources at Foundation level for Upper Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, and at Core level for Key Stages 4 and 5, as well as teachers and adults working in education. Schools and colleges across the West Midlands can now access Futures Readiness resources free of charge.
