Our 2025/26 impact journey
We help schools deliver innovative, project-based learning that equips young people with the tech innovation and essential skills to shape their future. This year has been full of learning - how AI advancements are shaping the world of work we’re preparing young people for, how we can update our courses to build the most important skills, and how we can continue evolving our approach to understanding and measuring our impact.
In 2025/26, our courses reached:
Schools
Young People
Teachers
Our Theory of Change
Everything we do and the decisions we make are guided by the impact we aim to have. Our Theory of Change describes how our activities lead to key long and short-term outcomes for the young people that take part in our courses. These outcomes, in turn, contribute to building a world in which every young person has the skills to shape their future. Our Theory of Change ensures we are impact-led, and helps us hold ourselves accountable to our mission and vision.
The skills that matter
In an increasingly AI-driven world, young people need a balance of digital literacy, computing and essential life skills. This year, we developed our existing course materials to better facilitate this skills development, and designed AI for Good 2.0 - our brand new course designed to go even further on skills.
of student survey respondents enjoyed generating app ideas
of student survey respondents enjoyed building their app prototype
of student survey respondents reported increased confidence in their computing skills
of student survey respondents reported improvements in two or more essential skills
of teacher survey respondents observed improvements in two or more essential skills among their students
I’ve definitely got better at working in a team, and we’ve learned about pitching ideas [...] Before, we were both pretty nervous and now we’re used to it, it's way easier and we’re not as nervous.
This project has got a lot of my students excited about either app design and UX, programming or both! I love delivering this course!
All of our pupils take part in [Industry Engagement], not just those whose app is thought to be the best. This is very inclusive. The fact that they work in groups is popular with pupils and helps the development of social and team working skills that are required by many employers.
I really enjoyed the pitch because it was an experience to practise my speaking skills. [...] I felt quite shy before. Afterwards, I had some confidence and I felt really glad about what I did.
The whole course helped me with my public speaking and communication, especially presenting the app.
The course naturally fosters essential transferable skills that are critical in the modern workplace [...] It helps students understand how to communicate their ideas effectively and see the wider value of their technical knowledge.
We really built up our coding skills and our computing. I think we're all really confident now, much more than we were before.
[The course] helped me to learn not to just give up on my ideas. At first, I was really struggling with starting to make [the app] and to continue making it, because I found tons of bugs in the process, but I fixed it.
I liked how we are learning how to code, which could help us if we choose Computer Science for GCSE.
Inspired by industry
Young people’s access to opportunities to build their careers knowledge and workplace readiness continues to be a major challenge. We leverage our network of industry professionals to bring meaningful industry insights and inspiration to learners on Apps for Good courses, broadening their understanding of what it means and looks like to work in tech.
of student survey respondents who had an Industry Engagement session found the feedback from volunteers helpful
of teacher survey respondents rated their Industry Engagement session as “Excellent” or “Very good”
student teams entered our 2026 Showcase
volunteers reviewed and provided feedback on students' app ideas
reviews of students’ app ideas
votes in our Showcase People’s Choice Award
I’m given greater hope that these people will be our engineers, designers, or even law-makers in the future, and that our world and society will really benefit from their input.
Both students and teachers enjoy the Industry Volunteer sessions which add an extra dimension that could not otherwise be achieved as staff do not have the business knowledge or experience to provide this.
[The volunteer] spoke about their personal experiences with reading apps and they said key features that they really enjoyed, so we felt that we could integrate that to make our app more clean.
[Through the Showcase pitch] I learned that people are really interested in what you have to say when it comes to a new idea, especially something you've worked so hard for. You don't have to be so nervous some of the time, it will be okay.
The questions were very insightful and it really made us think about what we were missing out on and made us consider things that we hadn't perhaps considered before [...] The pitch was actually quite fun.
I've never had to pitch an idea to someone before. It was really fun, like a once in a lifetime experience. It also helps with speaking skills.
My most exciting moment was when we presented our idea to the [Industry Volunteers] after school.
Project-based learning
The project-based learning at the centre of Apps for Good courses connects students’ work to real-world problems and gives it context, purpose, and relevance. As well as leading to more engaged, motivated learners, this helps challenge preconceptions about computing and broadens students’ aspirations for the future.
of student survey respondents enjoyed taking part in the course
of student survey respondents feel more knowledgeable about how technology can benefit society or the climate
of student survey respondents feel more confident in their ability to use technology to shape their life and the world around them
[I liked] bringing our idea to life and designing the pitch, because it feels like I'm contributing to something important
It was quite fun making [the app] and then bringing it into real life [...] You design it, you pick something that interests you, so it makes you more motivated [...] I think it's increased [my interest in using technology for good] because helping people and making a change in society is quite important to me.
Coming up with the idea is probably the part of the process we enjoyed the most, because you feel a bit more ownership over it [...] It's quite a motivating experience, because it properly showed how you can take an idea from start to finish, and create something tangible.
Before, it’s not that I didn't care about changing the world. I just wasn't as passionate about it, but after doing Apps for Good, after realising what I've done and what I'm planning on changing, it made me feel quite glad and quite relieved. It has made me feel like I do want to change the world in more ways.
It's an original idea, so that got me very excited and motivated me through a lot of things because I know I'm not just copying.
When students are given the freedom to tackle social issues they genuinely care about, their engagement increases significantly. This autonomy fosters a strong sense of ownership; they are not just working for a grade, but to solve a problem.
I've always wanted to improve the world, but this has helped show me that it doesn't have to be a big event. It can be small actions. It can be as simple as an app to make a difference for somebody out there.
[I liked] that you can use your own creativity in [this course], because in classes you can’t really use that [...] I think I found computer science a bit boring but doing it ourselves, I enjoy it more.
2025/26 in focus: independent evaluation
For the last three years, Apps for Good have been working with the Institute for Employment Studies on an independent evaluation of our App for Social Action Course. As the project concludes, we reflect on our key learnings and what we’re doing next as a result of this work.