New micro-volunteering app enables UK schools to utilise professional help in teaching STEM subjects

As UK schools express their concerns over the smaller-than-expected Covid catch-up support budget and latest change to the allocation of pupil funding for disadvantaged pupils, London-based digital education non-profit 1HOUR is offering help by launching a free app that will enable UK schools to utilise professional help in teaching extracurricular subjects one hour at a time.

A variety of subjects are offered, with a focus on STEM subjects such as coding, robotics, maths and animation.

“School resources have been stretched very thin during Covid and teachers are still under a lot of stress to help students make up lost time.” says Mady Korada, Founder of 1HOUR.

“People want to help. By offering remote micro-volunteering opportunities in small chunks of one-hour commitments, we enable schools to utilise help from professionals and corporate volunteers who are keen to share their knowledge but may not have much time to give. In this way school children can be introduced to extremely useful and fun knowledge that may not be sufficiently covered in schools, such as coding, robotics and personal finance.”  

Available in iOS and Android, the 1HOUR free app allows listed schools to post available sessions and requirements. Registered schools can post available timeslots and volunteers can sign up and apply with just a few clicks and schools can accept if they find the volunteers suitable. The app also offers a video call function via which lessons can be taught online.

By matching available volunteers with schools in need, 1HOUR makes the entire process stress-free for both schools and volunteers. As classes take place online, volunteers can easily contribute their time from anywhere without having to go through the long and complicated vetting process and DBS checks. In the past 1HOUR has enabled schools to bring in coders from Google and private finance tutors from Goldman Sachs.

Lesson plans help minimise teaching preparation

Another unique feature of 1HOUR is lesson plans. In line with its goal to make micro-volunteering as easy as possible, 1HOUR offers a vast collection of lesson plans for primary and secondary school children on different subjects from coding, robotics and animation to maths, personal finance and art.

This compilation of free online educational tools is intended to save volunteers time in preparing each teaching session. Volunteers can adapt or combine them as needed for a one-hour session. Without having to plan a class from scratch, teaching for 1HOUR is easy and requires minimal preparation time.

Early exposure to STEM knowledge crucial to future development

As the world shifts further to a digital age, STEM knowledge becomes increasingly important to the development and career opportunities of the younger generation. Faced with underfunding and shortage of qualified teachers, combined with the financial strain and loss of teaching hours caused by the Covid pandemic, schools with fewer resources often struggle to provide children with such knowledge.

By leveraging professionals and corporate volunteers from around the world, 1HOUR offers children early exposure to these subjects as well as the professional world, which can have a significant effect on their future academic and career choices and narrow the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, more schools have adopted online lessons as a regular teaching activity and remote volunteering has become more important than ever. Over the past two years, 1HOUR has seen more than 500 volunteer applications and offered more than 30 hours of teaching to nearly 900 children from five schools in the UK.