Artificial intelligence (AI) played a significant role in the tech skills landscape in 2025, from helping teachers do their jobs to becoming a vital skill for people to learn.
On the other hand, hiring across the technology sector was less predictable, with fewer jobs advertised, though having the right skills was found to increase job security.
Skills will continue to be important going forward, regardless of where AI takes the sector.
Admin tasks are one of the useful ways AI can make jobs easier, and at the 2025 BETT Show, the UK’s education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, claimed using it for lesson planning would free up teachers’ time for other tasks.
The UK government’s plans for the future will have teachers using AI for marking, lesson planning and personalised student feedback to leave them time to give students “the best education possible”.
The plans came alongside the government’s Plan for Change and its AI Opportunities Action Plan.
The technology job market has seen many ups and downs in recent years, seeing a spike during the pandemic followed by widespread redundancies.
In 2024, research by the Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) found a year-on-year drop in the number of advertised tech roles, possibly as firms let the hiring landscape settle before committing to increasing numbers again.
Interest in a future technology career is more prominent among young people in the UK with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), research found.
EngineeringUK and The Royal Society found, as part of their Science education tracker, that of the 47% of students who said they would be interested in a tech role in the future, 43% were SEND students versus 37% non-SEND students.
Encouraging young people, particularly girls, into the technology sector has been an ongoing battle, and 2025 found fewer students were interested in taking a more technical educational route than anticipated.
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found the Department for Education (DfE) overestimated the number of people who would be likely to take T-levels. Originally, the DfE had aimed to have 100,000 students starting a T-level in September 2025, but had to revise this number due to slower-than-expected uptake, with its latest model showing around 50,000 to 60,000 students will be taking T-levels by September 2027.
Because technology skills are in high demand, roles that require a technical skillset offer more reliability than others, according to research.
Research from LiveCareer found employees in the UK change jobs every 2.6 years on average, whereas those in roles such as robotics engineering and Java programming stay in one place for longer than average, making these careers “highly stable”.
Practical lessons at school motivate children to continue to pursue subjects and contribute towards them possibly having science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers in the future, according to research.
But EngineeringUK and The Royal Society’s Science education tracker found a decline in practical classes being delivered in recent years, with more needing to be done to deliver hands-on education in the future.
Digital skills are extremely important, not only for the future of work but also for modern life, so it was a surprise to find research suggesting many children aren’t taught how to code at school.
Research from the Raspberry Pi Foundation found 70% of parents claim their children aren’t being taught how to code as part of their normal school lessons.
Philip Colligan, CEO of the education charity, warned against this becoming the norm, stating that this trend risks forgetting what skills learning to code brings with it.
An investigation into how AI is being used in schools found that many education providers are using the technology to offer personalised assistance to children who may need extra help due to life circumstances.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) looked into early adopters of the technology to find out how it’s being used and assess the positives and challenges of using AI in an educational setting.
While the overall number of students choosing A-level computing dropped in 2025, the number of girls taking the subject rose for the sixth year in a row.
Girls also achieved higher grades than their male counterparts, with grade attainment increasing across the board.
However, the number of girls taking GCSE computing dropped in 2025, along with the overall number of candidates.
As the year rounded out, motor parts retailer Halfords recommended people focus on hands-on skills going forward as AI changes the tech job landscape.
Research by Halfords found parents agree with this direction, with 89% of parents having changed the advice they give their children about careers in the wake of AI adoption.
The concern is that AI will make it more difficult for people to find jobs in the future, so differing skillsets will make them more desirable candidates.