For high/secondary schools

Free access to FT.com for high/secondary
school students anywhere in the world.

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1Check if your school is already registered

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Please fill in the form to register your interest. A member of the team will


be in touch to discuss setting up your institution with free FT access.

Only a school staff member should fill in this form.
If you are a student, please share this page with a staff member so they can sign-up.

If you are participating in our NCTJ prize draw, please read our the T&Cs here.

For any inquiries after registering, please click here.
For other inquiries, please email schools@ft.com.

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Preparing for life after school

Free access to FT.com can help students with relevant and fresh ideas for study, extra-curricular activities, advice on the world of work and interviews. Universities and employers confirm that broader general knowledge helps the best candidates stand out. For a full description, click here.

Participants receive access to all FT.com content available to regular subscribers. In addition, with the help of teachers, we highlight and guide readers to FT journalism that can enrich education and help prepare students for successful careers.

What does FT do for students

  • Improve learning through examples of concepts learned in the classroom
  • Prepare for the world beyond school through tips and insights
  • Broaden general knowledge to prepare for active life and citizenship
  • Develop news literacy to tackle disinformation

If you are a teacher, librarian or school officer

Register your interest for free access to FT.com. This offer is for any school worldwide teaching 16-19 year old students.

If you are a student, parent, governor or someone else with an interest

Please share details with teachers, schools and colleges you know and tell them to register at ft.com/schoolsarefree. For more information you can read our guide to the Financial Times for schools programme, or if your school already has access, our guide to creating or reactivating your FT.com account.

Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school

Our journey

John Ridding, CEO of the FT, gave a talk at my school on journalism when I was 15. I found it fascinating and wanted to learn more about reporting the news and the role it plays in our lives. After an opportunistic chat following the lecture, John agreed to let me spend some time at the FT to better understand journalism in action.

During my time absorbing how the FT works, it occurred to me that there was a role for its journalism to keep informed young people emerging into the adult world.

My generation will inherit so many different challenges so we need to be more informed and engaged in these big global issues from a younger age. We must get access to high-quality journalism. I told John that the FT had a responsibility to help people like me to better understand the world. So the idea of FT Schools was born.

From here, lots of conversations with some truly inspiring people across the FT brought the idea to life. I am grateful to John and the rest of the FT Board for their open-mindedness and willingness to listen to me when at the time, I was a teenage outsider.

Once hired, I was fortunate enough to work with brilliant people to bring the FT to students around the world. I am very proud of what we achieved and how FT Schools continues to grow, helping students with everything from essays and everyday school work, to helping them make the next decision about their future after school.

KRISHAN PUVVADA
FT Schools Founder

Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school
Preparing for life after school

Our Student Advocate Programme

The Financial Times is offering ambitious students in high/secondary schools around the world the chance to become FT advocates.

Student Advocates will develop leadership skills and confidence by representing the views of students to the FT and promoting the advantages of reading the FT to their friends and teachers. Advocates will become the voice of students so we can better understand their views, vision and ambitions. Schools can also benefit from a more engaged and informed students.

The role can be completed from their school, maintaining a regular communication with the FT Schools team digitally. The role is unpaid and the placement runs for four months, typically from October to February. We recommend that students spend roughly four hours per month on their role. If your secondary school does not have access to FT.com, you can sign up for free.

For more information, please refer to the FAQs and guidelines below.

We also welcome teachers as FT advocates and advisers, to help suggest content and formats to make the FT useful in teaching. Email us for details at schools@ft.com.

As a Student Advocate I learned many things including proactivity, teamwork, public speaking and networking. I have also improved my time management skills, learning to balance my FT work with my school work, which will be helpful for university. I would recommend being a Student Advocate to anyone looking to develop transferable skills, regardless of what they are studying and it has been a confidence booster, and something I never would have done before.

Lauren, Hills Road Sixth Form College

Read the case study

Find out more about the Student Advocate Programme
and discover what the benefits could mean for you.

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Student Advocate Programme 2023-24

Applications are now closed.
Please check this page regularly for updates.

Guidelines

  1. Student Advocates must prioritise their school work over this role. If you (or your teachers) feel that your workload is too much, you must pause your participation activities until you have more time. If this happens, please email your mentor who will be able to offer the support you need.
  2. Participation in the FT Student Advocate Forum is encouraged but isn’t compulsory. When posting on the forum, you must not post any content that:
    a) belongs to someone else (such as copyright material);
    b) consists of advertising, sponsored or promotional links or content;
    c) is offensive, defamatory, threatening or indecent;
    d) discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age; or
    e) personally attacks other members of the forum.
  3. You must not act in any way that is harmful to the FT or your school.
  4. You must only promote the FT within your school, not externally.
  5. You must not use the FT brand to promote or endorse any of your other activities.
  6. We encourage Student Advocates to be creative, but ideas which involve using the FT brand must be cleared with the FT first via Slack.

The FT can cancel your participation at any time if we believe that you have broken any of these rules. If we cancel your participation then you must stop all activity relating to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Schools can offer two curious and ambitious students a work experience opportunity at a prestigious news organisation. Improving engagement with current affairs makes for a more informed sixth form: 92% of FT reading students say the FT improves their intellectual curiosity and 85% feel they understand their subjects better from reading the FT. This Programme is great for schools looking to demonstrate they are meeting the Gatsby careers benchmarks.

Teachers must nominate no more than two Student Advocates who are entitled to or use FT under the FT Schools programme. Schools can decide how they choose their Student Advocate. Often teachers ask students to write an application as to why they think they would excel in the role. Teachers then fill in the online form to register their students. Each year, 250 places are available and we will typically offer them on a first come first serve basis.

100% of students in previous years felt they had some or significant development in their time management, leadership, communication and creativity and public speaking in their exit survey. Students will be able to showcase these new skills gained through working for the FT in their personal statement/CV, helping to make applications more impressive. The Programme is also an excellent networking opportunity. Students will work with like-minded, bright young people and the FT Schools team. References will also be made available upon request to those students who are actively engaged with the programme.

Student Advocates will show their friends and teachers the benefits of reading the FT in school such as: understanding topics taught in lessons better, adding real world context to essays, preparing for university applications and feeling more confident with careers and personal finance decisions.

Student Advocates will also develop ideas to help transform the FT into a more compelling resource for young people. This will entail:

  • Completing our task list for how to build the profile of the FT (tasks include meeting teachers from different departments, a short presentation in assembly, etc.). We will provide guidance on how to do this.
  • Explaining and developing ideas on how the FT can be more relevant to young people.
  • Monthly calls with the FT Schools team.

The internship is entirely remote - all work is done either online or in school. There are no current visits to the FT offices.

The programme runs for four months each academic year, typically from September to December.

It is entirely flexible, but we recommend roughly 4 hours per month. Academic work should come first, and students should pause participation if their workload becomes too much. You can speak with your mentor if you have any concerns.

Students are grouped together in groups of 50. Each group is mentored by a Student University Mentor. Their mentor will answer questions on Slack, post feedback/new resources as well as lead monthly calls. Mentors will be the point of contact for advocates, but there will be involvement from others in the FT Schools team including the Global Education Editor and the Project Lead for FT Schools.

The FT will provide the advocates with all the resources needed to complete the prescribed tasks, help Advocates develop their own ideas for how to increase awareness of the FT in schools and support students in their personal development throughout the Programme.

What teachers say about FT Schools

Gavin Clarke
Gavin Clarke
Gavin Clarke
Gavin Clarke
Gavin Clarke

The FT is a fantastic resource for students to practice applying theory in context, as they will have to do in the external exams.

Gavin Clarke, Head of Sixth Form, Emmanuel College, United Kingdom

What students say about FT Schools

Zoelle Soh
Zoelle Soh
Zoelle Soh
Zoelle Soh
Zoelle Soh

I thought all FT articles would be about the economy and businesses but I have now found a new passion: travel articles.

Zoelle Soh, Student, Dulwich College, Singapore
James Lamont - Director, Strategic Partnerships
James Lamont - Director, Strategic Partnerships
James Lamont - Director, Strategic Partnerships
James Lamont - Director, Strategic Partnerships
James Lamont - Director, Strategic Partnerships

James Lamont

Director, Strategic Partnerships

Andrew Jack - Global Education Editor
Andrew Jack - Global Education Editor
Andrew Jack - Global Education Editor
Andrew Jack - Global Education Editor
Andrew Jack - Global Education Editor

Andrew Jack

Global Education Editor

Kimberley Lim - Operations Manager
Kimberley Lim - Operations Manager
Kimberley Lim - Operations Manager
Kimberley Lim - Operations Manager
Kimberley Lim - Operations Manager

Kimberley Lim

Operations Manager

Hamad Tahir - Project Lead
Hamad Tahir - Project Lead
Hamad Tahir - Project Lead
Hamad Tahir - Project Lead
Hamad Tahir - Project Lead

Hamad Tahir

Project Lead