WordPress Credits, announced at WordCamp Europe 2025, has published its first comprehensive analysis of student feedback since the program began. The analysis, published by Isotta Peira, Head of WordPress Credits at Automattic, is based on responses from 242 students collected between December 2025 and June 2026.
The analysis found that students face the most difficulty when getting started and deciding which contribution to take on. Once they begin contributing, the feedback shows high levels of satisfaction and confidence. Based on it, WordPress Credits has outlined several changes, including a central place for relevant resources, tracks tailored to students’ fields of study, and a new focus for the 50-hour course.
Getting started is the biggest challenge for students
The feedback came from students taking part in both the 150-hour and 50-hour courses. The surveys asked about their overall experience, mentor support, their contributions and the skills they gained, with students on the longer course surveyed at three stages and those on the shorter course surveyed at completion.
Most respondents, 83%, were studying Technology & Engineering. The rest came from Design & Creative Media, Languages, Business and Humanities. The responses were also concentrated geographically, with LATAM accounting for 51% and EMEA for 44%, leaving 5% from the US/Canada and APAC.
The strongest scores came after students had begun their contributions. Project satisfaction averaged 4.45 out of 5 and perceived impact 4.29, compared with 4.00 for ease of getting started. Choosing a project was also identified as the least clear part of the process.
The survey responses give some indication of what was making that initial stage difficult. Unclear instructions and documentation were the most commonly reported problem, at 31%. Videos were another issue, with 21% saying there were too few or that they were unclear. Twenty percent pointed to a lack of examples or templates, while 19% said the structure or roadmap was unclear. Smaller shares reported difficulty choosing a contribution or finding information among scattered links.
Language was a less common concern. English-only materials were mentioned by 8% of respondents overall and by 17% of students in Spain. The analysis notes that language itself was not directly asked about in the survey.
What students valued most was largely connected to the practical side of the program. WordPress and web skills were mentioned by 62% of respondents, while 54% highlighted learning by doing. Mentor support was cited by 38%, followed by making a real and meaningful contribution at 35%. A welcoming community and teamwork or collaboration were also among the responses.
Students on the longer course are more likely to keep contributing
While the feedback was largely positive about students’ experience during the program, the results were less consistent when looking at what happened after they completed it. Students in the 150-hour course were more likely to continue contributing to WordPress, with 82% remaining active compared with 69% of those who took the 50-hour course. The shorter course also recorded a lower perceived impact, at 4.09 out of 5 compared with 4.34 for the 150-hour course.
Peira links continued participation to students’ sense of belonging, writing:
“What keeps students contributing after they graduate is a sense of belonging, and belonging takes time: time with a mentor, and time inside the community.”
She describes the 50-hour format as potentially too short for that sense of belonging to develop, while noting that the data cannot prove this because the survey does not ask students about belonging, “My read is that the format is simply too short for belonging to form. We cannot prove that from the data, since we never ask students about belonging, but it fits what the rest of the feedback tells us about how community ties are built.”
The feedback is shaping changes to the program
The planned response is not to make the 50-hour course longer. Instead, the program plans to reposition it as training for WordPress certification and micro-credential exams.
The changes come as WordPress Credits moves into the second half of 2026. In an earlier update, Peira said the program had already reached its goal of more than 20 school partnerships for the year during its first six months. For the next six months, the focus will shift toward “quality, retention & foundations for scale,” while the program continues to grow at a measured pace. The program now aims to reach 35 partnerships by the end of 2026.
The other planned changes focus on how students enter and move through the program. Resources relevant to each contribution path will be brought together in one place, rather than requiring students to search through the full team handbooks. The organization also plans to develop separate tracks for different fields of study.
The program’s approach to mentors is also set to be expanded, and they are also changing the way it collects feedback. Current surveys do not ask students about belonging or language and do not capture the experiences of students who leave. A short exit survey is planned to address that gap.