Comment & Analysis
That’s the picture painted by the Government’s Industrial Strategy. But just who is it that will lead the glorious revolution?
With Brexit looming and the ticking time-bomb of the retiring baby-boomer generation of engineers, it has never been more important to think seriously about how to find, inspire and nurture the engineers of tomorrow - how we frame engineering in mainstream school education rather than simply relying on serendipity and volunteerism to inspire the next generation.
Unless it is acknowledged that we need more home-grown engineers and a coherent action plan put into place, the UK will lose one of its most important sectors within 20 years and the ‘revolution’ will be one that happens anywhere but here.
We don’t know what it is, but we think it’s important: The Culture of Engineering in Schools is a new research report from The Institution of Mechanical Engineers and it highlights some challenges and makes a series of recommendations for the Government as it publishes its white paper for a modern industrial strategy.
The report findings show positive attitudes and appreciation of engineering among students, parents, teachers and school governors alike. But few schools are integrating engineering into their teaching nor do they say much about engineering in the wider school experience. This is undoubtedly detrimental not just to the future of students in these schools, but to UK society more generally. This lack of exposure to engineering has led to students developing a vague and incoherent understanding of the profession, its career opportunities and how engineering makes our lives better.
They just don’t know what it is, why it is or why it should be for them.
The Government’s admirable goal of developing a modern industrial strategy for the UK – an approach aimed at creating a fairer economy for decades to come – should lead to a significantly greater number of people with STEM qualifications and technological literacy. But according to the Institution’s research, students’ poor understanding of engineering is leading most to choose subjects which effectively rule out this career path early on in their schooling.
"We don’t know what it is… " says that although students have a vague sense of engineering’s value, its low visibility in schools means they do not feel informed or confident enough to consider it as a future career. Mainstream school STEM does little to engage students with the ‘made’ world and fails to offer opportunities to apply knowledge within authentic challenges, using creativity and problem-solving - emulating the real experience of innovation that will drive our future economy. Furthermore, teachers and career professionals lack the time, knowledge and resources to communicate the breadth of career opportunities to students. And while the industrial strategy is imminent, the long-awaited Careers Strategy is still yet to appear.
Does this really matter, since somehow the UK has managed to get by with engineering featuring only as an add-on? With engineering underpinning about 5.7 million jobs and contributing over £480bn to our economy, the ‘wait and see’ position held by successive Governments for over 40 years cannot continue. To some extent, the UK has been able to rely on its heritage and reputation to attract overseas talent to bolster its skills shortage. There is also a large article of faith that ‘sufficient’ physics and maths students will choose to study engineering at undergraduate level, while it is too soon to judge whether renewed interest in technical training and the apprenticeship levy will address the acutely felt technician shortages.
As 2018 has been designated the ‘Year of Engineering’ with support across five Government departments, IMechE believe it is time Government, as part of its future industrial strategy, ensures engineering is placed at the heart of our education system.
The IMechE recommends:
- The appointment of a National Schools Engineering Champion to provide a vocal and respected channel of communication between schools, Government and industry, advocating the requirement for greater technological literacy in our schools and the economic rationale that it will provide in doing so.
- That Government should establish a working group of leading educationalists and other stakeholders, to examine innovative ways engineering can be integrated into the curriculum
- National Education Departments to advocate curricula that reflect the ‘made world’ to modern society, including reference to engineering in maths and D&T; and to promote teaching that promotes problem-based learning
- Schools should appoint an Engineering & Industry Leader within the senior leadership team and an Industry School Governor, to drive change and communicate the vision
- The Engineering Community should agree a unified message about engineering, stressing creative problem-solving and the social benefits of the profession and to provide students with more opportunities to take part in activities that explore the political, societal and ethical aspects of technology.
There is little doubt that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will require a technically skilled workforce from more diverse backgrounds and with a wider range of interests and talents, which means that it cannot be right that the nation continues to be heavily reliant on a narrow cadre of young people, often from families with engineering backgrounds, to become the nation’s industrialists, manufacturers, innovators and designers.
If the fourth industrial revolution is to be truly Made in Britain, then engineering as a creative discipline in its myriad forms, must be given its true and deserved place in the school experience.
The report is the combination of two complementary pieces of research: a school-based study conducted at 11 schools in London, Manchester and Sheffield; and an engineering debating competition for over-16 students.