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Dr Stan Owers’ research revealed a culture in Britain where we enjoy the benefits of engineering and technology but do not respect the engineers or means of production.

Education and industry could both do better in inspiring students and influencing career aspirationsAt the age of 5 Jeff Roche wanted to be a farmer and a train driver, at 10, a computer programmer and at 16, a PE teacher. But his lifelong love of Lego Technic, Design & Technology lessons taught by inspirational teachers at a prestigious grammar school, stumbling across an unusual course and a supportive grandparent has led to Jeff now being in his second year of the Loughborough University MEng in Innovative Manufacturing and Technology. It was clear that the people Jeff encountered, particularly inspirational teachers and support staff, which were critical to his career choice. But he is still not sure that this will lead to a well paid career.

Jeff told his warts and all story to a packed audience of business people and representatives from education and engineering at the annual Owers Lecture organised by Core Education UK and hosted by Oracle at their London offices on 8^th November. As well as highlighting the people and activities that inspired him, Jeff also highlighted the things that did not, including: teaching from the book, too few opportunities at school to relate theory to practice, careers advice and materials that were only of use if you already knew what you wanted to do, uncertain job prospects at the end of his degree course despite the fact that it is sponsored by industry and includes the equivalent of a year in industry.

In responding to Jeff’s story, Dr Raj Rajagopal, fellow and Trustee of the IET, Fellow of the IMechE and member of the Chartered Institute of Management introduced a global context commenting that, “To be an engineer in China and India is something that young people aspire to because these countries recognise the power and wealth that the manufacturing and engineering industries generate.“

He added that while government and the city must support and invest in manufacturing and engineering in the UK, industry and education had major roles to play. He went on to point out that there are many manufacturing millionaires in the UK including James Dyson. He also welcomed the introduction of the engineering diploma but questioned the form of its implementation.

The debate that followed raised a number of issues including the prescriptive nature of the national curriculum, demotivating assessment and an approach which was abstract and text based rather than practical and in context. There was a call for a ‘project based’ learning which is more cross-curricular. Design technology as a subject, it was argued, had the more potential than any other subject to provide that basis. Others noted that there is an emphasis on recruitment to science and maths courses but less recognition for design and technology in schools – the subject which inspired Jeff.

Jeff’s experiences triggered a call for students and teachers to be more aware of their local industry to finally dispel the myth of grease and dirt. It was pointed out that there are 20,000 manufacturing companies in London and that majority are SMEs many of which are highly innovative. Schools should recognise the trend from large plants to smaller, specialist, manufacturing units.

This report uses material from the Make Your Mark press release provided by Mindy Wilson and my own notes. We at Core UK are are grateful for the support of Chris Binns of Oracle, IET and Mindy Wilson of MakeYour Mark.

Core Education UK is a not-for-profit team devoted to innovation in learning and technology, across all phases and sectors in education. It is led by Richard Millwood, who directed Ultralab from January 2005 to January 2007Dr Stan Owers researched and wrote “The Culture of Tools – The place and perception of technology in the curriculum” which is the theme of the Owers Lectures. www.core-ed.org.uk/tools/Make Your Mark is the national campaign to create an enterprise culture in the UK. It aims to inspire young people in their teens and twenties to have ideas and make them happen. The not-for-profit campaign is backed by an unprecedented coalition of businesses, charities, education bodies and government.

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