I first heard about Insight into Industry (III) when Education Theme Manager, Peter Finegold, attended one of the Western Region committee meetings to present his “Five Tribes” report. He explained that the Institution was supporting the scheme in partnership with the IET and that it was aimed at addressing some of the issues highlighted by Five Tribes.
There are so many misconceptions about engineering, for example:
• It is all about engines (or fixing washing machines!);
• Engineers always 'get their hands dirty’ (the opposite is far more often the case in my experience!);
• Engineering is ‘only’ for boys/men;
• It isn’t a ‘respectable’ career;
• It doesn’t pay well;
• It always requires maths or that there is no room for creativity.
Many of these misconceptions are reinforced by teachers who (through no fault of their own) do not understand what engineering is (after all - it is a very broad subject/industry) with the result that generations of school leavers - girl in particular - dismiss the idea of becoming an engineer without being able to make a proper informed judgement. In my experience, the first and last points on the list particularly turn a lot of people off, but if only they could see beyond the stereotype, they would realise that there is a whole world of opportunity out there, through a career in engineering.
Peter’s explanation convinced me that III was a big step in the right direction towards encouraging a broader range of young people into the profession, so I set about convincing my employer to take part. At the time, I worked for Babcock, which runs Devonport Royal Dockyard (the largest in Europe) and maintains about half of the Royal Navy’s fleet of ships and submarines. Thankfully, they didn’t take much convincing! The problem of an ageing workforce and a shortage of young engineers entering the profession is all too apparent to them, so they were very keen to support the scheme, along with their other considerable outreach work.
We got involved by speaking to my HR department, who put me in touch with the appropriate staff at the Dockyard and then I put them in contact with the Institution. The rest just happened, it was really easy! We hosted three teachers in July, which suited them because it was the end of the academic year so they had fewer commitments, and it suited us because we had plenty of projects for them to see and lots of glorious Devon sunshine to enjoy.
The Dockyard sits behind a massive stone wall, so not many people really see what goes on inside; the teachers all had their eyes opened to a world they didn’t know existed, figuratively and literally! They also saw such a vast array of projects and met so many different engineers (young, old, apprentice, graduate, professional, industrial, craft, male, female…) that they were completely taken aback. All of them said that they hadn’t realised what ‘engineering’ involved, or the huge breadth of disciplines involved with just one project. In addition to the obvious career-related information, they also identified several different real-world examples and case studies that they could use to illustrate their classroom lessons when they were back at school. For example, the science teacher used her III experience with submarine hull corrosion and paint finishes to spice up an otherwise dull lesson about rust.
In return, Babcock was happy to support these new ways to illustrate classroom learning by providing case study examples and hosting small group tours. A few months after III - buoyed on by the success of the scheme - the firm suspended all work on HMS Albion for a day (!) to host several hundred school children for a STEM activity day on-board a ship in dry dock. All of us who participated in III from an industrial perspective were able to learn what it is like in a modern classroom and what the National Curriculum requirements are for Engineering-related subjects. This helped us to prepare future events and to plan our STEM outreach activities to meet teachers’ requirements and, therefore, to best enhance the learning experience. In addition, the III scheme helps employers to forge relationships with their local schools which helps them to promote their business to potential future recruits and it helps the school by providing access to potential work experience opportunities and case studies to support learning.
III is a fantastic scheme and it should be expanded! It is a really great way to address the ‘skills gap’ that we hear so much about and it has so many other benefits as well. In particular, it helps keep teachers and employers keep up-to-date with current trends in education and industry.