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Spreading the word: Allison (right) gives pupils positive images of engineers
A teacher’s perspective...
Caron Allison, maths teacher at Notre Dame High School in Sheffield, says it is difficult for teachers to promote engineering as a career unless they have worked in it. She says: “Kids expect me to be able to tell them about all sorts of engineering. I can only tell them about the field of engineering I’ve worked in. But I do tell them that engineering is about problem-solving and making products. We are trying to raise awareness of it and have started up a Stem club.”
Allison says her female pupils are quite interested and positive about engineering and are realising that Stem subjects aren’t just for boys. “A lot of them are talking to us about engineering. A reason for this is that they might not have someone at home that they can talk to about engineering,” she says.
“Quite a lot of the parents worked in manufacturing industry in the 1980s and 90s when it was struggling and there were lots of redundancies. Parents need to look at what’s going on now, not what was happening 30 years ago, and the types of opportunities there are for students.”
Another hurdle is stereotypes of engineers. Allison says engineering is always portrayed as a geeky profession which involves getting dirty. She tells her pupils that when she worked as an engineer she was mostly office-based, but the times when she donned an overall are her fondest memories.
“It is difficult for students and parents – they know what a solicitor or doctor does – we just need to raise the profile of engineering.”
Allison advises that girls looking to go into the field should visit as many workplaces as they can. “Don’t take your teachers’ or careers advisers’ word for it. Talk to local companies and see if they can organise visits and work experience. Work experience is not on the curriculum any more.”
Allison’s school has been working with British Glass to offer students work experience, which has been taken up by sixth-form girls. “I am quietly confident that we are pushing in the right direction, but I can’t control what careers they take up after university,” she says.
Students’ perspectives...
A recent visit to St James Senior Girls School in London confirms that things are slowly changing to the benefit of engineering. The students have been made aware of what engineering involves and have heard about the shortage of female engineers, but are not put off. “It makes me determined to pursue it, although the thought of being outnumbered is a concern,” one student admits. The school encourages the girls to arrange work experience during the holidays, and many pupils have spent time at some big-name engineering firms.
However, pupils believe that some teachers do not understand what being an engineer involves. “The careers advice we receive is not enlightening,” says one. “We need to know how to go from university into a job – it would be good to have someone come into school to discuss career paths.”
The girls say they have come across stereotypes. “An engineer is an old man with crazy hair who’s miserable,” says one student. Another explains: “The stereotype paints engineering to be all work, and engineers to have no social life.”
The school has been working with charity the Smallpeice Trust on a four-tier initiative for year-10 students. The first tier is a Stem day, the second is an after-school club, and the third tier is an industry ambassador from Network Rail who comes into school regularly. The final tier tests the girls’ software and presentation skills.
Budding university students get a head start
Headstart is a programme of university summer schools for year-12 pupils organised by the Engineering Development Trust. It enables students to go to university for a week to try out being Stem undergraduates just before they fill in their UCAS forms. This helps them to make informed decisions. Next summer 2,000 young people will be visiting 45 universities around the UK.
Estelle Rowe, director of Headstart, says: “We have a couple of offshoots including Inspire, a three-day programme for young women who have chosen to do Stem A-levels. That gives them some exciting hands-on activity and develops study skills. I am also piloting a programme that gives 15-year-olds a chance to look at apprenticeships and the undergraduate route into Stem subjects on a level playing field. There is a problem with teachers’ understanding. Too many go from education, through a degree and straight back into education. There is a lack of awareness of how integral engineering is.
“We knock out children’s curiosity. There is not sufficient appreciation that there is engineering in everything – it’s not just tinkering with cars.”