Editor
The Engineer
Another week, and another unsettling survey of young peoples’ attitudes to engineering has landed on our desks.
The latest offering in this crowded field is from multinational food manufacturer Mondelez (owner of Cadbury, Oreo and Kraft, amongst others) which has quizzed 1,600 16-to-18 year olds on their attitudes to manufacturing.
The headline figures are predictably concerning. Apparently only eight per cent of those surveyed would consider a career in manufacturing, 73 per cent think that a desk job would be more likely to impress their parents, and, perhaps most worryingly, two thirds don’t believe there are many jobs available in the sector. The tenor of the findings is broadly consistent with other reports, and tallies with the noises coming from industry, but there are some key statistical variations with other industry snapshots.
For instance, according to Engineering UK, one of the most comprehensive and reliable sources of industry facts and figures, 38 per cent of 12 to 16 year olds see engineering careers as desirable, a figure which, according to the Mondelez survey, falls to eight per cent in the 16-to-18 age bracket. The association also points to a doubling in the number of young people who understand what engineers do – an upbeat assessment at odds with the mood of the latest report.
Though useful bellwethers of attitudes, reports of this kind can often be taken with a pinch of salt. The sample groups are typically fairly small, we don’t always know how the questions were phrased, whether the groups account for regional variations, and what the participants were told about the survey. All of these subtle variables – and many others – can have an impact on the results.
What’s more, the language used to present the results is also significant. 45 per cent of youngsters not knowing anything about manufacturing sounds worrying. But 55 per cent of youngsters having a grasp of what this key sector’s all about is, we would suggest, a reasonably promising starting point.
Mondelez’ findings offer an interesting snapshot – and will add to the level of background chatter on a topic which we all agree is important. But small scale surveys of this kind are only ever going to be of limited use.
To get a really clear sense of what’s going on we need a coherent and consistent nationwide survey, carefully shaped by input from industry, educators and government and based on the attitudes of hundreds of thousands of school children, not a small, possibly unrepresentative handful.
Only then will we be able to build up a true picture of where engineering stands in the eyes of youngsters, and properly get to grips with the challenge of enthusing them about the opportunities in the sector.
I am not surprised at the drop in the percentage of young people age 16 to 18 expressing an interest in a career in engineering. They will have been put off by so called “career advisors” This not a new problem, when I left the Bath Technical School at 16 in 1956, with 8 “O” level passes, to continue training at a major local engineering company, the so called advisor said to me, “surely you do not want to work in a factory, why don’t you become a teacher?!”.
Have to agree with TGP’s comment. Schools themselves have a lot to answer for. Many teachers have no conception of employment other than the classroom. The Masters in my school were from the forces, Officers and Men with experience of life and in some cases several jobs. but they did have first class degrees in subjects requiring real brain power and application. Even in those days Careers Masters did the best they could to advise according to the available talent. At no time did give bad advice to no hopers, unlike some of todays ‘experts’… an Engineering apprenticeship was as worthwhile as a career as a Lawyer or Architect
Similar to Mr. Phelps’ response, the situation doesn’t seem to have changed much since I was brought up in an engineering city. If you expressed an interest in other than academic work, you were blackballed. How many GCSE and A-level students have actually been into a production environment and talked to the personnel before they make their career choices? Schools have a duty to assist their students in making these choices. There is time available for this if teachers did not have to prepare for pre-notified OFSTED inspections and satisfy the latest Government ‘targets’ or yet another change in the exam structure.Such visits could also improve the teachers’ experience, many of whom have also never been into a factory environment. Students cannot be expected to make a life choice for which they have no experience. Industry links and encouragement to join local engineering groups should be the norm, but appear to be rare.
Perhaps the title should read “What do young people really think about manufacturing?”
My experience in .the late 50’s was similar to Mr Phelps. The careers master’s only work experience had been as a flying navigator in WW2- a fine and necessary occupation but poor experience to become an advisor on careers. So we were subjected to visits from the Army, Navy, and Air Force. I was very nearly sold on the Royal Marines because the impression given was that it was all ski-ing, canoeing, camping and generally having a jolly time. The only other option that was suggested was teaching. When I eventually decided that none of the above were for me I was asked “What on earth do you want to do then?”. I have never regretted becoming an Engineer. I think that the other commentators have hit the nail on the head. We have to get in to the schools at all levels and spread the word. “Engineering is good”.
Hardly surprising since the industry does nothing for itself, by having someone who knows what engineering is, Kids have a picture of mechanics being engineers, by way of the fact that everyone these days is called an engineer.
Then you have the situation where some engineers are so far up themselves, that they put kids off wanting to go into the engineering sector.
When I first started, and you wanted to learn engineering, all the older generation, without fail, would encourage and help. Now you have the situation of graduates in industry thinking they are the best, and do nothing to encourage kids into the industry.
As an engineering lecturer at Middlesbrough college I disagree with this our student numbers are rising year on year.
I myself have only started an engineering apprenticeship last year. At 19 I believe I have a good idea of the attitudes of some schools. My choice of engineering as a career was largely influenced by my dad’s job. While I may have had more exposure to the industry in this last year my perceptions of the engineering industry have certainly changed.
With regards to the attitudes of schools and sixth forms, both career departments seemed to solely focus on university as the next step. Any degree was considered more acceptable than apprenticeships or going straight into work. Although there seemed to be no particular stigma regarding engineering, it was never properly explained or represented.
More people studying engineering is very different from more people entering the engineering sector. A very large portion (much more than half) in many universities go into different sectors.
The real story here is that numbers plummet when the term manufacturing is used. We can complain about careers advice as much as we want but there is a wider issue where we mistakenly think anyone (either graduate or apprentice) in manufacturing as a simple factory labourer.
Lots of interesting comments being made here, I’m not sure that the issue is with careers advisors as such but perhaps education as a wider issue. The curriculum still doesn’t do enough to play to the strengths of those that are less academically gifted but good with machines and technology. I work with water pumps but stumbled upon the industry by accident, and without direction how is a young girl or boy going to find out that they are good at fixing high tech equipment such as submersible pumps like these (https://www.geoquipwatersolutions.com/franklin-electric-e-tech-pumps.html)? For me, we need to be fostering the technical skills for young people much earlier as well as teaching then that manufacturing/production/engineering are great sectors to be involved with. If we took this kind of approach we wouldn’t need to rely on uninterested/low skilled apprentices and would have project ready workers coming straight into these sectors.