The skills gap – including a “chronic shortage” of electrical engineers – seems to be getting worse in many respects, said Dr Rhys Morgan, director of engineering and education at the Royal Academy of Engineering, but getting more engineers into schools could inspire and empower a new generation.
摩根博士在“为什么工程师寿发表了上述言论ld consider a career in teaching”, an online event hosted by the IMechE, Royal Academy, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and the Department for Education (DfE) yesterday (19 January).
“We need more physics teachers,” said Suleiman Faruqi, senior policy advisor at the DfE, as he opened the event. “Without those physics teachers, children are missing out on the opportunity to develop their understanding of the world around them, and we feel that engineers bring a very unique and innovative perspective into the physics classroom, which helps explain big ideas to young people.”
Physics is not the only subject where engineers can impart useful knowledge and experience as teachers, however – and they are needed more than ever given the scale of the skills gap and the urgent challenge of decarbonising society.
“There aren’t enough people teaching subjects that lead on to engineering,” said Dr Morgan. “For as long as we can collectively remember there have been reported shortages in industry of engineers and technicians, and in many respects the situation is getting worse, not better, particularly with things like the government’s net zero ambitions. Those are underpinned by electrical engineering skills, and we’ve actually had a chronic shortage of electrical engineers and the supply has been going down over the last 20 years. So we’re in a really serious situation, in terms of being able to meet our net zero ambitions.”
The confidence and experience that comes from working in industry means engineers are much more able to discuss up-to-date topics with pupils, said David Lakin, head of education and safeguarding at the IET – a key attribute when trying to encourage new entrants to the profession.
Problem-solving and creativity are additional qualities that make engineers perfectly suited to teaching, said Georgina Smith, a trainee physics teacher at the University of Birmingham on theEngineers Teach Physics programme. “We can look at a question in a slightly different way, and creatively prepare lessons differently to how someone else might approach it.
“I also think in terms of experiences, a lot of people in engineering have a lot of different connections and they know a lot of different people. Having this tool can be so useful, bringing in different people, talking to people still in industry about what they’re actually looking at.”
Volunteering insight
Volunteering can be a good place to start for people who are interested, said Professor Helen James OBE, chair of the education and skills strategy board at the IMechE, letting engineers try their hand at teaching while keeping their day job.
“Have a go, do some volunteering to get a real sense of what actually goes on within a school,” she said. “As a Stem ambassador, for example,through STEM Learning. Engage in volunteering, do some outreach work with schools to get a real insight.”
Other options for interested engineers includethe DfE’s Teacher Training Advisory, with teachers such as event speaker Neil Adams offering free one-to-one support, and advice on available bursaries and internships.
Flexible and part-time teaching might be another possibility for engineers aiming to maintain their salaries, said Professor James, although she added that “quite a bit of work” is needed from the government, schools and the engineering profession to enable mechanisms for that to happen.
‘An investment for the future’
With the ongoing skills gap, frequently higher wages and opportunities to work on exciting projects in industry, encouraging engineers to become teachers might not always be easy, but any movement of engineers into teaching could have a hugely positive impact, the panel said – and the 12 weeks of holiday a year are sure to attract some applicants.
Pupils often decide what career path to follow in their early teens, said Neil Adams, so simply knowing more engineers could make a difference. “More involvement in schools from engineers, whether it is through teachers or through things like the STEM Ambassadors programme… the more connection students are able to build with engineers, particularly if they happen to be from a family or socioeconomic background where they don’t come into contact with engineering professionals at all, then the more likely we are to be drawing from a broader base of potential students when it comes to careers in engineering.”
Not all engineers will want to go into teaching, but the “huge variety” available means it will appeal to many, said Dr Morgan. “This is an investment for the future… We only need a small proportion, we’re not saying we need thousands and thousands of our engineering graduates to go off into teaching. Just 1% – which is about 200-odd – of our engineering graduates going into teaching would have a disproportionate effect on the number of teachers in physics, something like a 30% increase in the amount of people going in to teach physics on an annual basis.”
He added: “They’ll be able to give much more granular advice as well to those young people, not just ‘Study stem subjects’.” That could include guiding pupils towards biomedical engineering, for example, which underpins the hugely competitive medical profession.
In the long run, engineers going into teaching could provide more engineers to tackle the most pressing global challenges.
“Being able to use that experience to apply real-life applications and context to the current curriculum and the current subjects that are taught will hopefully help inspire more young people,” said Lakin from the IET.
“It’s all about trying to give young people more information, more exposure to engineering to understand what engineers do, what engineering is – to help them with an informed choice for when it comes to choose their next steps.”
For more information about becoming a STEM ambassador,visit the IMechE page.
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