Twenty primary and secondary schools in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire are the first to join a new education programme being piloted by the Royal Academy of Engineering to support teachers and inspire young learners to continue studying science and technology subjects beyond the age of 16.
This is Engineering: Schools – Scotland aims to inspire young learners to continue studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) beyond age 16 and help them to make informed decisions about pursuing careers in engineering. A principal goal of the programme is to encourage women and other underrepresented groups to pursue a career in engineering and help to develop a suitably skilled workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
At a kick-off event on 25 March at Aberdeen Science Centre, pupils aged 9-14 and their teachers from participating schools enjoyed hands-on engineering activities and heard from some of today’s young engineers about what excites them about engineering and why they chose it as a career. Teachers and pupils also met local representatives from engineering businesses and local employers who shared insights into what it takes to be an engineer nowadays and the wide range of job and career opportunities engineering offers.
Today’s UK engineering profession faces a significant skills and diversity shortfall – it is estimated that at least 200,000 new engineers and technicians will be needed in the energy sector alone by 2030. However, only 15.7% of the UK engineering workforce are women – down from 16.5% in 2023. To help address this, participation in STEM subjects needs to be widened – by gender, geography, ethnic origin, and socioeconomic grouping.
Socio-economic grouping is important because deprivation is a key indicator of low attainment in education. In regions of high socioeconomic disadvantage, including areas of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, the percentage of pupils achieving five or more National subject qualifications is lower than the regional average, particularly in STEM subjects.
STEM qualifications can have an important role to play in social mobility because they are highly sought after by employers. For this reason, in Autumn 2024, the Royal Academy of Engineering launched This is Engineering: Schools, now being piloted for the first time in Scotland, as a new model for engaging more young people in STEM subjects in areas of high economic deprivation that have a strong history of engineering and a current skills demand.
This is Engineering: Schools has been informed by best practice from the Academy’s policy research and other current and past regional education programmes as well as its national Connecting STEM Teachers programme, which ran for 11 years.
The pilot This is Engineering: Schools will:
- embed a whole-school approach, involving pupils, STEM teachers, careers leads, senior leadership teams, parents and governors;
- offer small grants to enhance the ‘E’ in the STEM curriculum in schools, with a focus on the delivery of sustainability and climate change activities;
- support active employer engagement, facilitating opportunities for schools and local STEM-engineering employers to work together with a focus on employers requiring green skills;
- provide curriculum-linked resources, careers materials and role model case studies;
- provide training and peer-to-peer support networks for teachers to help with collaboration and sharing of best practice.
This is Engineering: Schools – Scotland is generously supported by Boeing, the Royal Air Force, SGN, Venterra, and the estate of the late Mr John Gozzard.
Dr Rhys Morgan, Director of Education and Skills at the Royal Academy of Engineering said: “Engineering contributes more than £6bn annually to the economy of Aberdeenshire. Over 100,000 people are employed within the sector and there are over 8,000 engineering businesses in the county. While we are seeing oil and gas sectors shrink, there is cause for optimism with signs of a growing green and clean tech sector supporting the energy transition.
“It will be important that businesses in this sector are able to access the home-grown talent and skills they need in order to drive new economic growth. It is equally important that young people from all backgrounds across the region understand the opportunities and rewarding careers in engineering and technology.
“Evidence from our past and present regional school engagement programmes has shown us that long-term, targeted interventions have the biggest impact in terms of the number of students progressing with STEM subjects at a higher level and the embedding of strong culture around engineering-based STEM teaching and learning in schools.
“It is really important that this sort of scheme is supported over a period of years. We are very ambitious for This is Engineering: Schools and we look forward to working with employers in the region.”
Gwen Folland, Head of External Affairs at Venterra, one of the companies supporting This is Engineering: Schools – Scotland, said: “A shortage of skilled engineers is one of the key challenges to growing the renewables industry. This schools programme seeks to encourage 9–14-year-olds to pursue engineering, which is the ideal age to embrace the engineering discipline. It is a pivotal time for young people when they are gaining clarity on their career paths and seeking opportunities for meaningful impact. Venterra is delighted to be supporting this initiative aiming to empower the next generation of engineers and innovators.”
Notes for editors
This is Engineering First launched in 2018, This is Engineering is a multi-year campaign led by the Royal Academy of Engineering in partnership with Engineering UK and major engineering organisations. Our aim is to show more young people what engineering really looks like, and how it could be an exciting and rewarding path in the future.