This paper was presented at the 2008 Engineering Conference - Innovation Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education.
Engineering the Future (EtF) is a 3 year EPSRC funded Project based in the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow which seeks to explore original ways of addressing the challenges posed by the predicted shortfall between the numbers entering university engineering courses and the growing demands for high quality graduate engineers.
Founded on models of transformational change already in practice within Scottish education EtF is exploring innovative means of developing a sustainable and transferable model of activities which encourage young people to study engineering and support them as they make the transition from school to university. EtF is working with researchers policy makers practitioners and the industrial community to:
- identify key skills mind-sets and dispositions needed by engineers to face changing demands through their working life
- provide experience of engineering activities within school classrooms
- support students’ motivation and learning across the school-university transition and into studying in university
- develop pedagogy in university which challenges and supports students to extend their prior knowledge skills and dispositions to become successful engineers
- embed these developments within national curriculum assessment and qualifications policies and practice.
This work is informed by data derived from questionnaires interviews focus groups and observation of participants at work and the expertise of an extended advisory network.
This paper reflects critically on this work and on the theories of transformational change on which ideas of sustainability are grounded.
