E4E News

June/July 2010

Events in Parliament

The Royal Society of Chemistry organised its annual Parliamentary Links event. As always it was very well attended with many MPs and Civil Servants. Senior members of the science policy community gave presentations and David Willetts, Minister for Science and Labour Leader candidate Ed Miliband, Shadow Secretary for Energy and Climate Change spoke at the event.

The Engineering the Future Alliance also organised a breakfast event for new MPs with presentations from Prof Chris Snowden, President of IET, Kate Bellingham STEM Careers Ambassador, and Andrew Miller MP Chair of the Science and Technology select committee. The event was well attended by many new MPs.

UTCs - University Technical Colleges and the Engineering Profession

Lord Kenneth Baker, the former Education Secretary has been promoting University sponsored Academies which will have engineering as their core curriculum. Among the first will be Aston University and JCB – an employer sponsor but following the same principles. The UTCs will be 14-19 provision and many will use the engineering based diplomas. The IMechE and IET have recently met with Lord Baker to discuss involvement of the profession. Lord Baker was particularly keen on the idea of students at UTCs working towards a professional qualification through the Institutions. E4E will be the point of contact for further discussions on involvement of the profession.

BAE Systems Skills 2020

BAE Systems launched their Skills 2020 Programme at the Royal Academy of Engineering (Tuesday 14th July). The event was highlighted in two special reports in the Times newspaper – links below. Dick Olver, Chair of E4E opened the event and was followed by presentations by Chris Humphries, Chief Executive of UK Commission for Employment and Skills and by Nigel Whithead, Group Managing Director, BAE Systems UK. The speakers were joined by Philip Greenish and Steve Holliday (CEO National Grid and Chair of the Technician Council) for a panel Q&A session.

Link to BAE Systems Skills Website

BAE Systems Focus 1 (3.79MB)

BAE Systems Focus 2 (3.51MB)

Response from Government Ministers to E4E

E4E has had responses to letters from David Willetts MP, Minister for Science and Universities at BIS and from Nick Gibb MP, Minister for Schools at DfE. Both ministers recognised the value of E4E and are keen to develop working relationships along with partner organisations ACME and SCORE. The E4E Chair Dick Olver and a number of senior fellows from the Royal Academy of Engineering will be meeting David Willetts in September to highlight our concerns detailed in the E4E briefing to government. Nick Gibb has asked E4E and colleagues from ACME and SCORE to meet with officials to discuss STEM curriculum reform.

E4E, ACME, SCORE Meeting on standing committees for curriculum development

A meeting of STEM education community representatives was held at The Royal Society and chaired by Matthew Harrison of The Royal Academy Of Engineering to discuss the future of STEM curriculum reform in the wake of the forthcoming closure of QCDA. Before the election a number of reports recommended the formation of standing subject committees to ensure high standards in curricula, qualifications and assessment. E4E, ACME and SCORE secretariat will be meeting with DfE officials to learn more about the new structure they are proposing and to offer our support in providing impartial critical advice.

Launch of the National STEM Centre

The National STEM Centre in York was formally launched in early July. The purpose built resource centre houses extensive collections of support material and provides a place for industry, charitable organisations, professional bodies to work together with schools and colleges improve STEM teaching and learning. At the launch Helen Williams, Director of curriculum and pupil well being, DfE spoke to the audience on the challenges facing science and maths education in England’s schools. The new online resource of the Centre, the eLibrary was demonstrated. This is truly a fantastic resource for all STEM teachers and anyone in the STEM community. It has teaching material stretching back thirty years including out of print books which have been digitised especially for the site. It is free to use and I would ask that you pass on the message to any STEM educators about it and please feel free to explore the wealth of material on there.

National STEM Centre Website

E4E Consultation on Skills for the Low Carbon Economy

E4E responded to the DECC/BIs consultation on Skills for the Low Carbon Economy. The response can be seen through the following link:

E4E Response to BIS+DECC Consultation on skills for the low carbon economy (64KB)

May 2010

Closure of QCDA

 Michael Gove MP (Secretary of State, Department for Education) has written to the Christopher Trinick DL, Chair of QCDA confirming that it is to be abolished. In his letter, Mr Gove noted that while the organisation will no longer exist, functions such as ensuring National Curriculum tests would still be required and the functions and people that support the tests would be needed after the closure. However, Mr Gove also stated that QCDA was to withdraw from qualifications and Curriculum development as soon as was practicable. The letter can be found at the link below:

Closure of QCDA

ACME/E4E/SCORE joint letter to Michael Gove MP Secretary of State, Department for Education

In light of the recent closure of QCDA, Education for Engineering and its counterpart organisations ACME and SCORE have written to Mr Gove to inform him of our early-stage ideas for an alternative model to Curriculum Development which will develop the role of the subject communities, learned societies, employers and HE, and will clearly define their relationship to the awarding bodies, the Department and other agencies involved in the process.

Copy of the letter to the Rt Hon Michael Gove 

Independent review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance

E4E secretariat worked with the Engineering Council to provide a response to the review of Higher Education funding. While we did not provide a proposal on a new funding model, we highlighted the issues facing subjects such as engineering which have a high cost of delivery and urged the review to consider these factors when making its recommendations.

Supporting the new Technician’s Council

A new Technician’s Council will be formed to improve the status of Technicians across various SET sectors. The Council will be hosted by The Royal Academy of Engineering and will have representatives from engineering, science and healthcare sectors as members to establish a nationally recognised Technician Class. E4E have written a letter to the recently appointed Chair (Steve Holliday, CEO National Grid) committing our support through advising on engineering and ICT-related education and training policy matters, promoting the Council’s work and encouraging technicians to engage with professional registration.

Response to BIS consultation on skills for the low carbon economy

E4E is presently working on a response to the BIS on meeting the low carbon skills challenge: a consultation on equipping people with the skills to take advantage of opportunities in the low carbon and resource efficient economy. We are currently collecting input from members for submission by the June 23rd deadline.

IMecheE Output – When STEM?

A question of age The ImechE have recently launched a report on the best time to engage young people in engineering careers. The report can be found through the link below:

When STEM a Question of Age

E4E chair writes in the FT 18th May 2010

Download the this article (822KB)

April 2010

Education manifestos of main political parties

Download the the manifestos (134KB)

March 2010

First National Strategic Skills Audit

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills released its first annual strategic audit of national skills. There are 37 reports in all, including two volumes of key findings and then 35 detailed reports on clusters and individual sectors which have been prepared by the sector skills councils. There is a vast amount of data contained in the reports which can be accessed through the link below UKCES Skills audit reports

UKCES Skills audit reports

Technician’s Champion Announced

BIS announced Steve Holliday, Chief Executive of National Grid as the chair of the new Technician’s Council. A working group including the Engineering Council, Royal Academy of Engineering, Engineering UK, Science Council and others was brought together under Lord Sainsbury’s leadership last year to explore issues surrounding the professional registration of technicians. The Council will be hosted by The Royal Academy of Engineering and will have representatives from engineering, science and healthcare sectors as members to establish a nationally recognised Technician Class. E4E will continue with its policy priority to support and push for greater recognition of technicians.

Science for Careers

Report of the Science and Society Expert Group The Science and Society expert group, chaired by Diana Garnham, Chief Executive of the Science Council, released their report on Science for Careers, with the ambition to increase awareness of the career opportunities arising from the study of science post-16. Among the recommendations, the group propose:

• The development of an integrated and comprehensive Careers Awareness, Education, Information, Advice and Guidance.

• The development of more accessible and comprehensive Labour Market Information on the demand for STEM-skilled workforce.

• More rigorous and complete data needs to be gathered about how early attitudes to STEM subjects and careers are set, and to find exemplars of best practice in this area.

The full report can be downloaded from the following link: http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/

Richard Sykes Report

The review by Sir Richard Sykes on assessment and curriculum for the Conservative Party was released this month. The report provided 21 recommendations, many of which Michael Gove MP has accepted. The review calls for an overhaul of A Levels and the introduction of a University Admissions Test. It argues that once Awarding bodies are accredited, there should not be a requirement to accredit all individual qualifications. Rather, the awarding bodies should publish details of whom they have worked with or consulted on their qualification syllabuses and examinations. Universities should publish recommendations on the qualifications which meet their admission requirements and all Further and Higher Education institutions should publish clear and specific information on the qualifications they accept and prefer.

On GCSEs, Sir Richard’s review recommends that external examinations for schools’ accountability should be conducted only in English and Mathematics subjects. The current measure of 5 A*-C GCSEs should no longer be the main measure for school accountability. On the curriculum, the review suggested an independent commission should revise the curriculum once every five or ten years. The full report can be found at the following link: http://www.conservatives.com/News

Ingenious Britain Report for the Conservative Party

Sir James Dyson released his report on making the UK the leading high-tech exporter in Europe. The report identified five key areas to be addressed for the UK to succeed:

• Cultural change to develop high esteem for science and engineering, including a major national prize scheme for engineering and commitments to ‘grand projects’ such as high speed rail and nuclear power to demonstrate a Conservative Government’s ambitions for the country.

• Changes at university level to encourage more young people to choose science and engineering degrees, including:industry scholarships for engineers, where the costs of bursaries to students are shared between industry and government; greater freedom for universities, for example to develop shorter courses where appropriate, or more vocational degrees.

• Changes in the way we exploit new knowledge, so that the UK becomes world-class in taking the best new ideas out of universities and onto the market. Proposals include more focused funding for knowledge transfer in universities and new ways of promoting collaboration through public-private research institutes.

• Changes to improve financing for high tech start ups, by increasing the generosity of the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) relief for angel investors that support hi tech companies, and a government guaranteed business loan scheme to encourage more lending by banks to innovative businesses.

• Changes to support high tech companies, by refocusing R&D tax credits on high tech companies, small businesses and new start-ups, and delivering on ambitions to deliver 25% of procurement and research contracts through small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The full report can be downloaded from: http://www.jamesdysonfoundation.com/about/education.asp

The Big Bang

The Big Bang: UK Young Scientist and Engineers Fair organised by EngineeringUK was held in Manchester from March 11th to 13th. The event was a huge success with over 22,500 visitors. It also hosted the National Science and Engineering Competition. The Fair was a three day educational STEM experience for young people aged 9 – 19. The event had shows from Sky TV’s Brainiac, BBC’s Bang goest the theory and special Royal Institution ‘Christmas’ Lectures.

Next years event will be held at London Docklands Excel arena. Members can find out more and view images of the event at https://www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/

Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) Conference

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, Diana Johnson MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, Michael Gove presented keynote speeches at the Annual ACME conference at The Royal Society at the start of March. Following the keynotes was a panel Q&A session with Prof. John Holman, National STEM Director, Carole Vorderman (Chair, Conservative Party Maths Taskforce), Richard Wainer, (Head of Education and Skills, CBI), Ben Goldacre and others. The afternoon was spent in working groups discussing topics including the new Maths pair GCSE pilot, Level 3 Mathematics pathways, the mathematical needs of HE and business. More details of the conference will be on the ACME website shortly. http://www.acme-uk.org/

Royal Academy of Engineering Report: Engineering Graduates for Industry

 A report on best practices to prepare engineering graduates for industry commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was launched this month by The Royal Academy of Engineering. The report, developed with the support of the Higher Education (HE) Academy Engineering Subject Centre identifies effective practices within current and developing experience-led engineering degrees that meet these needs. An ‘experience-led engineering degree’ is understood to be an engineering degree which develops industry related skills and which may also include industry interaction. The report advocates stronger partnerships between industry and HE to ensure that an increasingly diverse student body develops the engineering skills necessary to meet the future recruitment needs of a globally competitive industry.

Professor Sir William Wakeham, who chaired the report oversight panel, will present a keynote speech on the findings at the Engineering Professors Council Congress on April 13th.

A copy of the report can be downloaded from the link below. http://www.engsc.ac.uk/downloads/egi/201002-egi.pdf

Support for HE Academy Engineering Subject Centre and UK Centre for Materials Education

The HE Academy, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) supports curriculum, pedagogy and staff development across UK Universities through 24 subject centres across the country. The Engineering Subject Centre and UK Centre for Materials Education (UKCME) are highly regarded by Funding for the HE Academy is to be cut by 30%. E4E wrote a letter to Prof. Sir Robert Burgess, Chairman of the HE Academy to show our support for the Engineering Subject Centre and UKCME and voice our concerns that these important resources for developing students and preparing them with the skills necessary for industry will be lost in the proposed cuts.

Prof Burgess has replied acknowledging the value of the subject centres and has said that professional bodies and subject associations will be consulted as plans for the future of the organisation of the HE Academy develop.

February 2010

SCORE Conference

Score, the organisation for the science community on Science Education held their annual conference at The Royal Society. Presentations centred around international perspectives on science teaching and science curricula in the UK. Workshops were held on a variety of subjects including issues surrounding take up of STEM courses at HE, vocational/ applied qualification and practical work in science.

Report of the Science and Expert Learning Group on Science and Mathematics Education for the 21st Century

The report commissioned by the Government led by Sir Mark Wallport of the Wellcome Trust to consider pre-19 science and mathematics learning in schools was released. The report listed 21 recommendations in all including improvements to teacher CPD, strengthening mathematics content of STEM pathways and clearer information and greater transparency from HE Institutions and better Careers IAG. The full report can be found at: http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/site/learning

Policy Group Meeting

The E4E Policy Group met on 3rd February. A presentation was given by Mr. Michael Grove MP (Cons. Shadow Sec. of State Children, Schools and Families), Director of the HE STEM Programme on developments of the £21M HEFCE funded initiative. Policy Group members discussed policy priorities for the coming year. A summary of these will be uploaded onto the website soon.

University Technical Colleges

The IET hosted a day long seminar for Lord Kenneth Baker’s University Technical Colleges initiative. Presentations were given by Lord Baker, Aston University, the JCB Academy, and others. More information on the scheme can be found at www.utcolleges.org

Children Schools and Families Select Committee Hearing

Matthew Harrison (Royal Academy of Engineering), Paul Jackson, (Engineering UK), Chris Kirby (IMechE) and Prof. Peter Kutnick (King’s College London) gave evidence to the Children Schools and Families Select Committee on engineering . The session was shared with representatives from the mathematics community. The engineering representatives spoke about; the place of engineering in the school curriculum; on engaging young people with the subject and initial teacher training and CPD related to teaching engineering. Paul Jackson commented that "The 'E' in STEM is largely silent in schools and that is a real issue". Chris Kirby stated both the "visibility of engineering in schools in any form" and the enthusiasm of students to engage with the subject were both an issue.

 It was made clear to the committee that engineering relies on a skilled technician workforce and education needs to prepare young people for this type of employment as well as providing for those continuing on to higher education. Matthew Harrison presented a very positive view of engineering education in schools. The chair of the committee noted that the mood of the engineers was, in general, very buoyant in comparison to the mathematicians! More information on the hearing is available on request.

January 2010

MyUniChoice / Bestcourse4me

The Royal Academy of Engineering hosted a meeting for MyUniChoice, the website being developed to help widen participation in Higher Education. Steve Edwards, a founder of the group launching the site gave a presentation to a group of interested parties invited by Matthew Harrison. The website has since been launched and is now under the title best course for me. The site can be accessed through the following link: http://www.bestcourse4me.com/

Education and Employers Task Force

Rhys Morgan (E4E Secretariat) and Anil Kumar (Engineering UK) met with Sir Jim Rose and Nick Chambers of the Education and Employers Taskforce and Colin Seal of DCSF to discuss how the groups can work together to involve business in preparation for the Primary Curriculum in preparation for September 2011. The meeting was fruitful with a number of actions to progress the initiative. We will report on developments in due course.

December 2009

Diplomas - Letter to the Times Newspaper

A letter to the Times newspaper from E4E Policy Group Chair Dick Olver was printed on Monday 7th December. A copy of the letter was sent to a number of MPs including John Hayes (Cons Shadow Lifelong Learning FE & HE), Ian Wright MP (Minister 14-19 reform & apprenticeships), Kevin Brennan MP (Minister FE, Skills & Apprenticeships) and Tim Boswell MP (Cons- sponsored IET Diploma Showcase at the Commons).

Meeting with Sir Richard Sykes

The Chairs and secretaries of E4E, SCORE and ACME met with Sir Richard Sykes to discuss the recommendations of his report to the Conservative Party on assessment. The Chairs of the three Organisations put their concerns to Sir Richard and he will give them due consideration before the release of the final report. The report is expected late January or February.

MyUniChoice

MyUniChoice is a new website which is being developed by Ros and Steve Edwards UK entrepreneurs. Dr John Green of Imperial College, who has developed the database which drives the website met with a selection of E4E members to give a demonstration of the site under development. It will provide a wealth of useful data to students choosing University courses who have little family experience of Higher Education. It will be independent of Government to ensure impartiality. It is an excellent resource and with the addition of FE data would benefit the engineering community with substantial longitudinal trend data.

AIM-Higher Seminar

Rhys Morgan attended a seminar at The University of Westminster on DCSF commissioned research on “How young people formulate their views on the future”. The research explored factors affecting year7 (11yr-old) students’ decisions about education and careers. The results are to help improve Careers Information Advice and Guidance. The headline statistics included:

• Over 85 percent of the year7 pupils felt they knew the job they wanted to do in the future and 65 percent of these pupils had held these views for over two years.

• Young people at this age had thought actively and in most cases in some depth (relative to their age) about future occupations.

• Social background (measured by proxies of free school meals and postcodes) had no affect on year7 pupils’ aspirations to attend Higher Education.

• The majority of pupils held a weak grasp of the difference between university and further education, what apprenticeships or diplomas were and what skills or qualifications their preferred job required or appropriate educational pathways they would need to pursue post-14

Engineering was joint 11th in the list of most popular occupations. The full report can be downloaded from the link below: http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-RR152.pdf (689 KB)

November 2009

Wellcome Trust Science and Expert Learning Group

Rhys Morgan attended one of a series of workshops run by Sir Mark Wallport at the Wellcome Trust, the purpose of which was to gather feedback on recommendations in a report which is being drafted for BIS on improving the overall coherence of activity across Science and Learning. Discussions centered on curriculum, STEM Teacher CPD, assessment and careers Information Advice and Guidance. There was a clear demonstration that the STEM community continue to emphasise Science at the expense of Engineering and Technology and Rhys put across E4E’s view that engineering has specific challenges (inc. uptake at HE, careers IAG and technician level skills and employment) that were being overlooked. Philip Greenish, CEO of The Royal Academy of Engineering also attended one of the workshops and voiced concern over this issue.

Diplomas IET event showcasing the Diploma in Engineering

The IET organised an event at the Houses of Parliament showcasing the student work produced through the Diploma in Engineering. Many E4E members attended the event which was also well attended by many MPs. There was cross-party support for the Diploma and praise for the quality of the student work on display.

Engaging with Conservative Party

Prof. Matthew Harrison of the The Royal Academy of Engineering met with John Hayes MP (Cons, Shadow Minister Lifelong Learning, FE, HE) at the recent Skills Summit held at the IMechE. Matthew has written to Mr Hayes expressing E4E’s concerns over the attitude of the Conservative Party towards the Diploma in Engineering and to express a desire to meet with the Shadow Education team to discuss this further.

Roundtable lunch meeting with Lord Kenneth Baker of Dorking

Rhys Morgan represented E4E at a lunch meeting at the offices of the Reform think tank on the future of vocational education where Lord Baker presented his vision of University Technical Colleges. Lord Baker was critical of the Engineering Diploma in that it lacked sufficient applied content and as such it needed substantial work to improve it. Rhys informed Lord Baker that this was not the message from the engineering community involved with the Diploma. Lord Baker had been present at the IET event showcasing the Diploma in Engineering at the Houses of Parliament and he saw some of the excellent applied work showcased by the students. Lord Baker conceded that consortia had been able to make modifications to the diploma delivery within its existing framework. Lord Baker gave his assurance that the Conservative party want to keep the engineering diploma - though this is still not official policy.

QCDA A-Level Mathematics Consultation

Rhys Morgan attended a QCDA focus group on proposals for revision of AS- and A-Level mathematics. The meeting was run by David McKay of QCDA and in attendance were predominantly maths teachers from schools and colleges. Ruth Wright from Engineering Council was also present. The discussion on combinations of core units has implications for engineering HE on what minimum maths entry requirements there are for engineering courses.

Joint EPC/ACME/E4E research

Prof. Fred Maillardet of the Engineering Professor’s Council met with Rhys Morgan and Nick Bowes, Head of Secretariat of ACME to discuss a proposal of a joint piece of work to survey University Engineering Departments on what minimum mathematics requirements should be for undergraduate engineering courses. This seems very worthwhile research to undertake and a joint proposal to the HE STEM Programme for funding may be submitted.

Progress on FE Data

E4E released it’s first policy paper on the requirement for Data in the Further Education sector. Copies of the paper were sent to Prof Adrian Smith (DG Science and Research, Chair STEM High Level Strategy Group, Dept Business, Innovation and Skills) and to Nick Butler (Senior Policy Advisor, 10 Downing Street). Prof Smith has since replied to Philip Greenish, CEO The Royal Academy of Engineering with an offer of assistance in the matter. In addition to this, E4E is being consulted on work by BIS to establish a single reliable and accessible source of data that will support better policy making across the various bodies that make up the FE and skills sector.

October 2009

A single voice on UK engineering education

A new independent organisation has been established for the first time to advise Government and the devolved assemblies on engineering education across the UK. Hosted by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the group known as Education for Engineering (E4E) will enable the engineering profession to speak with a single voice to provide clear and cohesive advice in all matters relating to education in engineering. E4E membership is made up of the Professional Engineering Institutions, Engineering UK, Engineering Council and The Royal Academy of Engineering.

The UK Government and the devolved Assemblies now have policies for the promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers and on STEM teaching in schools and colleges. The professional engineering community needs to speak with a clear and consistent voice to provide relevant views on education issues if it is to impact on these policies, which affect the formation of future engineers and technicians.

Seeking opinion across the breadth of this community, E4E will ensure that Government receives the highest quality advice on STEM education from a single source so that the education system produces people who are well equipped to keep pace with the technological changes in society.

“E4E is addressing a critical area that will support future economic development,” says Dick Olver FREng, Chair of the Policy Group for the new organisation. “Unless the UK is able to educate, train, attract and retain good engineers at every level, our innovation skills will falter and opportunities will be lost.”

“The science and maths communities are already well placed to influence policy development through SCORE and ACME respectively, and E4E will represent engineering in the same way.”