Engineering the Curriculum

Engineering the Curriculum is a joint project from Ken Gadd, Roland Jackson, Ben Johnson and Jane MagillDespite a cascade of initiatives from a bewildering number of sources, engineering remains a Cinderella subject at school level and for the wider population. Perceptions of engineers as semi-skilled workers with oily rags are still widespread and are a major influence in the poor uptake of engineering courses by school leavers. This has led to a dearth of well-qualified engineers entering the research community and the labour market in the UK.We propose the introduction of relevant and contextualised engineering ideas and concepts into the class room for a high proportion of the pre-16 school population. Crucially, this project is not proposing discretionary enrichment or outreach activities. Rather, engineering focussed material will form an integral part of the assessed science curriculum. This project comes at a time of unique opportunity. The new applied Science GCSE enters the curriculum in 2006. With little or no other curricular material available or in preparation, we can deliver resources to large numbers of schools and reach a minimum target of 80,000 pupils per year.