MORI Schools Survey 2001 - Engineer article

This article was first published in The Engineer magazine. (Click here to see the full topline findings of the survey on which this article was based.)

Seven out of 10 children of secondary school age say they know either not very much or nothing at all about engineering. And when boys and girls are looked at separately, it emerges that eight out of 10 girls say that they have little or no knowledge of the professions. Only four per cent of girls say they are likely to consider engineering as a career.

Over half of all children still associate engineering with a dirty working environment; two fifths think it will offer interesting work, but only a third associate it with good pay.

These disturbing findings are from the latest poll carried out by MORI for the Engineering and Marine Training Association. The survey is carried out at two-yearly intervals to track attitudes and knowledge among schoolchildren to the engineering profession.

There appears to be no evidence of any improvement in the standing of engineering since the last survey in 1998. The worrying implication is that high-profile initiatives such as the Year of Engineering Success are making little headway, or that the profession is having to run to keep still. Though engineering is strongly associated in schoolchildren's minds with transport and high technology, these associations are not being translated into career aspirations.

On a positive note, the survey does suggest some pointers to where effective action might be taken. Engineering remains popular as a career that boys say they will consider. The continuing lack of appeal to girls, though worrying, appears not to be attributable to perceptions of sex discrimination. And the association between engineering and a dirty working environment is at least beginning to decline, though slowly.

The key problem, suggests MORI, is a lack of exposure to effective information, and that children's resulting ignorance about engineering fuels misconceptions.

'There is a strong relationship between knowledge of engineering and its perceived attractiveness as a career,' says the MORI report. Over half those who say they know a great deal about engineering, and two fifths of those who say they know a fair amount are likely to consider an engineering career. But the number who say they know a great deal or a fair amount about engineering has dropped by five percentage points since the last survey in 1998.

Moreover, from a list of 20 jobs (see fig x), professional engineer proved one of the most popular among boys, being chosen by 13% and behind only professional sportsperson, working in the army or navy and lawyer. Engineering's popularity was more consistent across age groups than professional sportsperson, which tended to be a passing fad.

fig x: Engineer trails behind lawyer, teacher, accountant and doctor as a career choice

Q When you have finished your education, which two jobs would be your preferred choice?

Professional sportsperson	16%
Lawyer	16%
Vet	14%
Army/Navy	14%
Teacher	12%
Accountant	9%
Hotel Manager	9%
Policeman/woman	9%
Doctor	8%
Professional Engineer	7%
Nurse	7%

Most frequently consulted information sources are not necessarily the most useful

Q Which of the following provided you with information about engineering and was this information useful [shown in brackets]?

Parent/guardian	35%[84%]
Careers teacher at school	20%[73%]
Other relative	20%[76%]
Visit to engineering company	11%[87%]
Careers officer/advisor	11%[79%]
Work experience at engineering company	10%[93%]
Careers exhibition/fair	7%[73%]

But fewer than 0.5% of the girls in the survey listed professional engineer as a preferred job, the most popular choices being vet, teacher, lawyer and nurse.

The reason for this could be a perception that engineering does not offer the things girls see as important in a job. The top three attributes respondents to the survey sought in a job were good pay, interesting work and responsibility.

Only a third of children associate engineering with good pay but this perception is stronger among boys than girls by a margin of 41% to 25%. Similarly, while two fifths of children overall associate engineering with interesting work, boys holding this opinion outnumbered girls by a factor of two to one (54% to 27%) (fig y).

fig y: Knowledge of engineering is low, especially among girls...

Q How much do you know about engineering?

Total Male Female
A fair amount/a great deal	23%
	50%
	11%
Not very much	48%
	46%
	50%
Nothing at all	22%
	12%
	33%
Don't know	6%
	6%
	6%

...who are less likely to consider engineering interesting or well paid.

Q How much do you know agree or disagree with the following statements about working in engineering?

Male	Disagree Agree
Female	Disagree Agree
It's boring	36%	26%
	11%	47%
Good wages/salary	13%	41%
	12%	25%
Dirty working environment	13%	51%
	9%	57%
Interesting work	16%	54%
	28%	27%
Involves working in factories	24%	31%
	21%	21%
Need to be clever to do engineering	19%	44%
	19%	34%
Secure job	22%	34%
	21%	20%
Involves working in teams	10%	53%
	9%	44%
A job mainly for men	24%	42%
	37%	36%

'Lack of knowledge about engineering is a key barrier to enhancing the image of the sector,' says MORI. Over half those who said they knew nothing about engineering also thinking it was boring, compared with 11% of those who said they knew a great deal about it.

Girls are also less likely to think that it is necessary to be clever to do engineering, in other words associating it with unskilled work. Girls, however, are more likely to disagree with the view that engineering is a job mainly for men, suggesting that perceived sex discrimination is not a barrier.

Lack of knowledge about engineering is compounded by a mismatch between what children say are their main channels of information and the most useful ones. The most common sources of information about engineering were parents and guardians, TV and radio and careers teachers at school.

Parents may have a positive influence: only 29% of those receiving information from parents agreed that engineering was boring, compared to 36% overall.

But when asked what was the most useful source of information, pupils most commonly cited work experience or a visit to an engineering company, followed by parents and then careers officers. Boys were more likely to have obtained information from school careers teachers or a careers adviser than girls and were more likely to have visited a company or had work experience.

But those who received information about engineering from careers teachers were also less likely to regard engineering as interesting work than those getting their information from parents, work experience, or radio and TV. 'This suggests the sector needs to be more actively promoted in careers literature and among careers professionals,' concludes MORI.

Engineering was widely seen as important to transport, new technology and computers and to respondents' day-to-day life in general (fig z). Associations with looking after the environment were somewhat less strong. But this importance 'is not translated into appeal as a career. These links need to be capitalised on,' says MORI.

fig z: Engineering's importance in everyday life does not translate into career aspirations

Q How important or unimportant do you think engineering is in each of the following areas of life?

Unimportant Important
Looking after the environment	30%
	54%
Transport	7%
	84%
Health	31%
	54%
New technology	12%
	76%
Computers	18%
	70%
Housing	19%
	65%
My day-to-day life	22%
	60%

What lessons can be drawn from this? The main obstacle, according to MORI, is that children do not associate an engineering career with the factors they consider important in a job.

Pupils who are more exposed to engineering through school work are more likely to view it favourably so greater prominence in the curriculum could help, says MORI, provided the teaching of technology related subjects is undertaken in a way that emphases the practical and creative aspects.

To address the unpopularity of the profession with girls, careers literature should contain positive female role models.

Promotional material needs to be targeted at younger children. At age 11 or so they are more likely to be open to considering engineering than older children: by 14 they have tend to have formed fixed impressions of what they're interested in.

As many children as possible should be exposed to the sector through school visits or work experience both because this was considered the most useful source of information and to address the perception that engineering involves a dirty working environment. 'MORI research has continually found that employees, particularly those who enjoy the job, are the best advocates for their companies,' says the report. 'This should be harnessed by encouraging employees to give talks at schools and careers fairs.'

Technical details

The survey was carried out among 126 middle and secondary state schools in England and Wales. The age group was 11-16. One class at random was selected to complete questionnaires from each school. Completed questionnaires were obtained from 2,970 pupils. Fieldwork was undertaken between 15 January and 15 February 2001