MORI Schools Survey 2001 - Topline

Culture

Children's attitudes to careers, particularly careers in engineering

 
  • Results are based on 2,970 interviews conducted among a representative sample of school children aged 10-16 years living in England and Wales
  • Results are based on fieldwork taking place between 15 January and 15 February, and the data are weighted by age, sex and region to Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and Welsh Office data
  • Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to multiple responses, computer rounding or the exclusion of 'don't know/not stated' response categories
  • An asterisk (*) represents a value of less than half of one per cent, but not zero
  • Unless otherwise stated, results are based on all respondents (2,970)
  • See also article published in The Engineer magazine based on this survey

Q1 How much do you know about engineering?

  1996 1998 2001
n 4,295 3,978 2,970
  % % %
A great deal 3 5 6
A fair amount 20 23 17
Not very much 45 46 48
Nothing at all 27 23 22
Don't know 5 4 6

Q2 How likely or unlikely are you to consider a career in engineering?

  1996 1998 2001
n 4,295 3,978 2,970
  % % %
Very likely 5 6 6
Fairly likely 10 10 9
Neither likely nor unlikely 15 13 12
Fairly unlikely 16 17 15
Very unlikely 45 49 49
Don't know 7 4 8

Q3a Which of the following have provided you with information about engineering? Q3b For each box you tick at QB3a, can you say if the information was useful or not useful?

  QB3a QB3a QB3b
Provided you with information Useful Not useful
% % %
Careers teacher at school 1996 16 73 27
1998 32 73 27
2001 20 73 27
During normal school work 1996 14 68 32
1998 21 65 35
2001 15 70 30
Work experience at an engineering company 1996 6 90 10
1998 16 85 11
2001 10 93 7
Other visit to an engineering company 1996 8 83 17
1998 20 85 16
2001 11 87 13
Careers office/adviser 1996 7 80 20
1998 18 76 24
2001 11 79 21
Parent/guardian 1996 31 83 17
1998 42 85 15
2001 35 84 16
Other relative 1996 16 81 19
1998 26 78 22
2001 20 76 24
Careers exhibition/fair 1996 6 77 23
1998 14 74 26
2001 7 73 27
Friends 1996 13 60 40
199 21 60 39
2001 15 54 46
Careers leaflets 1996 10 74 26
1998 21 69 31
2001 14 70 30
Reading newspapers/ magazines 1996 14 64 36
1998 27 64 36
2001 16 66 34
TV and radio 1996 19 64 36
1998 32 70 30
2001 23 68 32
Other 1996 3 69 21
1998 4 - -
2001 3 71 29
None of these 1996 15  
1998 13  
2001 19  
Don't know 1996 10  
1998 7  
2001 8  
Not stated 1996 12  
1998  
2001 5  

Q4 How much do you agree or disagree with EACH of the following statements about working in engineering?

  Strongly agree Tend to agree Neither agree nor disagree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don't know
% % % % % %
It's boring 1996 17 16 26 14 10 9
1998 22 18 27 12 10 9
2001 19 17 27 13 10 9
Good wages/salary 1996 10 24 25 7 3 20
1998 12 24 28 10 5 20
2001 10 24 26 9 3 22
Dirty working environment 1996 21 28 20 8 5 10
1998 28 30 20 7 3 9
2001 25 29 20 7 4 10
Interesting work 1996 14 24 23 11 8 10
1998 17 26 25 11 9 10
2001 16 25 22 13 9 10
Working in factories 1996 6 15 29 12 9 15
1998 12 23 29 11 7 14
2001 9 17 29 13 10 16
Need to be clever to do engineering 1996 14 24 24 12 7 10
1998 17 27 26 12 6 11
2001 15 24 25 12 7 12
Secure job 1996 7 17 30 14 6 14
1998 10 19 32 15 7 15
2001 9 19 30 14 6 16
Working in teams 1996 15 28 24 6 3 13
1998 20 34 24 5 2 14
2001 19 29 22 6 3 14
A job mainly for men 1996 15 11 16 11 32 7
1998 20 21 19 10 22 7
2001 20 20 18 12 19 7

Q5 How important or unimportant do you think engineering is in each of the following areas of life?

  Very important Fairly important Not very important Not at all important Don't know
% % % % %
Looking after the environment 1998 31 22 19 11 15
2001 29 25 19 10 12
Transport (e.g. cars and roads, railways etc) 1998 54 30 5 2 7
2001 58 25 5 1 5
Health 1998 39 15 19 12 12
2001 38 16 20 12 11
New technology 1998 46 33 8 2 9
2001 42 34 9 2 7
Computers 1998 41 31 12 3 10
2001 38 32 13 4 8
Housing 1998 43 26 11 5 13
2001 36 29 13 5 11
My day-to-day life 1998 35 26 15 8 15
2001 33 27 16 7 13

Q6 Which three of these factors do you think will be most important to you in a job?

  1996 1998 2001
4,295 3,978 2,970
  % % %
Being given responsibility 44 50 40
Job security (means you have less chance of losing your job) 28 35 25
Good wages/pay 73 73 73
Interesting work 43 48 44
Working in teams 12 12 13
The chance to be promoted/good job prospects 19 18 17
Working in an office 8 8 8
Working in a factory 2 2 2
Helping to make things 7 7 7
Training for skills which will probably keep you in work for life 21 18 18
Making the best use of your skills 25 26 24
Good working hours 25 19 27
Information Technology/Computers 11 12 13
Don't know 2 1 2

Q7 Which of the following best describes when you would like to start work?

  1998 2001
3,978 2,970
  % %
I would like to leave school at 16 and start work 14 14
I would like to leave school or college when I am 18 and start work 22 24
I would like to go to university/higher education 53 49
Don't know 8 9

Q8 Thinking about the future, when you have finished your education, which two of the following jobs, would be your preferred choice?

  1996 1998 2001
4,295 3,978 2,970
  % % %
Accountant 8 11 8
Army/Navy 11 14 14
Carpenter and Joiner 3 3 4
Construction professional (e.g. Architect, Surveyor) 3 6 5
Another construction trade-unions (e.g. Bricklayer, Plasterer) 5 2 2
Dentist 1 2 2
Doctor 7 8 8
Fireman/woman 7 6 4
Hotel Manager 7 10 5
Lawyer 11 17 16
Nurse 6 7 7
Optician 1 1 1
Policeman/woman 8 9 9
Professional Engineer - 8 7
Another engineering occupation (e.g. Machine operator) - 2 3
Professional sportsperson 21 18 16
Scientist 5 7 5
Social worker 6 6 5
Teacher 14 13 12
Vet 16 15 14
None of these 15 14 16
Don't know 4 2 3

Q9 And which two of these would you least like to do?

  1996 2001
4,295 2,970
  % %
Accountant 14 9
Army/Navy 19 32
Carpenter and Joiner 8 10
Construction professional (e.g. Architect, Surveyor) 6 3
Another construction trade-unions (e.g. Bricklayer, Plasterer) 10 15
Dentist 17 15
Doctor 11 8
Fireman/woman 7 6
Hotel Manager 4 5
Lawyer 9 6
Nurse 8 10
Optician 7 4
Policeman/woman 10 8
Professional Engineer - 6
Another engineering occupation (e.g. machine operator) - 7
Professional sportsperson 6 4
Scientist 14 12
Social worker 8 8
Teacher 13 15
Vet 11 10
None of these 1 1
Don't know 3 2

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