A Look at the Future of FE Engineering Teaching

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The engineering sector has been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic with project cancellations galore underscoring the fact that this is currently an industry in need of help from the government. Growth in the construction sector in the post-lockdown UK dropped to its slowest pace for eight months in September 2021, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) of industry activity found.

First and foremost in the minds of industry leaders is the fact that there is an engineering skills shortage in the UK that needs urgently addressing. Indeed, a survey of 250 engineering professionals found that 37% of respondents identified the skills deficit as having the largest impact on their sector.

As engineering teachers engaging with the new talent pool, they play a huge role in addressing this skills shortage. However, as Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive Engineering UK, acknowledges: “Engineering has little curriculum presence and there is limited awareness and understanding of it among young people and their influencers. We must improve knowledge of engineering.”

The ‘Engineering UK Educational Pathways into Engineering’ report states that further education (FE) colleges are currently facing difficulties in attracting qualified engineers into the engineering teaching sphere. A total of 74% of college principals ranked the subject as the top in terms of the difficulty in recruiting.

Government plans to attract teaching talent to engineering

Due to the widely reported shortage of both engineers and, importantly, those entering the FE engineering teaching sector, the government has put in place plans to attract people to the latter. Initiatives to address the decline include a £26,000 bursary for those wishing to teach maths, science, engineering and computing at FE level. According to the government’s FE hub: “The conditions are that the trainee is accepted onto an FE ITE programme (minimum level 5 ie DET, Cert Ed or PGCE) and holds at least a level 3 qualification or appropriate professional experience related to their teaching subject.” The Department for Business Innovation & Skills laid out its plans for FE workforce strategy in a report published back in 2014. Recruitment and

retention data found that “significant and growing difficulties in filling vacancies in some key occupational groups, especially maths, science and engineering”. It also described its longer-term plans to get to the bottom of this worrying trend, with the government determined to better understand “the drivers of the FE teaching workforce and patterns of provision across the country, taking account of demand for the same set of knowledge, skills and competences in schools, higher education and other business sectors”.

It is, therefore, the perfect time for those with experience of the engineering industry to pass on the skills and knowledge learned to the next generation of toolmakers, mechanical engineers and civil engineers. Engineering teaching experience could result in progression to senior lecturer, head of department, or move into senior management.

How is the government addressing the skills shortage?

There is annual demand for around 124,000 engineers and technicians with core engineering skills across the UK economy, yet there is a shortage of ‘between 37,000 and 59,000 in meeting the annual demand for core engineering roles requiring level 3+ skills’. The flipside of such a shortage is that there are ample opportunities in the sector over the coming years and there will, therefore, be a continuing demand for those choosing engineering teaching as a vocation. The Engineering UK: The State of Engineering 2018 report found that “engineering has a key role in driving economic growth and productivity, generating 21.4% (£1.2 trillion) of the UK’s £5.7 trillion turnover in 2018.”

However, engineering’s contribution to the economy has been at odds with investment in so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects in recent times. Since 2011-12, STEM has seen a drop in funding “compared with other phases of education, especially higher education, according to Engineering UK. Therefore, it is the commitment to STEM by the UK government as part of the levelling-up agenda that has been encouraging.

How tax credits could promote R&D in engineering

Back in 2000, Tony Blair’s government introduced the R&D tax credit scheme. The aim was to encourage innovation in the UK and more than £9.5bn has been claimed by companies of varying size. However, just 2% (541) of the small and medium-sized enterprises claims for tax credits came from the construction sector, a sector which is largely dominated by engineering firms.

For an industry that employs more than 1.7m, according to Cooper Mathews, this is a sad state of affairs. Two tax credit schemes — SME R&D Tax Credits and Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) — offer valuable incentives to UK businesses to channel some money towards research and development investment. Tax credit claims could be used for innovations such as energy-efficient design or green building design.

Introducing engineering T-levels

The first T-levels were introduced in colleges and further education (FE) institutions for enrolment in September 2020 encompassing a number of subjects, including engineering. T-levels were designed through consultation with employers and offer FE students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience. Industry placements should offer at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days) during a 2-year placement.

As of September 2022, the engineering and manufacturing T level will be available to students. Providers and employers “particularly appreciate the emphasis placed on attaining broad industry knowledge, which engineering employers believe will provide an alternative to the ‘deep, specialist’ knowledge that an apprenticeship offers”. As the Engineering UK report from 2020 found, T-levels are “a new qualification that will follow on from GCSEs and be equivalent to 3 A levels. It is intended to create a simplified and fit-for-purpose technical pathway that meets the needs of industry and prepares students for work”.

FE engineering teachers have the important role of being the conduit through students progress to a related higher-level apprenticeship or higher education course and potentially a route to a fulfilling position in the engineering sector.