The Engineering Council Neighbourhood Engineers Scheme

Abstract

This paper is about a scheme developed by The Engineering Council and supported by the Department of Trade and Industry which links local engineers to secondary schools in the United Kingdom. It describes the nature and purposes of the scheme and the way in which it works out in practice. It is derived from a recent evaluation conducted by a team from the University of East Anglia.

The evaluation was based on ten case studies of the Neighbourhood Engineers Scheme in practice. This paper highlights some of the main observations and issues to arise from case studies: the teachers’ response to the initiative; the engineers’ motivation; forms of involvement with schools; styles of working with pupils; the problem of the invisible engineer and impact on children.