SKILLS JANUARY 2019
When children were asked what they wanted to
be when they grew up, ‘manufacturer’ didn’t rank
too highly. Some people are trying to change this –
and research shows they are succeeding
BY AMY BEST
When I was younger, I envied the
children who knew right away what
they wanted to do for a living, as I
certainly didn’t. The truth is, however,
that lots of children don’t know what
they want to be, and don’t truly know what jobs
are out there. New jobs are invented every year,
and there isn’t a catalogue of jobs to choose from.
An EEF report from September last year,
titled Why does manufacturing matter to the British
public?, showed that it’s not just the children
who are misinformed, but parents as well.
One third of parents who were asked believed
that the manufacturing sector is poorly paid,
whilst just over a quarter said they did not want
their children working on a production line.
Furthermore, almost one-fifth said they did not
want their child doing manual labour.
“It is clear that there are massive
misconceptions about manufacturing,” says
Stephen Phipson, CEO of EEF, the manufacturers’
organisation. “We need to continue to push
government to work with industry to invest more
in creating the next generation of manufacturers
to ensure we are able to maintain Britain’s
impressive place in global manufacturing and go
on to improve further and grow.”
Drawing conclusions
The Education and Employer charity researched
what children wanted to be when they grew up
and created the landmark Drawing the Future
report, having received over 10,000 responses
from children aged 7-11 in 2017. It asked children
to draw what they wanted to be, and received
some unexpected results. ‘Engineer’ ranked 11th
overall, with sportsman/woman holding the
top spot. Also in the top ten were Vet, Doctor
and Scientist, ranking third, sixth and seventh
most-popular jobs respectively. To have multiple
science, technology, engineering and maths
(STEM) subjects ranking so highly for both boys
and girls is a good sign. When broken down by
gender, however, ‘engineer’ was the sixth job
choice for boys, but didn’t even
make the top 20 for girls.
This was the first research
of its kind, and therefore can’t
be compared to previous years
to see how far this has come.
However, we know from the
skills gap in the STEM sector
that ‘engineer’ and ‘scientist’
surely must not have ranked so
highly in the past.
Dr Elnaz Kashefpakdel,
head of research at Education
and Employer, says: “Drawing
the Future findings show that
children clearly start to rule
out career options from an
early age, and their choices are
often influenced by what and
who they see. This highlights
the importance of closer ties
between employers and schools
to ensure that all children, no
matter where they come from,
have access to role models in
a wide range of professions to
help them develop an awareness
of possibilities from early age”
Helena Sans, head of
manufacturing at Barclays,
comments: “Raising a
generation from early years to
graduation is a 20-year process.
In order to have an impact
by 2050, manufacturers need
to find ways to educate and
influence the next generation
now or face another 20 years or
so grappling against these skills
challenges. One solution is to
focus on appealing to women
as well as men as it’s clear
that there is currently a huge
gender gap in perceptions of the
manufacturing industry.”
ChildÕs play
The relationship between
schools and employers is
indeed getting stronger. You
may remember in the summer
of 2018, several news stories
were circulating about new
kids’ clubs centred around
engineering. One of these was
named ‘Space Camp’, set up by
Crewe-based gas manufacturer,
Air Products.
Back in June, 60 11-13-yearolds
went to Space Camp
for a week and learnt about
everything from astronomy
to rocket launches. Space
Camp was devised by Lynn
WITH THE WORLD
AT YOUR FEET
MCMT staff and
apprentices
supported 15
young people at
their kids’ club
‘Engineer’ was the
sixth
highest-ranking
job choice for boys
26 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
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