ERIC Number: EJ977728
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-9080
EISSN: N/A
"Hungry for Hands-on": Talented, Inner-City Engineering Students, Applied Learning and Employer Engagement in a Vocational-Learning Trajectory
Haight, Annie
Journal of Education and Work, v25 n4 p381-402 2012
This paper analyses the findings of a case study into the attitudes and experiences of engineering students and teachers on a vocational education trajectory from the 14-19 Diploma in Engineering through post-16 vocational courses to a university Access course. The research took place in 2008-2009 in a deprived inner city area of London. A baseline survey of nearly 100 participants sought the views of secondary and further education (FE) students as to learning preferences, attitudes to the subject, motivation and aspirations. These issues were investigated in more depth through interviews with secondary, vocational and university access students nominated by their teachers as talented. Engineering teachers at secondary, FE and higher education levels were interviewed regarding their understandings of talent in engineering and their approaches to nurturing such talent. The paper overviews the findings on these questions, and focuses in more depth on issues surrounding applied learning and employer engagement. The study found strong preferences among learners and teachers in all phases for applied and work-relevant learning approaches in engineering education. Opportunities for these were unbalanced through the phases, however, with work experience, enrichment events and access to professional engineers more available to the younger, 14-19 Diploma students than to further or higher education students. (Contains 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Engineering Education, Secondary School Students, College Students, Student Attitudes, Student Experience, Student Motivation, Aspiration, Preferences, Vocational Education, Teacher Attitudes, Vocational Education Teachers, College Faculty, Talent, Student Surveys, Semi Structured Interviews, Case Studies, Experiential Learning, Relevance (Education), Urban Areas, Employment, School Business Relationship, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (London)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A