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Testing times ahead for technical educators
Engineering education and training faces particular challenges amid the ongoing reforms to technical education. Alan Thomson reports
CASE STUDY
Alan Thomson is editor of inTuition
The new‘ T Levels’ – technical qualifications equivalent to A Levels – promise to bring extra rigour to technical education and training, including engineering.
And the parallel reform of apprenticeships aims to improve the quality of work-based training by ensuring they meet the standards demanded by employers.
Together these reforms will have a significant impact on engineering education and training, and on the professional development support required by engineering teachers and trainers.
Rhys Morgan, director of engineering and education at the Royal Academy of Engineering( RAEng), welcomes the extra £ 500 million promised by government to underpin T Levels, including an associated increase in teaching hours.
“ There is a lack of resource for engineering facilities and infrastructure after decades of underinvestment in further education and training,” Morgan says.
“ While most providers will have standard workbench tools, you are unlikely to find many with high-end, industry-standard equipment on site.”
The Royal Academy of Engineering’ s report, Engineering an Economy that works for all, called for additional, long-term investment in further education
BRIDGWATER & TAUNTON COLLEGE
Bridgwater & Taunton College has a large and successful engineering department, with more than 1,000 students and apprentices and around 70 staff.
Specialisms include automated manufacturing technologies, robotics and welding. The engineering department prides itself on providing industry-standard facilities and teaching.
“ All of this comes at a cost,” says Chris Hunt, acting head of engineering.
“ We are one of the biggest departments in a large college and this helps with funding. Alongside that, there has been funding from the local enterprise partnership( LEP) and local businesses have donated equipment.
“ We also invest significantly in our staff, taking industry-trained people and investing in their continuing professional development.”
The college is currently constructing an Advanced Engineering Centre and an Energy Skills Centre.
Bridgwater and Taunton College
and training, including differential funding to support high-cost subjects such as engineering.“ The challenge arises in areas around new technologies or involving new materials such as composites and smart materials,” says Morgan.
“ So while I expect the majority of providers will be able to deliver T Level qualifications, teaching staff will require ongoing support around professional development.
“ It may also be that the really high-end stuff will be done in the new National Centres of Technology.”
Key to the ongoing reforms of technical education is the drive to enable more learners to progress from Level 2 qualifications to the Level 3, 4 and 5 qualifications that employers demand. The RAEng has been tasked by the Department for Education to head a group of organisations, including other engineering institutes and sector skills councils, to produce a draft of what ought to be in the core curriculum for the new engineering T Levels.
T Levels will be developed in each of the 15 technical routes, recommended by the Independent Panel on Technical Education headed by Lord Sainsbury.
It is unclear how many separate engineering T Levels there will be since, in addition to those offered as part of the engineering and manufacturing route, it is possible that engineering-related qualifications might appear in other technical routes such as construction and digital.
Morgan says that the aim is to produce a“ sector agnostic” core curriculum for engineering. It will focus on three broad areas: design and development, manufacturing and fabrication, and maintenance.
“ We are looking to define core content – the things that everyone should know regardless what branch of engineering they are in, or which sector is delivering the training,” he says.
24 ISSUE 28 • SUMMER 2017 INTUITION