This study investigates the issues of recognising and nurturing young people’s talent in engineering in a disadvantaged borough of London. It reviews research literature and key policy documents on: • the role of education in promoting social mobility • gifted and talented education • engineering education. The study’s empirical research draws on the experiences of learners and teachers of engineering on a Specialist Diploma course and vocational programmes in a Further Education college, and in an Engineering Access programme jointly taught by the college and a London university. The research comprised a baseline survey of secondary and FE students in the college, and case study interviews with learners and teachers of secondary, further education and university Access courses. With a sample size of nearly 100, the baseline survey allows a relatively confident degree of generalisation, at least among learners in similar areas of urban disadvantage. The case study interviews were conducted with much smaller samples, so generalisability is limited. It is likely that the teacher responses are representative of professional views to some degree, again, at least in relation to institutions catering for a similar demographic. The findings from the student interviews are specific to the individual participants, yet the congruence between the survey and interview results in several key areas indicates that they might be taken as representative to some degree. In any case the richness of detail in their individual responses adds depth and immediacy to a number of the issues emerging from the overall research picture.
Haight, A.
Year of publication: 2010Date of RADAR deposit: 2010-08-16