Edge Research Conference
14th November 2014
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Manufacturing and the
Skills Crisis in the West
Midlands and Chicago:
A comparative analysis of
employer-engaged
education
Rachel Mulhall & John R, Bryson, University of
Birmingham, UK, and Nichola Lowe & Julianne
Stern (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill),
US
Contact Details: j.r.bryson@bham.ac.uk; r.a.mulhall@bham.ac.uk
Manufacturing and Skills Supply
“
Advanced Manufacturing represents one of the best
opportunities for the UK to rebalance the economy. The sector
has the potential to drive up levels of value-added in the
economy, and make a substantial contribution to export growth.
Its global competitiveness is ultimately dependent upon the
skills of its workforce.”
(UKCES (2012) Sector Skills Insights: Advanced Manufacturing, p.viii)
But is increasing the skill supply enough?
UTCs (UK) as a Model of Employer-Engagement




National (England) branded model, developed and managed by
The Baker Dearing Educational Trust (BDT)
Technical learning -environment, technology, language
Strong cross-party government support
UTC criteria:
– Strong local economic policy with a technical focus
– Area with growing school demand (either through
population growth or poor performance)
– Lead employer and university partners
– Integration of academic and technical education
Austen Polytechnic Academy, Chicago.

Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council (MR) established in 2005. A
coalition of organized labour, government, community leaders, educational
intuitions.

Mission to advance manufacturing in Chicago

2005 Began to develop the concept of a manufacturing-orientated High
School
Austin Polytechnical Academy (APA)
Because of the unionized nature of the public
school workforce MR decided to establish as
a regular Chicago Public School.
The overall academic performance of the
school and curriculum is organised by the city
of Chicago.
Research Project Data
UTC Research
APA Research
Focus on employers (10
interviews), support
organisations (8), and UTC
(3).
19 interviews, 5 MR
staff. 9 employer
partners, 2 not-forprofit partners, 3
recent graduates.
May-July 2014
University Technical Colleges
UTCs as a Solution:
Structure of Employer-Engagement
Bidding stage
Formation of application – national and
local strategic value
Pre-opening stage
Curriculum development
Employer-network development
Build development
Recruitment drives
Opening stage
Management board
Curriculum delivery
Work experience provider
(1) The Skills Ecosystem
CPD
External
training
providers
Professional
bodies
Higher
Education
Employee
Employer
Apprentice
On-The-Job
training
(2) Branding Engineering and The
Manufacturing Sector
Brand 1:
UTC
Brand 2:
Corporate
Brand 3:
Profession
(3) Student Exposure
Exposure to the Sector or company
 Technical learning or technical skill
development

(4) Added Value of Employer-Engagement
1.
2.
3.
4.
Academic performance
Technical language
Industry standards
Employment opportunities and progression routes
Is vocational education part of the solution?



Alternative higher skilled employee but what about the skill
mix?
Ability to scale-up and fit with other initiatives?
What does this mean for interventions to enhance skills?
– NEETs as a performance metric – added value through
interaction, awareness and progression routes
– Challenges:
establishing new school + regional catchment = initial costs
technical + academic learning = extra costs
Austin Polytechnical Academy
APA Structure
1.
2.
3.
4.
Manufacturing Renaissance – responsible for strategy, dayto-day implementation of the manufacturing programme.
Chicago Public Schools – responsible of administration of
the core academic functions.
APA Technical Advisory Council – council of employers –
required as APA is an accredited NIMS provider.
Employer Partners – a network of 55 SMM that host workbased learning activities and internships.
Funding
APA receives the same funding as any other school.
Additional funding - $500,000/year from MR, Chicago and a
network of firms.
Employer partners pay a small annual fee ($750) to participate
in pre-hire activities (job shadow days, internships)
Employer Engagement
Manufacturing firms – aging population and hire via word of
mouth,
Firms support APA due to:
Social capital of MR.
2) Philanthropy.
3) Some are concerned with replacing their aging workforce.
1)
Manufacturing and Training
Provide students with formal manufacturing credentials
accredited by the National Institute for Metalworking Skills
(NIMS)
These are industry standard qualifications.
The CNC Programming & Setup for Mill and Lathe are the most
challenging credentials provided by APA.
Outcomes
APA - Want students to go directly into work or College.
UTC – students need formal training before able to work within
manufacturing. But more hard skill training provided by a UTC
would limit the attractiveness.
UTC focus on a broad awareness of manufacturing. Goal is not
to prepare students for direct entry to employment.
Conclusions
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Ecosystem – national versus local.
Branding.
Exposure.
Alternative added value – metal skills versus understanding
of a sector.
Links to Universities.
Small but important steps in developing
local manufacturing skills and progression for young talent
Edge Research Conference
14th November 2014
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Centre for Education
Research and Practice
Daniel Acquah
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Young people’s career aspirations and
experiences of Information Advice and
Guidance: A case study of University
Technical Colleges
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
UTCs – some underlying assumptions
“I think that youngsters at 13 or 14 are quite capable of making decisions where
their interests lie, as long as they get good advice from their teachers and their
parents, and I therefore think that children can certainly make those decisions
today.” Baker
“I am convinced that most young people are ready to choose between styles and
types of learning by the time they are 14. University Technical Colleges…have
shown they can recruit highly motivated young people at 14 who know they
enjoy practical and technical learning… At the same time, it is important that
choices do not lead to dead ends and that it is possible for a student to change
routes at 16. This is achieved by all students studying a broad curriculum
alongside and illustrated by the specialist education they have chosen.
Provided we arm them with the right, objective information, therefore, we should
trust young people to make wise choices.” (Baker, 2013).
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Policy context
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
IAG has been devolved to the school level
HCEC (2011) found that IAG services were being cut by local authorities
seeking to make savings.
Ofsted (2013):
Provision of IAG not sufficiently well coordinated
Few schools knew how to provide a service effectively or had the skills and
expertise needed to provide a comprehensive service.
Few schools had purchased an adequate service from external sources.
Schools did not work well enough with employers to provide direct experience
Vocational training and apprenticeships were rarely promoted effectively,
especially in schools with sixth forms.
DfE (2014) issued revised statuary guidance – greater role for employers.
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Research questions
•
•
•
•
•
How has the provision of IAG shaped young people’s decision to study
engineering at a UTC?
How does this compare with the IAG received by young people at control
schools?
What ‘career related activities’ do young people have access to at school?
How do they view these activities?
Where do the young people see themselves in the future?
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Focus Groups
Completed by 2 groups
1. UTC students
4 groups
2. State engineering students ‘control’
4 groups Year 10
5 groups Year 11
Overall
17 focus groups
97 students
70 took part in both
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Data Analysis
•
Focusing on aspects of the schedule relevant to the research questions:
Year 10
- Why students had moved to the UTC.
- Why they wanted to study engineering.
- Aspirations for the future.
Year 11
- Work experience
- Engagement with employers
- Aspirations for the future.
• Grounded theory
• Line-by-line coding.
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Findings
Role of IAG
in shaping
decisions
www.cerp.org.uk
IAG and
careers
activities at
school
Thinking
about the
future
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Role of IAG
in shaping
decisions
An absence of face-to-face guidance
I…And did anybody speak to a careers adviser before they came here?
Male – Didn’t have any. I didn’t even know I had one – a careers adviser.
I – So somebody, you know, like Connexions.
Male – Oh yeah, we had that.
Female – No that’s here at this school.
Male– We had that at our old school as well.
I – No I mean before. So did anybody speak to Connexions?
Various – No.
(Year 10, UTC)
I – And did anyone speak to a careers adviser or anything like that?
Male – No.
Male 2 – I just picked it.
www.cerp.org.uk
(Year 10, BTEC)
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Role of IAG
in shaping
decisions
Reasons for choosing engineering
UTCs
I- And what about the sort of links with industry? So it’s [UTC] and .., did you think .., was that something
that made you want to come here that it was..?
Male – I think it sounds quite good really like going to the [UTC] like everyone .., it’s quite distinctive.
Male 2 – Yeah the chance to work with different companies as well, it’s quite good to have a go at.
Female – We wouldn’t have that opportunity at our old schools.
Female 2 – Yeah, if you see the list of companies that the [UTC] are actually linked to. You’ve got Rolls
Royce, Bentley, [company], there’s so many and you can kind of get your foot in the door with one of
them.
(Year 10, UTC)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Role of IAG
in shaping
decisions
Reasons for choosing engineering
Schools
I - OK, can you tell me about what made you want to study engineering? How did you first hear about it?
So did you get like school options? Did your friends or family talk about it?
Male – Yeah, school options.
Male 2 – Options.
I – Did anyone else talk to ..? What about .., so you ..., did you get like an options booklet and you picked
which subjects you wanted to do?
Various – Yes.
(Year 10, GCSE)
Male 1 – I just picked it because I didn’t like the other options but …
Male – Yeah same.
I – Right. So it wasn’t necessarily because you wanted to do engineering?
Male – No.
I – It was just because you didn’t want to do other things?
Male – Yes.
www.cerp.org.uk
(Year 10, GCSE)
Centre for Education Research and Practice
IAG and
careers
activities at
school
IAG at schools
I – Have you guys spoken to careers advisers at schools or anything like that?
Male -I don’t know where to find the careers advisor. I don’t know where he is, he has just
disappeared……
(Year 10, BTEC)
I-And do you get anyone from industry coming in to speak to you?
Katie – We’ve done interviews but that was like once, a long time ago.
I – Do you get them coming in to tell you about careers in engineering, stuff like that?
Various – No.
www.cerp.org.uk
(Year 11, Diploma)
Centre for Education Research and Practice
IAG and
careers
activities at
schools
IAG at UTCs
And you talk about this day when a lot of people … so have a lot of companies come into the UTC and
explained to you about what happen …
Male ? – They’re always round here.
Male ? – Yeah.
Female 3 – Yeah, there’s quite a few. This company came in the other week, can’t remember what they
were called.
Male – [engineering company].
Female 3 – Yeah, [engineering company], and they were telling me about 140 or something applicants for
apprenticeships and only three …
(Year 10, UTC)
Female – You get a lot more careers advice here.
I – You get a lot of advice?
Female – Yes.
Male- We have a careers advisor upstairs who really helps us.
www.cerp.org.uk
(Year 11, UTC)
(Year 11, UTC)
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Importance of work experience
I – Ok. And what did you think of your work experience? Was it any good?
Male – Good, yes.
I – Yes? What made it good?
Male-Yep, they teach you about the workplace and the jobs, it seemed good
I – Ok. What did you say sorry?
Male – I got a job.
IAG and
careers
activities at
schools
(Year 11, GCSE)
So when you were on your work placement, did you feel that you learnt quite a bit about the job that you
were doing and the careers that were available there or did you feel you actually learnt a bit more
about, you know, the company? Or did you feel you didn’t learn anything?
Male – About how the company operates and stuff.
I – You did, yes.
Jamie – I never knew store retail was like that hard.
I – Right.
Male 2 – I learnt about the qualifications needed to be a teacher.
(Year 11, Diploma)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Importance of work experience
IAG and
careers
activities at
UTCs
I – So work placements. Have you all been on work placements?
Various – Yes.
– Could you go around and sort of tell me where you went? Is that alright?
Male – I went to this place called XXXX Machinery. They like install machines to manufacture granite and
marble.
Female – I was at [company] Heavy Products in marketing and sales.
Male – I was up at Bentley Motors in Crewe.
I – OK.
Male – I was at XXXX Engineering I went about and looked at all the equipment basically.
Female – I went to a glass toughening company and basically learned how they toughened glass!...
Male – I went to XXXX and they do quarrying and ready mix.
I – Right.
Male – I went to Aston Martin where I was like in the factory.
I – Oh, OK, cool.
Male – I went to [company] headquarters.
(Year 10, UTC)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Ambivalence…
IAG and
careers
activities at
UTCs
Male – What’s really bad about the work experience is like every school in the country’s doing it at the same time so it’s quite
hard to find it.
Male – It’s really hard to get something that’s linked to something.
I –Competitive?
Male – Quite competitive to get work experience. Because when you phone them up and they’re like ‘no we don’t do it’, it’s
quite rude.
(Year 10, Diploma)
Male – I worked here in the engineering department.
I – Ok. What did you have to do?
Male – I basically you had to go round and check everything was alright.
I – And did you enjoy it?
Male – It was ok. It was a bit boring at times. It was alright.
I – So we’re going to go round and ask you what you did for your work experience. So [male] what did you do?
Male 2 – I worked in ICT in the school.
Male 2 – We had to shift the computers.
I – Ok. And did you enjoy that?
Male 2 – It was alright. It was fun.
Male 3 - I was with him. I did the same.
(Year 11, BTEC)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Thinking
about the
future
Heterogeneous career aspirations
Female – I’d like to be a doctor and hopefully work for the UN and stuff like that.
P – A medical doctor?
Female – Yes but like being able to do humanitarian work as well.
P – Alright, brilliant.
Female 2 – A vet.
P – A vet.
Male – I want to be a tree surgeon actually!
(Year 11, UTC)
So can I go round and can people tell me what their ideal job would be? Is that alright? I’ll start with you.
Male – Just like mechanical engineering.
I – OK.
Male – Building.
I – Building.
Female – [He] doesn’t know what he wants to do.
I – Not sure yet.
Male – Something to do with either IT programming or go into the Army a few years later.
I – OK. Colin, got any plans? It doesn’t matter if you don’t know.
Colin – Doing electrical engineering.
(Year 10, GCSE)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Thinking
about the
future
Engineering career choices
I – Right and what sort of jobs are you planning on doing in the future?
Male – Engineering-based.
I – Engineering. Do you know what specific thing you want to do or just …?
Male – No.
Male – Hopefully cars.
(Year 11, UTC)
Female – I don’t know I just want to be doing something within the engineering sector but I want to
progress once I’ve done my apprenticeship. (Year 11, UTC)
Female– I want to be a senior engineer.
I – Bob?
Bob – Get an engineering job.
I – An engineering job?
Bob – Yes.
(Year 11, Diploma)
I - What do you think you’ll be when you’re 26?
Barry – Engineering.
(Year 11, GCSE)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Thinking
about the
future
An uncertain future
Male – To be honest you never know where the future is going to take you. In five years I could hate maths and
want to be a famous synchronised swimmer!(Year 10, UTC)
Male – I hope to be into my extreme sports but to be fair, I don’t actually know what I want.
I – Does that seem like a really long time away?
Male – No but it doesn’t seem a long time away but it’s nothing that I’m really thought that I want to be there in
ten years time. (Year 11, UTC)
Male – I’m not really sure.
Male – I don’t know.
I – What about you Charlie?
Charlie – I don’t know.
(Year 11, GCSE)
Female – I’m not sure at all. I don’t really know….
I – Ok. What about you Shane?
Male – I haven’t really thought about it that much so I dunno. (Year 11, Diploma)
www.cerp.org.uk
Centre for Education Research and Practice
Discussion
•
How can we build on islets of good practice of IAG?
•
How best to tackle the variable quality of work experience?
•
Should we expect UTC students to have career aspirations related to
the UTC specialism?
www.cerp.org.uk
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Edge Research Conference
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Do University Technical Colleges encourage deep learning, intrinsic
motivation and higher attainment in Year 11 engineering students?
Debra Malpass & Hayley Limmer
Centre for Education Research & Practice, AQA, Manchester, UK,
UTC: 14-16 Integrated Curriculum
•
14-16 UTC Curriculum: 60% ‘academic subjects and 40% technical
specialism
•
Integrated curriculum to make learning “real and relevant”
•
Industry-Based Project: e.g. design a pump for a jet engine
•
All lessons will relate to the project.
“ German for Engineering – not Goethe”
– Lord Baker, Baker Dearing Trust
45
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Students able to link their ‘academic’
knowledge to the projects:
“Like in science – you’re learning about certain things and then that helps you
in engineering… So they all kind of fold into engineering but they all help you.”
Male, Year 10, UTC
“When we did the fuel pump we had to learn about how to work out the volume
that was going to be pumped to the engine and how like different angles would
affect the amount that was flowing. We learnt that in maths, so it does all work
together. And like trigonometry, if we wanted to make a coat hook, we’d figure
out what angle from that”.
Female, Year 10, UTC
46
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How will the UTC’s approach affect students’
learning?
•
Surface Learning: Complete task a quickly as possible with minimum effort
“I see no point in learning material which is not likley to be in an exam”
•
Deep Learning: Emphasis on understanding, evaluating and synthesising
“I try to relate what I have learned in one topic to what I learn in other topics”
•
Will the Integrated Curriculum lead to increased deeper learning for
UTC students compared to school students?
47
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How will the UTC’s approach affect students’
motivation?
•
Amotivation: Lackof interest or value of an activity
“I feel that I’m wasting my time at school”
•
Extrinsic Motivation: Engage in an activity for it’s instrumental value
“I study in order to have a better salary later on”
•
Intrinsic Motivation: Engage in an activity for inherent enjoyment or interest
“I experience pleasure and satisfaction when learning new things”
•
Will the Integrated Curriculum lead to increased intrinsic motivation for
UTC students compared to school students?
48
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Hypotheses
Research suggests that if you are intrinsically motivated you are more likely to
engage in deep learning.
Both factors are associated with better educational outcomes
(Biggs et al. 2001; Harlen & Deakin Crick, 2002; Vansteenkiste, et al. 2004; 2010).
•
Will the Integrated Curriculum lead to increased deeper learning for
UTC students compared to school students?
•
Will the Integrated Curriculum lead to increased intrinsic motivation
for UTC students compared to school students?
•
Will the UTC students have higher attainment compared to school
students?
49
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14-16 Engineering Education Research Project
Longitudinal Project:
•
•
Technical: Two University Technical Colleges (UTCs) in Midlands area of England.
Vocational & Academic: Each UTC paired with three matched schools offering
engineering from same catchment area (15 mile radius).
•
Longitudinal: Year 10 (14-15 years old) and Year 11 (15-16 years old).
•
.
•
•
Survey: Learning and Motivation Survey (N = 258).
Revised Learning Process Questionnaire (R-LPQ: Kember, et al. 2004)
Academic Motivation Scale (AMS: Vallerand et al. 1992).
Prior Attainment: Key Stage 2 Scores (11 years old)
Attainment at 16: GCSE and vocational qualification results (Key stage 4).
50
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Participants
• Technical:
• Vocational:
• Academic:
UTC students
School students studying engineering
School students not studying engineering
Technical (n=49)
Vocational (n=63)
Academic (n=64)
Female (%)
2
20
63
White British (%)
88
83
72
Prior Attainment:
Mean KS2 Score
(St Dev)
197.94 (30.10)
182.98 (40.01)
192.59 (37.04)
• No significant difference in prior attainment between groups
[F (2,173) = 2.47, p>0.05 ns].
• Response Rate: 76% between Year 10 and 11. Didn’t differ between groups
[x2 (2, N=258) = 0.69, p>0.05 ns].
51
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Results: Learning Approach
16
14
Total Score
12
10
Deep: Year 10
Deep: Year 11
Surface: Year 10
Surface: Year 11
8
6
4
2
0
Technical
Vocational
Academic
• There were no significant effects of deep or surface learning over time, between
groups or an interaction of group and time.
52
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Results: Motivation
70
68
66
64
62
Intrinsic: Year 10
60
Intrinsic: Year 11
58
Extrinsic: Year 10
56
Extrinsic: Year 11
54
52
50
Technical
Vocational
Academic
• Significant effect of group: Technical students had a significantly higher
Intrinsic motivation score than academic students.
[F (2,159) = 4.91, p<0.01].
• There were no significant effects of extrinsic motivation over time,
between groups or an interaction of group and time.
53
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Results: Amotivation
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Year 10
Year 11
Technical
Vocational
Academic
• Marginall effect of group: Vocational students had a higher amotivation
score than academic students
[F (2,150) = 3.00, p = 0.053].
• There were no significant effects over time or an interaction of group and
time.
54
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Results: Deep Learning & Motivation
•
Correlation
Significance
Students
Deep Learning &
Intrinsic Motivation
0.47
<0.001
143
Deep Learning &
Extrinsic Motivation
0.32
<0.05
147
Deep Learning &
Amotivation
-0.26
<0.05
154
Deep learning is significantly associated with intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation. It is negatively correlated with amotivation.
55
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Results: Surface Learning & Motivation
•
Correlation
Significance
Students
Surface Learning &
Intrinsic Motivation
-0.27
<0.05
146
Surface Learning &
Extrinsic Motivation
-0.17
NS
147
Surface Learning &
Amotivation
0.44
<0.001
155
Surface learning is significantly associated with amotivation and negatively
associated with intrinsic motivation.
56
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Results: Attainment at 16 (Year 11)
Attainment
Measure
Technical
Vocational
Academic
TOTAL
5+ GCSEs (incl
equiv) A*-C incl.
English & Maths
80%
66%
68%
71%
GCSE &
equivalent
qualifications
points** (Mean,
St Dev)
368 (30.45)
340 (48.59)
368 (40.80)
358.31
(43.07)
**Combines the points awarded for their best 8 GCSEs or equivalents
GCSE: A* = 58, A = 52, B = 46, C = 40, and so on. Grade B in 8 subjects = 368.
•
Taking into account prior attainment; Technical students have statistically
higher attainment at 16 than vocational students β = -20.09, t(171) = -2.90, p<0.01
•
No difference between Technical & Academic students (p>0.05)
57
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Regression Model
β
Std. Error
t
p
(Intercept)
265.73
32.29
8.23
<0.01
KS2 Score
0.51
0.09
5.70
<0.01
Deep Learning
2.67
1.18
2.25
<0.05
Surface
Learning
-2.76
1.09
-2.55
<0.05
Intrinsic
Motivation
-0.09
0.35
-0.26
NS
Extrinsic
Motivation
-0.05
0.35
-0.16
NS
Amotivation
0.07
0.58
0.11
NS
Parameter
• Prior attainment and deep learning predict qualification points.
• Surface learning negatively associated with qualification points.
58
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Discussion: Learning & Attainment
•
Deep learning in Year 11 is associated with attainment.
•
Technical Students don’t have higher deep learning scores but their
attainment is higher than vocational students.
•
UTCs could be ‘adding value’ in other ways: teacher expertise, longer
day/term (more study time), integrated curriculum, better facilities.
•
Why do Technical students have higher attainment than vocational but not
academic students?
At a UTC the students are not put in the ‘vocational track’ where they are
perceived to be ‘second best’. Without this negative social comparison their
attainment is similar to the academic students.
•
59
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Discussion: Motivation
•
Intrinsic motivation was not correlated with attainment but was correlated
with deep learning.
•
Prior attainment and deep learning approach were predictors of attainment
at 16. Perhaps intrinsic motivation has a indirect role?
•
Technical students left previous school at 14 to pursue engineering or to
make a ‘fresh start’. Intrinsically motivated to attend a UTC.
•
Not surprising that all students have higher extrinsic motivation scores: All
subject to same pressure to revise, resubmit and resit to gain highest
possible grades. High stakes qualifications have implications for students,
teachers and position in league tables.
•
Despite this pressure, students are not adopting a surface learning
approach to achieve their grades.
60
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“I’ve got better grades here. A lot better”
“Before in my old school I would have been aiming for like ‘C’s, ‘B’s, now I’m
aiming for ‘A*’s so it does improve it a lot more”. Female, Year 11, UTC
“I was speaking to some of my mates from my old school who I used to hang
around with and stuff and they’ve done science exams and they all got like ‘E’s
and ‘D’s” Male, Year 11, UTC
Overall, UTC students perceive that they are making more progress than
at their previous school.
Our results show they made more progress than if they were in the
‘vocational’ track at school.
61
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Thank You
• David Harbourne at Edge Foundation
• Students and staff at participating UTCs and Schools
62
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Limitations
•
Only two UTCs in the sample. Now more UTCs open – more opportunities
to do larger scale study.
•
Engineering is not a typically ‘vocational’ subject.
•
Academic motivation scale – may not capture technical/vocational
motivation.
63
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Intrinsic Motivation to Attend a University Technical
College
• Motivated to study engineering:
“I just said that I think it’d be a really good opportunity
and I’ve always wanted to do engineering so I kind of thought
this was the best place to go” - Female Year 10, UTC
• Want a ‘fresh start’:
“I used to mess around at my old school like and it’s like a
fresh start and no-one knows you so you can just start from fresh
and hopefully do better” - Male, Year 10, UTC
64
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Experiences of the Integrated Curriculum
• Students valued the integrated curriculum in Year 10:
“Like in science – you’re learning about certain things and then that helps you
in engineering… So they all kind of fold into engineering but they all help you
in the same way.” – Male, Year 10, UTC
•
And practical learning:
“I prefer to learn hands-on, actually doing something than actually like,
from a text book.” - Male, Year 10, UTC
•
Integrated Curriculum no longer taught in Year 11:
Interviewer –So would you like to have all your lessons based around
engineering or …?
Male – Yes, it was the whole point of coming here really.
Year 11, UTC
•
Few, if any opportunities for practical learning:
“We’ve stopped doing workshop now. We need to focus on the theory and
coursework.” - Female, Year, 11, UTC
65
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Edge Research Conference
14th November 2014
#EdgeResearchConference
Who wants to be an
engineer? Vocational
diversification in English
secondary schooling and the
decision-making and
experience of girls and boys
from different social class
backgrounds
Ann-Marie Bathmaker
University of Birmingham
The vision for UTCs (1)
University technical colleges (UTCs) are
government-funded schools that offer 14–18
year olds a great deal more than traditional
schools. They teach students technical and
scientific subjects in a whole new way and are
educating the inventors, engineers, scientists
and technicians of tomorrow. [my emphasis]
http://www.utcolleges.org/about/overview/ (accessed 30 August 2014)
The vision for UTCs (2)
The vision for UTCs (3)
“Amongst the first UTCs no student has joined
the ranks of the unemployed. Every student
continued in education, or went into
employment or training. There were no “NEETs”
[Not in Education, Employment or Training] and
this is our aim for all UTCs.”
Lord Baker, Chairman, Baker Dearing Educational
Trust
http://www.utcolleges.org/about/baker-dearing-educational-trust/ (Accessed, 30
August 2014)
All UTCs in England at September 2014.
Open: 17. Planned: 33
Education policy imperatives
surrounding UTCs
• Encouraging greater participation in STEM
subjects
• Increasing school ‘choice’ and diversity
• But set within an “A-C economy”
Wider social and economic concerns
• Skills shortages
at technician and graduate level in engineering,
manufacturing, technology, IT and science (CBI, 2014)
• Earnings
for those aged 22–30, median earnings are 15 per cent less
than before the recession, driven by a combination of lower
hourly pay and fewer hours of work.
• Geographic mobility
not an option with low earnings: 25% of 20–34-year-olds live
with their parents (State of the Nation, 2014)
• Social mobility
Average-ability children from wealthy families on average
overtake high-ability children from poor families by the time
they sit their GCSEs (Child Poverty and Social Mobility
Commission, 2014)
The study
Funded through a British Academy small grant
Fieldwork in 2 UTCs, one new, one established
• Questionnaire to all Y10 students:
demographic information
reasons for attending the UTC
career goals
• Interviews with 16 students at each UTC:
reasons for moving to UTC
career goals
their perceptions of the UTC (curriculum, teaching and
learning, behaviour management)
• Interviews with the principal, assistant principal, and
teachers in each UTC
Schools for the boys
New UTC
Female
Male
Total students
12
66
78
Established
UTC
6
19
25
Schools for ordinary kids
Both UTCs New UTC
TOTAL
59
Total
45
Established
UTC
Total
14
27
19
8
Too little info
17
14
3
TOTAL
103
78
25
Working
class
Middle class
Schools that reflect the ethnic background of
the immediate local population
Established UTC
New UTC
Total
White male
White female
Asian male
Mixed race
male
Other male
TOTAL
61
12
2
1
2
78
Total
White male
15
White female
5
Black male
3
Asian Male
1
Other female
1
TOTAL
25
Why did students decide to study at the UTC?
Established UTC
Reason
Total
New UTC
Reason
Total
14
Fresh start
35
UTC deemed better than
previous school
7
UTC deemed better than
previous school
25
Fresh start
1
UTC specialism
22
Total students in
category
25
UTC specialism
Total students in category 78
What were the students’ career goals?
New UTC
CAREER GOAL
Career associated with UTC specialism
Various trade jobs
Armed forces for career with UTC specialism
Armed forces
Graduate jobs, not UTC specialism
Misc. unrelated to UTC specialisms
No response
Don’t know
Total responses
Total students
27
11
1
10
11
12
9
1
81
78
Established
UTC
9
1
3
2
1
3
8
0
27
25
Future engineers, scientists and
technicians?
• At New UTC (78 students):
28 students named STEM jobs
11 students named trade jobs (e.g. welder)
33 students named jobs unrelated to STEM (e.g.
chef, physiotherapist, PE teacher)
• At Established UTC (25 students):
12 students named STEM jobs
1 student named a trade (mechanic)
7 students named jobs unrelated to STEM (e.g.
journalist, English teacher)
Gendered/classed
differences in future goals?
GENDER
At New UTC
• all 3 middle class white girls wanted to be
architects, as did 1 working-class white girl
Only 1 out of 8 working-class white girls named a
job linked to the UTC’s specialisms (architect)
At established UTC
• 2 out of the 5 (white) girls (1 wk/cl, 1 m/cl)
named a job linked to the UTC’s specialisms
So how did students explain what the
UTC meant to them?
3 aspirational narratives
1. An opportunity to get an apprenticeship
(through partnership arrangements and
networks)
2. A route to an idealized future
3. A chance to reposition yourself as a
worthwhile student
An opportunity to get an
apprenticeship
They [staff from a sponsor company] come in Thursday,
they’re our sponsors. They come in Thursday all day,
teaching us on the machines.
[…] My dad said, here’s a better opportunity, cos you can
get an apprenticeship but at [previous school] you
wouldn’t get an apprenticeship as good as this or you
wouldn’t be able to get as far.
What do you plan to do at the end of year 11?
Hopefully I’ll get an apprenticeship with [sponsor
company]. If not I want to go to college and study either
engineering or motor mechanics.
(A4, lower middle-class white boy, New UTC)
A route to an idealized future
4 girls at New UTC wanted to become architects. B2, a working-class white
girl, explained that she wanted to go to university in Texas to study, because:
It’s one of the best university’s for architecture and engineering in the United
States so I want to try and go there
Ok and how did you hear about that and have that as an idea in your mind?
Cos in student development we had to um like research where places we
wanted to go to and study afterwards. So I came across that university and it
looks really good cos I could get, as an international student, scholarship and
that.
[…] I don’t wanna design like normal houses, I wanna kind of recreate Alice in
Wonderland into a housing estate.
Ok and what ways is here helping you prepare for that?
Because I’m doing construction, so I’ll have the upper hand of doing three
years of construction so I’ll be more likely to be accepted into a university
Ok, and this university that you’ve looked at, are the qualifications that you’re
doing here the right kind of thing to get you into there?
Yeah, I need um, C and above to get into there.
A chance to reposition yourself as a
worthwhile student
‘The teachers did not care about you if you weren’t in the top
set.’ The teachers only gave attention to the best students so ‘I
didn’t really get much of an education.’ (B2, working-class white
girl, New UTC)
I thought that this school was practically too good to be true. It
was all the options that they were giving you, not just GCSEs, of
course they’re going to focus on GCSEs but they also focus past
that. They help you understand all your options and help you
understand, erm, different pathways you can achieve and they’ll
help you with that. And I also found it very useful for the fact
that they also said to us that they will treat us like an adult if we
respect them. If we act like an adult, they will treat us like an
adult. Which I found was very good for the fact that, erm, they
understood that we are our own person and that we can go our
own path. (A9, working-class white girl, New UTC)
Young people attending UTCs: a
summary of what we found
• Schools for the boys
• Schools for ordinary kids
• A route towards technician level jobs and the promise
of apprenticeships
• An opportunity to escape the effects of the A-C
economy, and reposition yourself as a worthwhile
student
• Not schools for the girls
• ? Schools for black and minority ethnic young people
• Not a route for high-achieving (middle-class) STEM
students
How might we understand these
findings? Opportunity structures
‘Opportunity structures are formed by the interrelationships between family origins, education, labour
market processes and employers’ recruitment practices.’
(Roberts, 2009: 355)
They involve the inter-relationship between:
• surrounding opportunities, role models in families and
neighbourhoods, expectations and experiences of girls
and women in local communities and so on
• the opportunities provided by education, including
expectations of teachers and peers at school
• The real and perceived opportunities provided by
employers and labour markets
How might we understand these
findings? Pragmatic decision-making
• Pragmatic rational decision-making by young
people
• influenced by environments and opportunity
structures, and shaped by internalized frames of
reference, but also involving individual level
mobilisation of capacities
(Evans, 2007; Hodkinson, Sparkes and Hodkinson, 1996).
What we can learn from international
comparisons?
Gender affects the field of study selected. Across
Europe, engineering courses at upper secondary
level are predominantly male. Systems that
require young people to make choices earlier
regarding course show stronger gender
segregation and appear ‘to reinforce ‘genderappropriate’ patterns of subject take-up.’
(Ianelli and Smyth, 2008: 220)
… Holland …
Holland has a highly stratified system with early
course selection (starting from age 12), and it is
vocationally specific. There are close ties between
the VET system and the labour market.
‘on the one hand, the vocational specificity of
education is helpful for finding and keeping a job,
but on the other hand the kind of jobs it leads to
are low-prestige jobs’. HE and professions remain
beyond reach.
(Graaf and Zenderen, 2013: 125)
… Finland and Sweden …
Even in Finland and Sweden, systems with
relatively low levels of social inequality in
educational attainment, there is evidence of
social segregation at upper secondary and
tertiary levels, with the middle classes securing
access to more prestigious fields of study.
(Ianelli and Smyth, 2008)
… the USA …
‘Inclusive’ STEM schools in the USA have an
overt and specific focus on the engagement and
success of under-represented and under-served
students. This can be a means of identifying
critical components for success for these
students.
(Peters-Burton et al, 2014)
Therefore:
• it is not simply English prejudice against vocational education that
lead to the patterns of participation at the UTCs in this study
• Opportunity structures, including real, achievable labour market
opportunities, shape decision-making
• young people do not make education and career decisions free of
structuring factors such as social class and gender that shape and
‘bound’ their opportunities and decisions
• Schools do not all serve working-class and lower achieving students
well. A considerable number of the young people who attended the
UTCs appeared to be poorly served in other schools
• But good vocational education alone will not solve continuing
problems with transitions to working life.
Implications
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
An ‘inclusive’ STEM school approach, which actively values and supports
lower (as well as higher) achievers, needs to be an overt strategy
Patterns of participation by gender, ethnicity, and social class may be
difficult or impossible to balance simply through encouragement and
careers advice, particularly in relation to technician level work.
Employment practices need to be visibly changing alongside the
provision of educational opportunities.
Small schools?
A strength of the UTCs may be that they are small schools (c 600
students) and have time and resources to care for all their students
Careers Advice and Guidance needs to be robust and also connected to
students’ progress and achievement
Employers need to provide apprenticeships, and apprenticeships that
lead to jobs
only 15% of workplaces offer apprenticeships
only 2% of apprenticeships are at higher levels (State of the Nation report, 2014)
Who wants to be an engineer? Vocational
diversification in English secondary schooling
and the decision-making and experience of
girls and boys from different social class
backgrounds
Ann-Marie Bathmaker
University of Birmingham
a.m.bathmaker@bham.ac.uk
Paper presented at the Edge Research Conference on 14
November 2014 at the National Exhibition Centre,
Birmingham UK
Edge Research Conference
14th November 2014
#EdgeResearchConference