An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

26A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCILMuch valuable work was done at this time advising Government officials on the revision ofthe school curriculum. The creation of the ‘National Curriculum with Technology’ was animportant development, and proved reasonably successful. However, pressure groups inschools diverted a lot of this money to Domestic Science, largely because it was politicallyconvenient to include this activity within Technology. The broader treatment of engineeringand technology in schools was, and remained, seriously hampered by a shortage of capabletechnology teachers.Women into Science and Engineering (WISE)Two innovative projects, WISE and YEB, begun in 1983, became increasingly popular andsuccessful throughout the rest of the EngC’s daily life. The first project, Women Into Scienceand Engineering (WISE) entailed publicising and promoting in schools, further and highereducation establishments, industry and professional Institutions, career opportunitiesavailable to girls and women in science and engineering. Council member Beryl Platt hadbecome Chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, and was a tower of strength inpromoting the WISE project making 1984 WISE year and the EngC, with her support,persuaded industrialists to sponsor WISE buses (travelling exhibition visits that could also beused for teaching small classes). The first WISE bus was launched by Margaret Thatcherfrom Downing Street. At this time women constituted 7% of the students on engineeringcourses at universities and polytechnics. The WISE buses were maintained initially by TrentPolytechnic, which continued to care for them after it became Nottingham Trent University in1990. Beryl Platt was also instrumental in raising the matter of Career Breaks which led to aworking party and an EngC policy statement in December 1985. All these activitiessuccessfully encouraged more girls to take up a career in Engineering.In connection with the WISE project, Loughborough University was commissioned by theEngC to conduct a survey in schools on examples of good practice in encouraging girls andwomen to consider engineering careers; the results of this survey were delivered during 1983.The campaign was publicly launched at a press conference in 1984 with over 200 mediarepresentatives. Several hundred local events followed and a WISE bus containingpromotional displays and materials, financed by industry, went on tour. During these andsubsequent years the WISE campaign continued to be energetically driven by the EngCExecutive, Marie-Noëlle Barton.Young Engineer for Britain (YEB) CompetitionThe Engineering Council inherited “The Young Engineer for Britain Competition” from theCEI and every year it continued to provide a high profile occasion enabling the imaginativeideas of young British school children to be demonstrated in the artefacts they designed andmade. Dr Miller said “During my time at the Engineering Council it was always one of themost enjoyable days of the year to visit the various schools’ stands and see the enthusiasm ofthe youngsters.”Both WISE and the YEB competition continued to flourish over subsequent years under theEngC’s mantle. Indeed, in 1999 the YEB competition was extended to include JuniorEngineer for Britain. We shall describe some of the progress highlights of these two activitiesin later chapters.© Engineering Council UK 2004