Getting involved

How to get involved

We are currently offering UK secondary schools the opportunity to take part in the Engineering Capital Research Project.

We are asking secondary schools to allow us to deliver a simple, one-off questionnaire to their pupils to build a national picture of the characteristics of young people in the UK and their attitudes towards science and engineering. This would not involve a researcher visiting your school so is Covid safe.

If you wish to get involved in this project we would ask your school to offer a questionnaire to pupils in Years 7 to 11. Any number of pupils are welcome. Some schools have multiple year groups take part, but we are equally happy to include just single classes or individuals in the project. It is your decision which pupils are extended the opportunity to take part.

This questionnaire can be delivered to pupils as either a classwork or homework activity. Given that many pupils are spending periods of time learning from home during this time the task can also be offered as work to do from home. The questionnaire is available digitally online, though we may also be able to provide physical copies if needed.

This questionnaire should take roughly 30 minutes for a young person to complete. Most questions are multiple choice or ask pupils to agree or disagree with statements on a five point scale. Completing the questionnaire will involve pupils reflecting on how they perceive science and engineering, their attitudes, interests, and answering questions such as who they might know who works or studies one of these subjects, and what sort of hobbies or extracurricular activities they might engage with. We can provide a copy of this questionnaire for you to review before your pupils take part.

This data collection is anonymous – we do not record the names of pupils who take part. We also will not identify any individual schools or pupils in the publications of our findings. Your school will be provided with our findings to help support your own practice and development.

By taking part in this research project you and your school will be supporting a national effort to build a refreshed understanding of how to effectively teach STEM to young people in the UK. This new knowledge will help to shape modern teaching strategies and inform policies whilst building diversity and equity for young people and STEM in the UK.