Young people in developed nations recognise the contribution that science and technology make to society and acknowledge their importance now and in the future, yet few view their study as leading to interesting careers. Some countries are taking action to raise interest in science, technologies, engineering and mathematics and increase the number of students studying these subjects. One of the barriers to young people pursuing engineering is their limited or distorted perception of it - they associate it only with building and fixing things. Young people rarely encounter engineers, unlike other professionals, engineering has little or no advocacy in the media and there are few opportunities to experience engineering. Many of the pupils surveyed at the start of Engineering the Future, a three year EPSRC-funded project, wrote “don’t know what engineering is” and/or “would like more information”. This paper reports on work with researchers, policy makers and practitioners in Scotland to develop a sustainable model of activities and interactions that develops pupils’ understanding of the nature of engineering, embeds experiences of engineering within the school classroom and curriculum and promotes engineering as a career. After learning about engineering through the activities the pupils’ perceptions had improved. Almost all considered it important that young people know about engineering, because it is an essential part of everyday life and, in the words of one pupil - “If we know more about it, our minds wouldn’t stay closed to it. We would maybe take it up.”

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an educational program. Engineering the Future (EtF) sought to promote a permanent, informed awareness within the school community of high-level engineering by embedding key aspects of engineering within the education curriculum. The Scottish education system is used for a case study in which a range of pilot high schools worked in close partnership with two university engineering departments. The study focuses on electronic/electrical engineering (EEE), a technically challenging area, which reflects many of the problems that are intrinsic to modern society. In so doing, the work also sought to support and refine the transition from the school environment to higher education engineering courses. EtF is founded on research into transformational change and describes the findings of a three-year program that sought to develop sustainable and transferable means of encouraging school students to study engineering at university. The authors describe the conditions needed to support sustainable developments. They also provide an analysis of inevitable constraints and suggest strategies to address these issues. The paper concludes that sustainable long-term promotion of engineering within schools to support the transition to university is possible if certain conditions are fulfilled. These conditions include the use of a model that facilitates partnerships among researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners in all sectors. Building such essential linkages is often challenging, but this effort is necessary if changes in engineering education are to be realized and sustained.

Evidence based policy formation, both at EU and national level, built upon close linkage of research, policy and practice is regarded by many as an optimum solution. However, while there are many examples in European education of any two of these communities collaborating in development, the realisation of meaningful inter-relationships among all three communities is complex (Ball 1997). Evidence is often contested, while policy is determined not only by explicit political philosophies but also by deeply embedded assumptions. This paper examines this complexity through the lens of a case study in one country, Scotland, which illuminates relationships among the policy, research and practitioner communities at national and local levels and the nature of their contributions to national curriculum development. The paper explores potential tensions between the development of participative ways of working and the existing structures and ways of thinking within an education system, and examines limitations on what can be effected within existing governance systems. Since 1999 the Scottish Parliament sets the legal framework for education in Scotland; within this the Scottish government has full responsibility for education policy and provision. Following the outcomes of a government initiated National Debate on the purposes and practices of school education, Scotland?s school system has for the last six years been the locus of an extensive and radical development programme in curriculum, assessment and pedagogy (Curriculum for Excellence).

This paper discusses engineering in the curriculum: connecting science, technology and mathematics.

Engineering the Future (EtF) is a 3 year EPSRC funded Project based in the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow which seeks to explore original ways of addressing the challenges posed by the predicted shortfall between the numbers entering university engineering courses and the growing demands for high quality graduate engineers.

Abstract Engineering the Future (EtF) is a 3 yearEPSRCfunded,Project based,in the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow which seeks to explore origin al ways,of addr essingthe challenge sposed,by the predicted shortfall between,the numbers,entering university engineering,courses,and the growing,demand,s for high quality graduate,engineers . Founded,on models,oftransformational change,already in practice within Scottish