Trainee teacher Vicky Larkworthy

Experience and Qualifications

I gained a first class honours degree in Product Design Technology. On graduation, I joined Thorn Lighting as a graduate project engineer.

Why did you decide to train to teach engineering?

I have always wanted to be a teacher. I taught dancing prior to attending University and discovered a passion for teaching then, but my aim was always to combine my aspiration to teach with my favourite subjects design and engineering.

I had originally applied to teach D&T, but the course was full. However, I am very happy on the engineering PGCE course, as it is more the area I wanted to focus on anyway. I was interested in the Resistant Materials and Product Design sides of D&T, which engineering encompasses, with the added bonus of being more heavily biased towards the technical elements of design and production, allowing me to use and impart the knowledge I gained from my time in industry working as a design engineer for a major lighting company.

I think there is currently a huge disaffection with a lot of young people and engineering. In my experience, a large number of pupils I have spoken to are very unclear about what engineering actually is, and how broad its scope in industry is. Many pupils assume engineering is to do with fixing cars, or maths and physics. While that is certainly a part of engineering, I feel it is incredibly important to ensure that it is clear to students at a young age the huge range of job opportunities and industry sectors that a qualification in engineering would allow them to access. If more pupils were aware of the amazing graphics in 3D modelling, and the enjoyment of seeing products run from blue sky thinking to market, there might be greater interest in taking the subject further.

Industry is reaching an impasse where the age of the workforce is increasing, and there isn't enough young blood coming through to ensure that positions are filled and knowledge is transferred. The only way to address this problem is to encourage more young people into the sector, and this can only be done through proper education. Currently, engineering is seen as a graduate only entry field dominated by maths and physics, and this also concerns me. A lot of engineering is not academic, but is simply the application of common sense with good problem solving skills. I think industry would benefit greatly by working with schools and colleges to remove the stigma that engineering is all about maths, and only for boys!