Examination of Witnesses (Questions 40
- 59)
WEDNESDAY 30 APRIL 2008
MISS RACHAEL
MENSAH, MISS
SHORNA-KAY
REID, MR
OYENUGA ABIOYE,
MR LE'VAL
HAUGHTON-JAMES,
MR JOSH
SIMPSON, MR
DAVID LAKIN
AND MR
CHRIS MARTIN
Q40 Dr Turner: Are you all going
to study engineering, those of you who have not already? Are you
girls going to study engineering at university? Do you want to?
Miss Mensah: Yes, I am considering
it.
Q41 Dr Turner: You may want to go
to Imperial; it is a tough place, I was there, you do not go there
lightly. But you are all budding would-be engineers?
Miss Mensah: Yes.
Q42 Dr Iddon: Can I ask both Rachael
and Shorna-Kay, you mentioned other initiatives such as competitions
outside your own club at school. Could you tell us a bit more
about the kind of out of school activities that you have been
involved in, particularly competitions and perhaps involvement
with other schools or other clubs?
Miss Mensah: The first out of
school competition I was involved in was the one from the Tower
of London, building the trebuchet. Because my team won at that
challenge, I was more interested and my teacher told me about
a residential trip to do with the Smallpeice Trust that I might
be interested in going on, so when I first heard about it I was
interested and I learned more about the residential trip which
is when I decided that I would on it. When I did go on it, it
was good. It was to do with creating, building and construction,
and there were competitions. Again, my team won that so I was
getting excited about engineering. The last competition I have
been on was a final for the trebuchet competition, which I did
on the Tower of London. That was with four other schools as well
as mine. Again, we won that competition so ever since I have been
going to the competitions, I have been getting excited and interested
in engineering.
Q43 Dr Iddon: So, for you, competitions
actually made you more interested in engineering?
Miss Mensah: Yes.
Q44 Dr Iddon: That is interesting.
What about Shorna-Kay, have you been involved in any of these
events?
Miss Reid: Only the same as with
Rachael. As we won, I became more interested so it got me thinking
that if I am good at it, why do I not just go for it.
Q45 Dr Iddon: Perhaps I can ask Abi,
did you get involved in any events outside your school when you
were younger that might have turned you on to engineering?
Mr Abioye: I work as a student
ambassador in university for the London Engineering Project, and
have been involved in working at different events, like student
days, trebuchet and many others. Working with young people is
so interesting to me and I really get excited helping out with
engineering events. That has brought out my excitement about engineering
and every day that I do events and work with London Engineering
projects, I get really excited about engineering and really want
to know more about what is going on.
Q46 Dr Iddon: I will be talking to
David last. Can I ask any of the other guys what their experiences
of events outside school were and whether they attracted you to
engineering, or made you more certain that you wanted to be an
engineer.
Mr Haughton-James: For me, it
was that before I started working with the LEP, I knew little
about engineering and I really did take the job to get more understanding
of what field to choose to go into. Now I run my own engineering
club at the school and help career and design ideas and activities
in schools on a day-to-day basis. Seeing students my own age,
doing these activities, which I have helped create and actually
enjoying it, makes me feel that I could do this and could go on
to do something bigger and better.
Q47 Dr Iddon: Josh?
Mr Simpson: I entered the Young
Engineer for Britain competition and going there opened my eyes,
because there was a massive range of projects from all over the
country and from all different aspects which showed all the different
areas of engineering. That was really helpful to me.
Q48 Dr Iddon: And Chris? It might
be a long time back.
Mr Martin: Yes, it was quite a
long time ago; not particularly while I was at school. The only
thing I do remember was in the sixth form there was a residential
summer course at Leeds University to look at mineral and mining
engineering, which I went on and found very interesting, but that
was my first insight into what engineering was and what it had
to offer.
Q49 Dr Iddon: I would like to ask
you all, but let me ask David, first: do you think these initiatives
we have just been talking about widen participation in engineering
and bring people into the professions of engineering?
Mr Lakin: Yes, I do. There is
such a wide range of different competitions and challenges in
schools—greenpower racing, Royal Navy challenge, Formula
One—and because there is such a wide variety of challenges,
when the kids take part in them, it is promoting teamwork, it
is promoting engineering, it is problem solving and they come
together and compete against other schools and see what they have
done and talk to them. Whatever the nature of the competition
is, they are also learning that aspect of engineering. With F
1 in schools, for example, they start learning about auto sports
and that sparks an interest in mechanical engineering.
Q50 Dr Iddon: Can you recall any
particular success stories that have arisen out of competitions?
Mr Lakin: Yes, certainly. With
Young Engineer for Britain, for example, the last two years' winners
were female winners, both aged 17, and they have gone onto develop
their own business out of their initial idea. They are now managing
directors of their own company at 17, which is amazing. Tanya
Budd was one of those who originally wanted to study medicine.
She entered the Young Engineer for Britain through her school;
won the competition and went over to America to compete in the
International Science and Engineering Fair, where she won a special
award and is now studying at Brunel University and wants to be
a design engineer. So, by taking part in the competition, it changed
her view from medicine to engineering.
Q51 Dr Iddon: That is interesting
and I get the impression that outside events, particularly competitions,
are useful in attracting people to engineering. What is perhaps
the most exciting piece of equipment you got your hands on when
you were young? I have been running a big science club with some
fancy equipment. I will not name any of the stuff we have, but
certainly when young people come and handle some of our equipment,
they are turned on to engineering, I can tell you. What about
Chris, did you come across any particular instrument or piece
of equipment that excited you when you were younger?
Mr Martin: Not particularly when
I was younger, not that I can remember.
Q52 Dr Iddon: It is too far back?
Mr Martin: Yes. Nothing stood
out.
Q53 Dr Iddon: Josh?
Mr Simpson: For my project for
Young Engineers, it was an electronic space project. My dad is
an electronic engineer himself, so he did have things like old
oscilloscopes in the loft and I always thought they were pretty
cool.
Q54 Dr Iddon: Right. Le'val?
Mr Haughton-James: I have not
actually used any instruments that would excite me or anything
big. We have used raw and standard materials just to see what
we could create from what we had in the stores room. The things
you come up with out of that shows me that you do not need to
have the best equipment; you can build anything with the least
materials available.
Q55 Dr Iddon: That is a good answer.
Abi?
Mr Abioye: For me, it is the general
equipment like hammers, drills and all the things you see engineers
using that most interest me. Day-to-day, when I work on events,
I tend to use things and play around with them.
Q56 Dr Iddon: Anything, Shorna-Kay,
switched you on that you have seen? Have you ever seen a rapid
prototyping machine, built three-dimensional printer?
Miss Reid: No.
Q57 Dr Iddon: No? Anybody? Let me
come back to Le'val. You had a year out in industry, of course.
How did you get introduced to that concept of having a year out
in industry and would you recommend it to others?
Mr Haughton-James: Yes, I would
recommend it. I was introduced to it by a teacher from my school
as I was having trouble finding the right college. I did not really
want to go for this, I wanted to try something else just to get
out of the classroom for at least a year. She introduced me to
a scheme called TriSet, which led me to the London Engineering
Project.
Q58 Dr Iddon: What are you going
to do next?
Mr Haughton-James: I finish work
with the London Engineering Project in August and I have been
applying for apprenticeships, such as Carillion Construction and
Tube Lines, and hope to do one of their apprenticeships.
Dr Iddon: Well, I am sure we all wish
you luck with that.
Q59 Dr Gibson: When you are young,
people often ask you that daft question, "What do you want
to do when you grow up?" When I was asked it, I would say
that I wanted to play for Scotland, Glasgow Celtics, and score
the winning goal against the English at Wembley. It did not happen,
but it might have happened, that was my dream. When you are asked
that kind of question, what do you say? You know what you want,
but your mum asks you, your dad asks you, your uncle, the local
greengrocer, whoever, what do you say? Do you actually say that
you want to be an engineer or do you know that they will not know
what that means? What is your experience of what happens? Or,
maybe you are never asked it; nobody cares. You start, Josh.
Mr Simpson: My answer is that
I want to be an engineer; I want to create something; I want to
change the world kind of attitude.
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