What do schoolgirls think of engineering? A critique of conversations from a participatory research approach

Jane Andrews, Robin Clark

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputConference publication

Abstract

Whilst statistics vary, putting the percentage of women engineers at between 6%[1] and 9% [2] of the UK Engineering workforce, what cannot be disputed is that there is a need to attract more young women into the profession. Building on previous work which examined why engineering continues to fail to attract high numbers of young women[3,4] and starting with the research question "What do High School girls think of engineering as a future career and study choice?", this paper critiques research conducted utilising a participatory approach[5] in which twenty semi-structured in depth interviews were conducted by two teenage researchers with High School girls from two different schools in the West Midlands area of the UK. In looking at the issues through the eyes of 16 and 17 year old girls, the study provides a unique insight into why girls are not attracted to engineering.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationASEE annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings
Number of pages13
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2014
Event121st American Society for Engineering Education annual conference and exposition - Indianapolis, IN, United States
Duration: 15 Jun 201418 Jun 2014

Conference

Conference121st American Society for Engineering Education annual conference and exposition
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityIndianapolis, IN
Period15/06/1418/06/14
Other360º of engineering education

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