A licence to practise
15 Jan 2000
Some call it the silly season, others blame it on the heat, others on ministers who entertain themselves (and others) by making crabby comments about colleagues; whatever the reason, August has always been a 'slow news' month. But, in between the 'ons' and 'offs' of more royal romance silliness, the papers were at least able to turn their attention last month to a few more important subjects, such as education and yet another record batch of 'A' Level passes.
Undeterred by the mounting cost of further education, record numbers of school pupils this year successfully took that all important step towards entering university. Encouragingly, there was an increase in the numbers gaining good grades in some of the science subjects - although, from the engineering standpoint, this was offset by a slight fall off of interest in maths and physics.
Despite the familiar calls for a broader based system of 'A' levels, engineering employers were quick to point out that any change should not be at the expense of the more rigorous subjects required for engineering.
There is no doubt that engineering needs to attract top quality students to its ranks. To do so, however, it has to be perceived as a top quality profession by those very students. This point was well made recently by a new recruit to the ranks of an arguably less qualified profession, that of Member of Parliament.
Not that new Labour MP Claire Curtis-Thomas (see page 7) is herself unqualified. The first female chartered (mechanical) engineer to be elected to the House of Commons, she is a member of the Engineering Council's senate and, as her maiden speech clearly shows, an eloquent and powerful supporter of the profession.
'We need to create an education system which better meets the needs of industry,' she said. 'We need to listen to the engineering community when formulating policy because many people in the engineering community are desperate to be heard.' The 'we' here, of course, is government; but Curtis-Thomas acknowledges that 'much of the responsibility for promoting engineering must remain on the shoulders of the engineering community itself'.
