Powered by research
Everything we do at EUK Education is powered by the evaluation of what works and where to improve. Our research and evaluation team collect evidence from teachers, as well as from young people, to discover what works best and how our programmes can grow.
The new report, Lessons learned from EngineeringUK programme evaluations, draws on 3 years of evaluation data from the Climate Schools Programme, Energy Quest, Big Bang at School and Big Bang Blueprint. Each of these exciting, hands-on programmes can all be run as teacher-led programmes or co-run with an external facilitator.
The report highlights that educators tend to be drawn to our teacher-led activities for several reasons, including:
- how easy they are to access online
- the high-quality materials, including fully developed teaching and learning resources, which took them beyond their current knowledge and contextualised curriculum content
- cost, as the decision to participate is much easier if it requires no or minimal budget
- having had a positive previous experience with other EUK Education programmes and activities
One teacher shared their experience of the Climate Schools Programme. “[it was] really easy to sign up for. It wasn't like ‘you have to do this to get this’. You could just pick and choose what bits worked for you. That was a massive incentive”.
There are still challenges for teachers however. These include lack of teacher confidence, lack of time to conduct the programmes and the ease of getting sign off from heads of department.
The key points from the report suggest teachers are looking for inspirational content that is both ‘off-the-peg’ but flexible. Activities need to be adaptable to school timings, teacher confidence levels and students' needs. Educators also value support to teach the content effectively. Teacher-led activities should include links to students’ interests to keep them engaged, with real-world relevance and careers information.
As our programmes evolve and grow, this knowledge will help EUK Education develop activities that both teachers and students enjoy taking part in.
Amanda Aldercotte, Head of Impact and Evaluation at EngineeringUK, noted, “By learning what makes teacher-led delivery successful, we can improve our resources to better support educators and improve student engagement. Understanding the challenges and what works well not only helps us reflect on our own programmes and activities, but also helps the STEM outreach sector create more flexible and effective materials to continue to inspire and educate young people.”
By learning what makes teacher-led delivery successful, we can improve our resources to better support educators and improve student engagement. Understanding the challenges and what works well not only helps us reflect on our own programmes and activities, but also helps the STEM outreach sector create more flexible and effective materials to continue to inspire and educate young people.
— Amanda Aldercotte, Head of Impact and Evaluation, EngineeringUK
