Help students understand how STEM shapes our future
Engaging classroom activities and inspiring careers stories are available for students aged 11 to 14.
Now in its 14th year, Tomorrow’s Engineers Week is a national awareness week inspiring students to explore engineering and technology careers through exciting classroom activities. This year's theme, Shape our future, will help young people discover how engineering and technology tackle the real-world challenges they care about. It will also show how they can help create the future they want to see.
Taking place from 9 to 13 November, schools across the UK can now download the free resources to participate.
Challenge students to shape our future
Many young people feel the future is shaped by other people. This year's activities have been created to show students how they can influence and shape a future they want to see through engineering and technology.
We’ve developed 3 hands-on design challenges focusing on real-world issues we know young people care about:
climate change
food waste
AI
Each challenge is set by a professional working in that field, using their experience and understanding of how engineers are tackling this real-world challenge.
Teachers can task students to:
design a solution to keep their school cool that doesn’t use air conditioning
design something that uses AI to help people or save time
design a solution to reduce food waste
All the challenges encourage students to develop creativity, problem solving and critical thinking skills while exploring how innovation can create positive change.
Resources include a PowerPoint presentation featuring videos from professionals setting the challenges as well as a full teacher guide for successful delivery.
Inspire students into STEM careers
The resources also include a take-home activity sheet for students, encouraging them to reflect on their interests and strengths. It introduces pathways into engineering and technology careers and helps them explore how their skills connect with future STEM careers.
During the Week, we'll be sharing stories from engineers on our website and via social media. We will showcase people who are shaping the future through engineering and tech right now. Their stories will highlight the diversity of careers.
For many young people, the future can feel like something that happens somewhere else, done by someone else. Tomorrow's Engineers Week 2026 is about helping young people recognise that the future isn't something that simply happens to them.
— Jo Hollingdale, Senior Careers Inspiration Manager, EngineeringUK
