Tackling the skills gap

The partnership, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, will focus on the development of joint education resources for 14-16 year olds. Siemens and OCR will together deliver a curriculum in schools designed to increase the skills of prospective engineers. 

The curriculum will be taught by teachers across the UK and will comprise a range of units from the Cambridge National in Engineering Level 1/2 qualification. 

The modules taught in classrooms will provide teachers with a structured plan to teach students how a range of topics work together across the syllabus. This will give 14-16 year old learners an understanding of how skills and knowledge could link together in a working environment. The skills developed will provide foundation knowledge for students’ final assessment.  

Starting from this autumn, the new programme, designed to inspire the next generation of engineers, will be available to every school in the country. The approach to engaging with students will be centred on applying knowledge in areas such as science, technology engineering and mathematics to ‘real life’ projects. 

Modules in the joint programme include an Energy Recovery project exploring the technologies being used to improve the efficiency and lower the running costs of a range of vehicles including trains, buses and Formula 1 cars.

Further modules include a SMART Homes project exploring the design challenges of creating a low carbon home - providing a strong link with an environment important to all students. In a manufacturing module students are asked to produce a model of a flywheel from specification and to then develop a manufacturing plan to mass produce it across the UK.  

The Powering the Future project explores the engineering principles of UK power networks and looks at how the businesses involved keep the country moving. The project inspires learners to use IT to learn about physics, electronics, mathematics, business structure, systems design, branding, media skills and financial strategy in the context of an essential resource.

The new education scheme for engineers has been developed by Siemens and OCR in conjunction with the Cabinet Office, Department of Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Lord Baker, Chairman of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust said, "I warmly welcome the Siemens/OCR employer skills partnership for 14-16 year olds. All children should have the opportunity to learn by doing as well as studying. This will lead to a growing demand for education from 14 onwards. This is what our education system and our economy needs.”