The situation is so desperate that 40% believe the skills gap will last for all eternity. A mindset about as helpful as our friend, Crusoe downing tools on the raft build, glugging back the seawater and spending his days pounding fists into the sand.
Granted, the politicians make a pretty pathetic rescue party. But, there's much more we could be doing to save ourselves. Let's start by ditching the 'manufacturing/engineering just isn't seen as sexy' narrative.
We've created what sports psychiatrist, Dr Steve Peters calls a gremlin ?a set of self-destructive beliefs that shape our behaviours.
We think we are perceived as an undervalued profession and so we act like one. Eyes down, shoulders slumped and voices frail. Our message lacks impetus and people overlook us as a result. So then we console ourselves that: 'it's because nobody cares about engineers'. And hey presto, the whole negative loop begins again.
Dr Peters proposes that we all possess an inner chimp. This primordial part of our brain says to hell with reason and runs on emotive impulses like fear, envy or pity. It seems a group of engineers, steeped in logic, have somehow let their irrational chimp run riot on the skills issue. Because all reason dictates that a career offering the buzz of making things and problem solving against the clock has to be one worth aspiring to.
All we need to do is to take the anxiety out of our approach play.Take a look at Primary Engineer, a project inspiring school kids in STEM via fun, hands on, making activities. Nobody even mentions the word 'engineer'. Just engage children with creativity and then let nature take its course. It's a refreshingly rational approach to the skill problem that means a wave of new talent is, eventually, bound to wash up on our shores.
