Laraine, The John Warner School AddedThursday, May 16, 2013 at 5:42 AM What can I do to encourage girls to study Engineering? Hi my name is Miss Laraine Naughton. I am an Engineering teacher at The John Warner secondary and sixth form school in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, UK. Through year 7,8 and 9 all students participate in electronics, textiles, wood work and food technology. During the middle of year 9 students choose the subjects which they would like to study further in year 10 and 11. This is my second year teaching Engineering and throughout the four classes over the two year groups there were only 2 girls opting to study Engineering. Is there anything that you would suggest i could do to attract to the girls onto the course or Engineering in the future. I believe the sterotype for a typical Engineer is a 'dirty hands' mans job, but i would really like to get away from this. I thought to change the whole view i could go into our feeder primary schools. Do you have any suggestions as to what i can do? if there are any programmes in the UK that could cater for this or simply anyone that could help. Many thanks Miss L Naughton Related to Opportunities/Challenges for Women Reset Sort By Default EngineerGirl Team , Answered Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 5:42 AM Hi Laraine, I think you are right that one of the biggest things obstacles girls have to studying engineering is deep-rooted stereotypes that just aren't really true. One of the best things you can do is to begin "Changing the Conversation" about engineering in your school. Girls don't need to be told how much hard work engineering is or how much abstract math they will need. They are already being told that. What they may not know is that engineering is essential to shaping the future and making a difference or that creative problem solvers are needed in engineering to provide for our health, happiness, and safety. If you can begin to focus your engineering classes on practical problem-solving and include plenty of design-based projects that show how engineering really matters to the world, you'll help both the boys and the girls become better engineers, and you may see many more girls showing an interest. Since I'm not from the UK, I don't know about all the resources there, but the Women's Engineering Society has a webpage targeted at girls that may be helpful.