Editorial

Authors: John R Dakers Wendy Dow

Publish Date: 2009/09/26

Volume: 19, Issue: 4, Pages: 347-

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Abstract

This special edition explores issues surrounding the perceptions held by young people of technology technology education and technology related careers A particular emphasis is given to the perceptions held by young females and a consideration of why they choose to opt out of technology education and technology related careers The collection of papers is inspired by work carried out during a threeyear longitudinal study known as UPDATEUPDATE stands for “Understanding and Providing a Developmental Approach to Technology Education” and is a European Union funded project forming part of the sixth framework programme priority Science and Society the priority title being Science education and careers 2005 The project is funded as an FP62005Scienceandsociety16 contract which began in January 2007 and will finish in December 2009 The value of the contract is € 922 300 The constitution of the project team is a Europewide consortium of sixteen institutions from eleven different countries The University of Jyväskylä in Finland acts as the Coordinator of the projectThe project consortium has created a unique developmental approach for technology education Compared to many other projects that have tried to involve girls in technology the UPDATE approach includes a strong focus on early childhood and primary education phases in which attitudes and perceptions are often formed From this understanding the UPDATE philosophy argues that it is far too late to attempt to develop girls’ interest in the secondary or later stages of education UPDATE is convinced that by adopting new modern pedagogies for the delivery of technology education as well as by breaking the standard masculine stereotypes associated with technology it will be possible to make technology education more attractive for young people and in particular girls to promote their interest in technology and to encourage critical and creative ways of thinking about technologySeveral studies conducted by the European Union eg Eurostat 2004 European Commission 2003 and Council of the European Union Council 2002 demonstrate that women and girls are continuously dramatically underrepresented in science and technological education areas and jobs This is highlighted in the Joint Interim Report “Education and Training 2010” by the European Commission under the domain of Maths Science and Technology MST The joint report points out the persistent shortage of women in scientific and technical fields and calls on Member States to encourage the development of a scientific and technical culture among its citizens In particular action was recommended in order to motivate young people especially girls to undertake scientific and technical studies and careers Even in countries where gender imbalance is not a problem in the areas of mathematics and science there is a marked imbalance when technology subjects are taken into account This forms the basis of the UPDATE project research

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