Situating engineering within the Australian pre-tertiary education system

Abstract

A global shortage of engineers is coinciding with an increasing demand for engineering skills. Clear education pathways are needed to attract future engineers who will work across the traditional boundaries of disciplines. This paper explores the visibility of engineering-related learning in pre-tertiary education as a means to spark students’ interests and skills and encourage them to enter engineering as a profession. The national Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) and Australian Curriculum, Version 9 for Foundation to Year 10, are analysed as pre-tertiary documents that guide learning from birth to Year 10. Engineering is not explicitly named in the EYLF, but associated b..