Education is the key, not just to fostering indigenous scientific and entrepreneurial ability but also to creating the shift in attitudes that will be required to make a success of the Scottish Executive’s strategy to build a new, thriving manufacturing base reliant on high-value, home-grown talent.

The Make it in Scotland campaign is the component of that strategy which is aimed specifically at schools. It has just undergone an extended pilot study and, as a series of roadshows, will be rolled out to every Scottish authority later this year, backed by more than pound;1 million from the Executive. The roadshows will be hosted in schools and for maximum effect are targeted at raising awareness of the manufacturing sector among Secondary 2 pupils before they make their final exam subject choices.

Make it in Scotland is intended to be a series of annual events, the organisation of which in each authority will be the responsibility of the local branch of Careers Scotland, the national network launched in March. Besides the roadshows, the campaign will have a website and a teachers’

pack containing 10 lessons.

Whether it will achieve its aim of “changing outdated perceptions about manufacturing and boosting the image of the sector” remains to be seen: the signs are mixed.

The format developed in pilot studies in Glasgow, Ayrshire and Angus consists of an introductory motivational session followed by hands-on activities provided and supervised by local employers. In theory, this lets pupils learn about manufacturing in a stimulating setting while dispelling any misconceptions.

In practice, the success of these roadshows is heavily dependent on support from the business community. While the Glasgow and Ayrshire organisers reported goodwill and co-operation, in Angus local firms have been less forthcoming. Only seven have contributed to the pilot, two of which are based in Dundee not Angus, and two of which are publicly-funded not private companies.

To their credit, Weatherford Completion Systems, the world’s second largest oil manufacturing company, Presentation Products, Strathmore Mineral Water and Futo provided interesting activities and articulate and friendly presenters for the roadshows hosted over three days at Forfar Academy and Monifieth High. But four companies is a poor response from the entire Angus business community.

Two things saved the Angus Make it in Scotland roadshows from complete disaster. One was the participation of Sci-Fun, the Edinburgh University science communicators, who brought a variety of exhibits that occupied half the floor-space and half the pupils’ time. Entertaining and instructive though these are, their purpose is the popularisation of pure science and their presence at an event devoted to manufacturing is educationally confusing. Evolution and dinosaurs are fascinating topics but their relevance to Scottish industry is metaphorical at best.

The second feature which rescued the Angus roadshows was the contribution of Peter Hughes, the chief executive of Scottish Engineering, a support organisation which represents 400 Scottish companies. An engineer and businessman with an impressive track-record, Dr Hughes has the schoolchildren attending his introductory sessions jumping up and down with excitement. A better, more motivating blend of information and entertainment could hardly be devised.

The problem with events that rely on charisma is that there is never enough to go round. Dr Hughes is in great demand; besides running Scottish Engineering he also serves on a number of UK Government and Scottish Executive advisory bodies. He will not be available to take part in every roadshow of the national roll-out.

Reliance on key individuals is a problem endemic to the Education for Work strategy, of which Make it in Scotland is the latest manifestation. In the five years since its launch, Education for Work in schools has achieved a fair amount in a patchy fashion. One of its most promising features - besides its motivating effect on pupils - is the way the enthusiasm of one or two teachers can blossom into widespread acceptance in those schools where senior management make organisational changes to support the activities.

A weakness of Make it in Scotland, and Education for Work in general, is the absence of any similar structural change on the part of the companies, for whom participation entails the dedicated efforts of a few individuals. The departure of a key employee often leads to the demise of a successful company-school liaison.

Some aspects of Make it in Scotland are both novel and encouraging. The concept itself is imaginative and well-conceived, as is the focus on Secondary 2.

According to surveys taken before and after the Make it in Scotland pilot study, pupils did emerge from the event with fewer outdated stereotypes, a more positive attitude and a better understanding of the rewards and opportunities offered by a career in modern manufacturing.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of Make it in Scotland is that it is not an isolated initiative but part of the emerging strategy for manufacturing developed over three years by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department.

Although the Scottish Executive Education Department can strongly influence the quality and uptake of Education for Work in schools, both directly and through HM Inspectors and Learning and Teaching Scotland, it has no influence whatever on the business community. It is an entirely different matter with the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department, which is responsible for a great deal of financial assistance to existing and emerging companies.

Its new strategy - detailed in the document Created in Scotland and updated in Scotland’s Economic Future - contains more commitments, ranging from tax credits for research and development and community investment, to a range of early-stage and pre-commercial funding. So there now exists a remedy for the problem that has afflicted Education for Work since its inception.

University scientists and engineers can regularly be found explaining cutting-edge research to schoolchildren. This is because a growing number of UK funding bodies nowadays expect a small proportion of research grants - typically 1 per cent - to be used for such activities.

If the Scottish Executive’s financial assistance to university spin-outs and established companies likewise contained a component earmarked for Education for Work, it would guarantee its inclusion in company development plans, bringing a professionalism and consistency to co-operation with schools that is currently hard to find. This would also ensure a built-in bias towards raising the next generation’s awareness of precisely those sectors the Executive has identified as key to Scotland’s future economic prosperity: biotechnology, energy, opto-electronics, computing, the creative industries.

If no such measures are taken to ensure that Education for Work becomes embedded in company plans and management thinking, then the success of Make it in Scotland is likely to be as patchy and haphazard as earlier initiatives. Solid achievements in a few areas, where a diverse industrial base provides enough willing companies to sustain the project, will be overshadowed by disadvantaged schools everywhere else.

THE STATE OF SCOTTISH INDUSTRY

In the past 30 years the manufacturing share of the Scottish economy has fallen from just under a third to just over a fifth, while the service sector has grown from a half to two-thirds.

There are more than 10,000 manufacturing companies in Scotland, employing 290,000 people, with a further 180,000 working in associated industries.

The number of manufacturing jobs varies widely across the country. Glasgow, Fife and South Lanarkshire have the most (30,000, 27,500 and 24,400 respectively in December 2000), while Orkney, the Western Isles and Shetland have the fewest (500, 700 and 1,100).

Immediately before last year’s spate of Scottish factory closures and redundancies, non-UK owned companies were producing more than 70 per cent of all Scottish manufactured exports, and just 10 companies accounted for 50 per cent of Scottish manufactured export sales.

Scotland lost over 1,000 more businesses than it created between 1994 and 2000. In the same period, Northern Ireland showed a net gain of over 2,000 and England almost 40,000.

Scotland’s small businesses are the least likely in the UK to survive beyond three years. The survival rate in Glasgow is the worst in the country at just under 50 per cent.

In the United States 76 per cent of new jobs are created by small businesses and 10 per cent of Americans want to start their own. Fewer than 3 per cent of UK citizens hold this ambition, while 40 per cent of Scots, a larger proportion than any other modern nation, say that fear of failure would prevent them setting up their own business.

Scotland’s economy is currently growing at only 0.8 per cent a year, while the average for the rest of the UK is 2.1 per cent. However, if the so-called screwdriver economy of assembling goods designed elsewhere is factored out, the Scottish growth rate is 2 per cent a year.

Scotland’s economic problems are made worse by demographic trends. In the past 50 years the UK population has grown by almost 20 per cent, while the population of Scotland has fallen by 1 per cent and is projected to decline by a further 10 per cent by the middle of this century.

A POSITIVE APPROACH TO MANUFACTURING

Peter Hughes

Chief executive of Scottish Engineering, the support and lobbying organisation that represents 400 Scottish companies. His introductory presentations have been a crucial component of the Make it in Scotland pilot events.

“A few years ago I became so appalled by the lack of knowledge among kids and teachers with regard to manufacturing that I decided to do something about it. Ask young people what an engineer is and they always say it’s a man and usually he’s wearing a boiler suit, has greasy hands and carries a spanner. So I started up what we called the Scottish Engineering Roadshow and volunteered to take it to any school in the country.

“What I’m doing here is a tailored version of that show. I tell the kids all about manufacturing and grab their attention with musical instruments - I play 14 - to illustrate a variety of engineering principles. I get the youngsters to think, ask questions, look beyond the obvious.

“I tell them they shouldn’t believe everything the gloom-mongers say because there are wonderful opportunities out there. A young person can still start on the shop-floor and end up at director level. But if they work hard at school and get good qualifications, they have so many more options.”

Bob Gold

Manufacturing support manager in Arbroath for Weatherford Completion Systems, the second largest oil manufacturing company in the world. He participated in all three days of the Make it in Scotland roadshow in Angus.

“When Weatherford set up in Arbroath we tried to recruit locally but soon realised we had to go further afield - not just to the rest of Scotland but to the Midlands, London and even abroad. We’ve had to go to great lengths and devise very attractive relocation packages to attract the people we need, which gives you some idea of the skills shortage in Scotland.

“A lot of pupils, and maybe teachers too, think of engineering as dirty and messy but it can be exciting, fun and rewarding. There are a huge variety of options and opportunities, as well as scope for people to grow.

“I like to encourage youngsters to knock on doors because a good company will take the time to sit them down, talk to them and keep their names on file. When you’re recruiting young people it can be difficult to choose between them. If they’ve shown an interest and know a bit about engineering, it can make all the difference.”

Margaret Harper

Assistant head at Grange Academy, Kilmarnock, with responsibility for S2 and Education for Work. She was seconded full-time to the educational subgroup of the Scottish Executive’s Manufacturing Image Group that devised Make it in Scotland and ran the pilot study.

“We’re lucky in Kilmarnock because we have a lot of companies we can call upon. We were also able to use senior business people on the Manufacturing Image Group to put us in touch with others. Our pilot studies were a big success and the children and their teachers learned a lot. As Secondary 2 head, I knew the youngsters well and could see how much they were getting from the day. And the surveys we carried out showed a shift to a much more positive attitude to jobs in manufacturing.

“The aim of the project is to involve companies small, medium and large, local and national. Small companies in particular have a vital role to play in sharing their experience with pupils, who want to ask questions such as: Why did you start your own business? What qualifications did you need? What skills? They want answers, especially when they’re starting to think about which exam subjects to choose. People tell them the choices they make then will affect their whole future and they want to know how to get them right.”

Richard Coton

Headteacher at Monifieth High, Angus, and chair of the International Design, Technology and Enterprise Services (IDES) Network, which works to raise the profile of design and enterprise education.

“An initiative of this sort, in which stereotypes of manufacturing are addressed and countered, is extremely important for Scotland as a nation.

Increasingly we are able to do things ourselves and do them distinctively, but that brings huge responsibilities. We can’t blame anybody else if we get it wrong.

Scotland is a small enough place that all sections of our society must hang together. So if there is a problem with manufacturing, people in education have to work with them and alert pupils to the opportunities.

“The Make it in Scotland concept is excellent and this particular manifestation has real promise because the nature of the organisations involved should make it sustainable. You’ve got Scottish Engineering, which is in the business of promoting the sector to young people and can be expected to participate all over Scotland. Then you’ve got Sci-Fun, whose job is to take science into schools. That gives you a sustainable core of people whose business is to interact with education and who know exactly how to do it. The local companies can then be added to that core. If you tried to run it solely with local companies I don’t think it would be sustainable.”