Project Details
Description
Young people's choices in relation to engineering education and engineering jobs.
Objektive
The aim of the project is to investigate the impact of work/life balance on young people’s choice of education, job, and career in the field of engineering. Research has shown that especially young women fear that a job and career as an engineer cannot be combined with their hope of a good family life.
The philosophy of the project
The project will describe young people’s notions of their (possible future) work as engineers, and develop their visions of a good working life and a good family life. On the basis of concrete visions of work and family, the dilemmas between the two spheres will be worked out. Other factors will be investigated too, e.g. job content and salary.
“Young people” are defined as men and women at different stages in life, which (eventually) lead to engineering jobs. The target groups are:
High school students
Engineering students
Young masters of engineering
Young masters of engineering with newly established families
The design of this study is based on a hypothesis that young people make their choice of education, job, and career without much knowledge or (especially) any concrete ideas of their own wishes for the future. Therefore a survey on their attitudes is less interesting.
Methodology
Groups of 15 persons will be selected from the four target groups. The individual group will be rather homogenous in relation to age and life experiences. The groups will represent various life-experiences and therefore various conditions for making choices. At the same time, the four groups simulate the process of one person going through his or her life-stages. In total, eight groups will be formed on the base of the young people's willingness to participate.
Future workshops (one day/twice) and group discussions will be conducted in each group, in order to:
• Investigate young people's notions and expectations of their (possible) future working life and family life.
• Develop their visions of a good working life and their vision of a good family life. The visions should be made concrete.
• Discuss practicable good balances between work visions and family visions, and also the dilemmas and conflicts between the two.
• Discuss the impact of the balance between work visions and family visions in relation to future and present choices of education, job, and career.
Objektive
The aim of the project is to investigate the impact of work/life balance on young people’s choice of education, job, and career in the field of engineering. Research has shown that especially young women fear that a job and career as an engineer cannot be combined with their hope of a good family life.
The philosophy of the project
The project will describe young people’s notions of their (possible future) work as engineers, and develop their visions of a good working life and a good family life. On the basis of concrete visions of work and family, the dilemmas between the two spheres will be worked out. Other factors will be investigated too, e.g. job content and salary.
“Young people” are defined as men and women at different stages in life, which (eventually) lead to engineering jobs. The target groups are:
High school students
Engineering students
Young masters of engineering
Young masters of engineering with newly established families
The design of this study is based on a hypothesis that young people make their choice of education, job, and career without much knowledge or (especially) any concrete ideas of their own wishes for the future. Therefore a survey on their attitudes is less interesting.
Methodology
Groups of 15 persons will be selected from the four target groups. The individual group will be rather homogenous in relation to age and life experiences. The groups will represent various life-experiences and therefore various conditions for making choices. At the same time, the four groups simulate the process of one person going through his or her life-stages. In total, eight groups will be formed on the base of the young people's willingness to participate.
Future workshops (one day/twice) and group discussions will be conducted in each group, in order to:
• Investigate young people's notions and expectations of their (possible) future working life and family life.
• Develop their visions of a good working life and their vision of a good family life. The visions should be made concrete.
• Discuss practicable good balances between work visions and family visions, and also the dilemmas and conflicts between the two.
• Discuss the impact of the balance between work visions and family visions in relation to future and present choices of education, job, and career.
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 01/08/2002 → 01/01/2005 |
Funding
- Forsk. EU - Rammeprogram
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