Thousands of young people set to take part in Tomorrow's Engineers Week Big Assembly

A drive to showcase how engineers help people’s health and wellbeing is underway as plans for Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2019 (4-8 November 2019, #TEWeek19) have been revealed.

At the heart of the Week will be a “Big Assembly” where around 50,000 young people are expected to take part in the same school assembly at the same time. The Big Assembly will feature inspirational engineers on a mission to improve people’s health and the nation’s wellbeing.

The Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Big Assembly will take place and streamed live on Wednesday 6 November at 10:30am – and will be available on demand 24 hours later.

Last year, more than 850 schools and 50,000 young people took part. Schools can sign up to take part and download lesson plans at www.bigassembly.org.

The Assembly and the wider Week of activity will highlight how engineering can be the career to fulfil young people’s dreams of rewarding careers tackling important issues facing society.

Nine in ten young people would like a job with a purpose [1]. Almost two-thirds (64%) of parents want their children to have a job that is something they can be proud of and two-fifths (38%) want their child to make a positive difference to society with their careers. [2]

With such public demand to hear about worthwhile careers, the Wednesday of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week will also see the Royal Academy of Engineering unveil the next major moment in its This is Engineering campaign, This Is Engineering Day, a new national awareness day dedicated to publicly celebrating the engineers and engineering technicians shaping society and solving global problems.

This year, This Is Engineering Day is focused on changing the stereotypical image of the engineer and engineering among the wider public and will see engineering organisations, engineers and supporters like Amazon, Ocado and Facebook showcase what 21^st Century engineers and engineering really look like.

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week is delivered by EngineeringUK a not-for-profit organisation, which works with the engineering community – employers and professional institutions - to inspire tomorrow’s engineers.

Beth Elgood, Director of Communications at EngineeringUK, said:

“With so many career options open to young people, it’s vital that they understand the sheer range of exciting opportunities engineering provides.

“From tackling diseases to saving lives at sea to stopping flooding, preventing plastics from entering our oceans and even helping animals, engineers are at the heart of making the world a better place.

“Last year’s first ever Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Big Assembly was a huge success with 850 schools taking part and we look forward to even more students being part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week in 2019.”

For 2019, lesson plans will also be available to support the Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Big Assembly. These will help teachers integrate the Assembly into a wider school assembly, a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) subjects lesson or a personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) session.

Now in its seventh year, Tomorrow’s Engineers Week takes place from 4-8 November and provides a unique opportunity for universities, schools, employers, professional institutions and engineers to drive interest in engineering careers, showing young people the ways in which engineers are on a mission to make the world a better place, find innovative solutions and shape the way we live.

The Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Big Assembly is sponsored by EngineeringUK, Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the National Centre for Computing Education. It is supported by the Energy Institute, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. It has the backing of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.