A report commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering says that the education system is failing to encourage the natural engineering talent of UK students, and that primary-school teachers are not actively promoting an “engineering mind-set” among young people. In addition, the teaching of engineering in secondary schools is “highly variable”.

The Thinking like an engineer — implications for the education system report said: “Children are natural-born engineers, constantly seeking to understand the properties of materials as they engage with the world around them. However, the education system has come to expect young people to move away from practical learning as they grow up and become more theoretical and abstract.”

The report also says that schools actively promote the message that people who design, make and fix things are not as intelligent as those who can “write essays, make speeches or understand quadratic equations”.

It recommends that “organisations promoting engineering should seize this opportunity to support schools in introducing more engineering-based content to the new National Curriculum”.

The author of the report — Professor Bill Lucas at the University of Winchester — said: “Engineers think differently from the rest of the world. Society badly needs their problem-solving and ‘systems thinking’ mind-set, but the education system does little to cultivate the engineers that we will need; this has to change.”

Professor Helen Atkinson, chairman of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Standing Committee for Education and Training, said: “This insightful work suggests that, even with an improved public engagement with engineering, the UK’s current education system does not sufficiently develop the habits of mind of young people to encourage them to pursue further study towards engineering careers.”