Inspiring Young Engineers with the FARADAY Challenge 

Year Eight pupils from RGS Worcester, Nunnery Wood School, Christopher Whitehead Language College, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, The Chantry School and RGS Dodderhill participated in the 2022-23 Institution of Engineering and Technology’s IET Faraday Challenge Day (FCD).

The IET Faraday Challenge is an annual competition that introduces pupils to engineering, inspiring them to consider engineering as a career and helps to develop their practical and employability skills, including team working, problem solving and creative thinking. This year’s challenge is in association with UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge and is based on future flight technology. Teams must race against the clock to solve a real-life engineering problem, putting their engineering and technology knowledge and skills to the test.

A total of 187 IET Faraday Challenge Days are taking place across the UK during the 2022-23 season. Up to six teams of local school pupils compete at each event to find the best solution to an engineering-related challenge.

Natalie Moat, IET Faraday Education Manager, said: “Students who take part in the Faraday Challenge Days this year will experience working as an engineer through hands-on and practical engagement with real-life challenges relating to UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge”.

There is a huge demand for new engineers and technicians, and we are confident that this will challenge young people’s perceptions of engineering and inspire the next generation by giving them an insight into the life of a real engineer and show them just how exciting and creative engineering really is.

The events aim to encourage more young people to study and consider exciting and rewarding careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) by using creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills.

Miss Deborah Gold, Physics Teacher at RGS Worcester and organiser of the event said: “Today has been a day of great imagination, design, prototyping and presenting solutions to our future flight challenge. Pupils exhibited incredible ingenuity, excellent team working and resilience in developing their engineering solutions. The Faraday Challenge offers a great insight into how exciting careers in engineering can be, whilst also offering the chance to compete to be one of the top teams in the country and achieve a place in the National Final”.

The Faraday Challenge Days are part of a wider Education programme to inspire and attract the engineers of tomorrow. For more information on the IET and its initiatives to promote STEM subjects visit the IET’s dedicated Education website.

RGS Worcester is passionate about giving students new and exciting opportunities to engage in STEM subjects. 

Participating in the Faraday Challenge is part of an ongoing programme of STEM events intended to develop the skills needed to be successful in related fields, preparing pupils to move into industry by gaining a valuable skill set that allows them to be successful in a range of future careers. Events so far this year have included participating in the Senior Maths Challenge, Tomorrows Engineers Week, the GreenPower Challenge and the CyberFirst Girls Competition in Computing and Information Technology. 

To learn more about STEM, please visit our dedicated web page here.