Engineering education as a second career: The experience of female practising engineers

Abstract

Both the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries and the education profession are facing a human resource shortage, particularly in STEM university-level education. Many engineering institutions and departments are seeking engineering educators with practising experience, who in the classroom can transfer their industrial experience to potential engineers. Given the engineering industry is considered to be male-dominated, where female professionals are a minority, female engineering educators are even harder to recruit. The purpose of this study was a) to understand why female practising engineers switch careers, away from the industry to the teaching profession, and b) how do females describe their engineering educator experiences within the East Asian region. The research produced significant insight into the human resource shortage in engineering, particularly on how gender, finance, environmental impact and personal agencies influence female engineering educators’ career decisions.