Case Study

Yvonne

Course - On second year of BTEC National Certificate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Work - Yvonne works at Switchgear and Instrumentation.

Yvonne started as one of two technician apprentices at the company, in September 1997. In total only about 20% of the staff involved in production are women, mainly operatives who do wiring. (There are also women employed in the offices). Yvonne is in the second year of a Modern Apprenticeship with Bradford Training Association (BTAL). The first year consisted of block release at Bradford College, which required her attendance on 4 days per week on an Engineering and Marine Training Authority (EMTA) course, and one day per week on the first year of the BTEC National Certificate.

Education
Yvonne attended a Bradford Upper School where she obtained her GCSEs including grade Bs in Maths and in Double Award Science. She always liked and was good at Maths and Physics, gaining her Maths GCSE a year earlier than usual, at the end of Year 10.

Yvonne started ‘A’ levels in Maths, Biology and Psychology. Maths was her first choice, and the only thing that stopped her choosing Physics was her dislike of the teacher.

However, she left school after only a year on the course. She disliked the amount of academic work and especially homework. She had disliked and dropped Psychology by this time and realised that having only two ‘A’ levels would impair her chances of accessing higher education. She also wanted to start earning. Yvonne says she never enjoyed subjects like Business Studies. She "wanted to do practical work, rather than writing and sitting in an office all day". She appreciates that, whilst currently gaining experience of working on the factory floor, once qualified, she will be based in an office, possibly working in design; but says that the job will consist not only of paper work, but will also involve occasional visits to the factory floor.

Influences

Yvonne is conscious that her mother was a source of support. As a pharmacy technician she was good at Maths, and often helped Yvonne with her Maths and Science homework. Yvonne’s mother suggested that she do ‘A’ level Maths. Yvonne’s older sister is also good at Maths and is at University studying for a degree in Maths with Accounting.

When she was younger, Yvonne occasionally did practical activities in her spare time.

When Yvonne abandoned her ‘A’ levels and left school she did not know what to do, but, on the suggestion of her careers adviser at Careers Bradford, decided to enter engineering. All her family and friends encouraged her in her choice.

Recruitment
Yvonne found the male recruitment officer at BTAL to be very encouraging. She had to sit a selection test and attend an interview. Yvonne then had selection interviews for Apprenticeships with S&I and another electronics firm in the Bradford area. She gained the impression that they were a little sceptical of her commitment, because she had abandoned her ‘A’ levels, and S&I in particular had had a female trainee who had left before completing her training. Yvonne was offered jobs by both companies, but chose S&I because it paid better and seemed to offer more interesting, varied work.

EMTA Course at BICC
This consisted mainly of electrical engineering but the course also had a mechanical component. Yvonne was the only woman on the course, and said it "was really good". She already knew one of the other students before starting the course. He was a fellow technician apprentice at Switchgear, and she had met him at the company’s induction course. Yvonne said that other men on the course seemed a bit wary of talking to her, but the fact that the other Switchgear apprentice spoke to her made this easier to bear. The group also teased her and "took the mickey", for example questioning why she was there and asking her out on dates. She coped by "laughing it off", and dealt with the date invitations by sarcastically saying, "Oh, yeah!" She said, "it took time. For the first two months I didn’t talk to many people". She admits that she was shy and waited for others to talk to her, but points out that she would have taken the initiative in conversation had there been more girls on the course. She said that later, after getting to know her, some of the men became rather protective, at times defending her if she was ill or tired in class.

Day Release Course
For about a month, Yvonne did the BTEC National Diploma rather than the Certificate. Initially she encountered some problems. She had the impression that her male fellow students looked down on her and suspected that they were talking about her behind her back. She coped by ignoring them.

Tutors
As regards her tutors, Yvonne felt they "sometimes went a bit too far in sticking up for me", and that she was capable of coping with problems on her own.

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