In August 2024, BEAR Scotland invited S2-S5 students from Falkirk High School’s Engineering Science Department to participate in a Work Experience Partnership Programme.

The programme was set up to allow engagement with school students from a variety of different year groups, to enhance their understanding of the breadth of engineering works carried out by BEAR Scotland on behalf of Transport Scotland, and to raise awareness that engineering careers are accessible to all levels.

Pupils got involved in site visits and educational field trips as well as taking part in presentations and engineering challenges in the classroom, with input from BEAR Scotland and teacher-led sessions in between.

This approach allowed a larger number of students to participate than would be the case if we offered traditional on-site work placements.

To launch the programme, 50 Falkirk High students between S4 and S6 visited the Forth Bridges Education and Contact Centre at South Queensferry in September 2024. There they had the opportunity to see the Forth Road Bridge up close and experience the sheer scale of the structures that BEAR Scotland manages and maintains.

One of the objectives was for pupils to share their learning and help mentor younger students within their school’s STEM club.

Partnership programme timeline:

• September 24 – Falkirk High visit to Queensferry
• November 24 – BEAR visit to school to deliver an interactive session on engineering skills and careers
• November 24 – Senior students shared their learning with younger students in the STEM Hub to identify skills for engineering and explore different areas of the industry
• December 24 – Part 1 Engineering Challenge: Identifying key skills and creating spider graphs to map potential job roles for part 2 of the challenge
• January 25 – BEAR visit to school to launch part 2 of the Engineering Challenge: Bridge Design and Build
• March 25 – Online presentation and Q&A session on structures, materials and technologies used in engineering
• June 25 – Seven S6 Advanced Higher Engineering Science students visited Queensferry Crossing to experience firsthand what it’s like working on such an iconic structure. The focus of the trip for students was to gain insight from bridge engineers to support them in identifying an area of interest for their personal study project

The result was that students with an interest in STEM, engineering and construction-related careers got involved in a range of activities over the course of the year. This included a work-related team engineering challenge to build a structure under budget and within set parameters.

The team challenge element is being repeated with the school’s STEM club for 2025-26. This will encourage younger students to experience hands-on team working, budgeting and problem solving to create their own bridge structures.

Falkirk High School teacher, Garry Robertson, said “Setting up the project saw us re-establishing our great working links to Transport Scotland and BEAR. Around 75 students involved in this over the year.

“In school we worked on individual skills, analysing what each had to offer as part of a design and construct team and teamworking exercises. Students worked through lunchtimes and after school on developing structures knowledge and understanding alongside an appreciation of what engineers do when creating structural and environmental solutions.”

“The pupils really enjoyed the engineering challenges and also gained so much from visiting the bridges to understand the structures and use this learning for their engineering challenges. This is an essential enhancement to their course and the experiential learning was fantastic for every one of them.”

One S5 student said: “This was an absolutely incredible opportunity. We got to work on projects that were really interesting, with the help of engineers who were happy to answer questions and took their time to explain different aspects to us.”

An S6 student added: “It was mind-blowing that we actually were on and inside both the Queensferry Crossing and the Forth Road Bridge. The realisation that even if you don’t ever get the chance to design and build something like the bridges, your knowledge and experience can allow you to re-design parts and make improvements long into the future! It was incredible.”