Engineering curriculum development. Socialization, soft skills and identity construction.

Since October 2015, CESI’s school of engineering has implemented a project-based learning curriculum in its combined work-studies engineering programme. A previous research study, led by CESI’s Education Science Laboratory, showed that before this curricular shift, CESI’s engineering apprentices developed their professional identity mainly through projects carried out during in-company periods. With this new study, we wished to analyse the impact of the new learning environment on students’ professional identity formation. Could the new curriculum enhance their professional identification and sense of becoming during school periods?
We first set up indicators to assess the impact of the curriculum on professional identity development, and conducted both quantitative and qualitative surveys. Our enquiries showed the following results: the key roles of group work, as well as tutors and students themselves in the setting of professional rules in the classroom so that school projects could act as boosters to their self-recognition as novice professionals. The opportunities given to develop self-directedness and metacognitive skills appeared as other key elements in the development of a sense of “becoming” at school. The question of expertise or the prominence of soft skills as pillars to their identity also emerged as a central issue in their development.