Apple invites children to program robots and design transport as part of Year of Engineering

Company is just one of many running sessions and lessons for young people

(Apple)

A man in a red T-shirt interrupts a bunch of children exploring the Apple Store. The entire Tube network is down, they're told. And they're the only people with any hope of getting it back into operation.

If the performance of the schoolchildren involved is anything to go by, one day they might really be relied on to maintain the transport systems of the future. But for now this is just an exercise, albeit one they take very seriously.

It is just one of a a huge number of "Field Trips" happening at Apple Stores across the country as part of the iPhone maker's support of the government's Year of Engineering scheme. Sessions are being held at 38 stores across the country, reaching more than 1,700 students, and teachers can simply get in touch to have a session of their own.

The Year Of Engineering has run throughout 2018 and has seen private companies like Apple join up with government and schools to run sessions exactly like this, allowing children to take part in coding and other exercises intended to get them enthused about engineering as a career.

Apple's support has been significant: in April, it brought engineers from its very secretive silicon team to meet young pupils and talk to them about engineering. It was the first time that the company had gone public about that Cambridge-based team, which is helping create the chips that will power future iPhones.

This time around it was the turn of Holy Trinity school in Hackney, who headed to Apple's Regent Street store to work with retail staff and join Nusrat Ghani, year of engineering minister, for one of its flagship events. They worked through coding puzzles using programming robots, as well as designing future forms of transportation using iPads.

(Apple (Apple)

Those efforts are intended to show children that engineering careers are open and fun. That is doubly important as they become key to solving challenges like drones and driverless cars and ships, said Ms Ghani.

"Engineering careers are exciting, creative and shape the world around us," she said.

"That's why we're delighted to be joining forces with Apple in this Year of Engineering to show young people from all backgrounds what they could achieve.

"This is a real golden ticket opportunity for schoolchildren across the UK to go behind the scenes at the biggest tech company in the world, and I'm sure it will help inspire the next generation of engineers to play their part in the innovations of the future."

Apple and the other organisations involved with the Year of Engineering have also been keen to emphasise a focus on bringing a diverse new set of engineers into the industry. At the moment, only 12% of the engineering workforce is female, and only 8% is from a black, Asian, or ethnic minority background.

(Apple (Apple)

"We have got a shortfall of engineers, there's no denying that, and the majority of engineers tend to be male and tend to be of a white heritage," said Ms Ghani.

"So we've got to reach out to women and we've got to reach out to people from BAME backgrounds, and by having a diverse intake you've got more people to choose from when you're trying to hire, but also you're going to have people with different experiences who are going to come to this in a different, creative capacity, and that's what we want to do."

The Year of Engineering comes to an close with the end of the year, but Ms Ghani was clear that she hopes the government's mission continues into 2019 and beyond, emphasising the kinds of partnerships formed with companies like Apple, Google and Facebook.