Abstract
In South Africa technical schools are specialised schools where all Grade/Year 10-12 students are enrolled for a technology subject of specialisation as well as Engineering Graphics and Design. Languages, mathematics and science are also compulsory subjects for these students (RSA, 2015). The aim of these schools is thus to broadly orientate students for vocations in technology and engineering. These students might have opted for these schools to receive a vocational-orientated education. In most of the developed countries there is currently a drive towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education (Ritz & Fan, 2015). However, we do not know what the Grade/Year 9 students’ attitudes towards the STEM subjects as well as interest in possible technology and engineering-related careers are. The purpose of the research was to determine technology students’ attitudes towards the STEM subjects as well as interest in possible STEM careers. The research questions that underpinned this research were: (1) What are technology students’ attitudes towards the STEM subjects? (2) What are technology students’ interest towards careers in STEM? As a theoretical framework, the researcher addresses several viewpoints concerning the construct of attitudes toward technology, such as definitions of attitude, and fundamental reasons for measuring students’ attitudes (Ankiewicz, 2016). Krapp and Prenzel (2011) regarded both attitudes and interest as motivational variables. The sample that participated in the study was 60 Grade/Year 9 students from a technical high school. A Likert scale questionnaire was used and selected descriptive and inferential statistics applied to identify main factors that probably contributed to the measured findings. The best predictors of the sub-dimension attitudes towards engineering and technology was the factor attitudes towards engineering followed by attitudes towards technology. With respect to the second sub-dimension namely, attitudes towards mathematics and science, the best predictor was attitudes towards science while positive attitudes towards STEM careers was the second best predictor.