BMW Group UK has launched a workshop that lets five and six-year-olds explore electric vehicles (EV) through practical activities.
Year 1 pupils from Grazeley Church of England Primary School visited the BMW Group Academy UK in Reading for The Spark Lab, where they explored batteries and charging, and designed their own EVs.
The workshop is part of BMW’s Apprentice 2036 campaign, which aims to raise awareness of automotive careers and apprenticeships. Children starting school this year could be old enough to apply for apprenticeships in 2036.
For BMW, the programme is an early introduction to the range of work involved in making, maintaining and selling vehicles.
The group currently has nearly 500 apprentices in the UK across roles including automotive technology, manufacturing, engineering, marketing and communications.
Its operations include four UK production sites, a Farnborough headquarters and a nationwide dealership network.
BMW also commissioned surveys of 2,500 UK parents about when they began considering their children’s future working lives.
Among 2,000 parents who had already started thinking about the subject, 58% said they had done so while their child was at primary school. The most commonly selected age band was four to six, chosen by 30%.
The findings describe when parents started thinking about careers. The workshop itself focuses on giving children a chance to try practical activities.
More than three quarters of surveyed parents, 76%, agreed that primary school children should have more opportunities to visit workplaces and experience activities such as engineering and technology.
Sam Jarvis, HR director for UK and Ireland at BMW Group UK, said the cars today’s five and six-year-olds might one day work on would be very different from those on the road now.
He said: “What we do know is that we will need curious, creative and highly skilled people to help create and sell the cars of the future.”
Jarvis said Apprentice 2036 and The Spark Lab were intended to make engineering and technology feel exciting and accessible to children, and help them see a place for themselves in the industry.