Really interesting blog by @AtheneDonald on various aspects of education. Lots of important points raised. I'll discuss two: technician's contributions to innovation; and the status of technical work. (Thread.) @GatsbyEd @EconTalker @mattwridley @David_Goodhart @kellyvere https://twitter.com/AtheneDonald/status/1300681686414491650

"It is as true in university research as in industry that technicians are crucial to facilitating many strands of ground-breaking research. Perhaps these people are the ones running the equipment on which so many PhD theses rest – an NMR or PCR machine perhaps – ...

...or the ones developing small gizmos without which the data cannot be collected. In my own area of research, I well recall how important the workshop technicians were in building sample-holding cells that were capable of delivering the results we wanted ...

...A student could describe what was wanted, without having the faintest idea about which materials would withstand the experimental conditions (such as heat and pressure) let alone carry out the requisite machining in the workshop."

I agree. Technicians' practical expertise enables them to design and build many of the experimental rigs used in research, with little guidance from researchers. There is a genuine division of knowledge and expertise between the two, with both making critical contributions.

See pp. 10-14 of https://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/he-techn-final-report.pdf and https://wonkhe.com/blogs/do-we-have-the-right-education-system-to-drive-innovation-in-the-uk/ for more on these issues

Alas, as Athene also notes, "societal attitudes towards what would have been seen as manual labour" all too often means that "being an artisan may be taken as a negative descriptor".

This article by Harvard historian and sociologist of science is very good on that topic https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/shapin/files/shapin-invis_tech.pdf

Important efforts are being made to address these problems. See in particular https://www.mitalent.ac.uk/  and https://www.technicians.org.uk/technician-commitment.

The UK R&D roadmap also makes encouraging noises: "The technical workforce is essential to research and innovation – from contributing new
knowledge, developing and maintaining equipment and vital national infrastructures to training
future researchers and innovators ...

...Their role in research and innovation has been undervalued for too long, but this is beginning to change." See p. 21 of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap

But much more remains to be done to make clear that technicians make critical contributions ... to manufacturing and innovation and that being a technician can afford people a really interesting, well-paid career with prospects of further progression for those who want it.