Group work experiences of women students in a Scottish chemical engineering programme

• Focussed study of First Year Chemical Engineering students’ group work experiences.
• Role of women students in facilitating group activities discussed.
• Change in women students’ attitudes towards group roles.
• Narrative account of student experiences with respect to group work.
• Women students’ attainment is affected by their actions to balance group roles.

Chemical Engineering, similar to other Engineering courses, has seen an undergraduate gender shift in recent years towards greater women student representation. This raises the issue of the inclusion, in terms of equality of participation and opportunities, of these women students in learning activities and also the role that they can play in encouraging inclusion and development of others, which can have implications, not only for their current studies, but their future careers. This paper provides both statistical evaluation of students’ attainment from group working activities, and a narrative account of the students’ experiences along with the resulting impact on their inclusion, engagement and group interactions. We highlight the changing role filled by women students and their awareness of these changes and impacts. Notably, the work identifies a change in attitude with regards to roles for women in facilitating group work with many women students purposefully avoiding the additional work-load that past studies have identified.