1/2 of all state schools have no girls sitting physics A level

The shortage of physics teachers who actually have physics degrees is a longstanding problem, but I think physics education is the poorer for the retirement a few years ago of Brenda Jennison, who for many years trained physics teachers (at Cambridge).
iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/37/4/603/pdf/pe24m3.pdf

I was a physics PGCE student of hers and though I didn't go in to teaching in the end, she remains one of the best educationalists I have encountered. Brenda was very keen on the "wonder and delight" of the natural world as encountered and studied through physics. In fact, I'm sure she still is!

I did physics A-level, a physics degree and though I don't now use the subject knowledge in my work, every day I use the intellectual skills I started to develop in studying physics.

My niece just did physics A-level. She considered it a bonus that there were more boys than girls in the class, just as my ds does that he is in a considerable minority of boys in his Drama A-level.

Surely all youngsters should be encouraged to do what they enjoy / are good at.
I donn't think any teenager I know, who is capable of doing A-levels, would honestly think any subject is a 'boys' or 'girls' subject. Seems a pretty outdated notion to me.
My Mum was the only girl in her A-level classes back in the 1940s, but she still did the subjects she enjoyed, because they were her best subjects. Surely the world has moved on ?

I find it quite worrying that DD2 and her friend at University both took part in a very good engineering competition about 3 years ago in the lower 6th and neither of them has gone into engineering. This competition required teams of four. I'm pretty sure that DD and her friend (didn't even know each other) would have been the only girls around. At the presentation it was 99% male.
Oh, she did maths,physics,chem.for A level and AS pure?maths.
I came a cropper doing A level physics because I didn't have the maths. It's a bit odd but I did 'O' level at 14 as an experiment,then add maths the next year. I had a year of no maths and then I moved schools.
You really need maths and physics.
Don't drop the maths.

I went to an all girls (grammar) school and there were 3 classes in my year doing physics.
It was really hard and i didn't do math a-level either

Just for a reference point: at the local private girls' school to me (in London) 22% of the 6th form girls did Physics (21 students/95) and the only subjects with a higher level of entry were biology, english, history, french and maths. Chemistry was equal to Physics.

That all starts in primary school in my experience with the expectations of the teachers themselves.

When said (good!) teacher is telling me 'Oh it's normal dc1 is struggling a bit more with english, that's because he is a boy. Girls usually find that easier' or 'Oh yes boys will always find maths/science easier' and then look at me as if I don't know what I am talking about if I am saying that I disagree with it... then there is no surprise that 'girls don't do physics'.

I have pointed out that if girls were so bad at maths or physics then I would never have become an engineer but apparently I should have known that there IS a difference and it's harder for girls

Going back to the part of the discussion regarding introducing physics earlier in schools, DS now aged 7, had been doing physics from reception. What I don't understand, though, is that his school has one "Science Week" a term. They do not look at things scientific throughout the school year - or so it seemed to me.

One word in the headline that doesn't seem to have received much focus is "state". I wonder what the comparative figure for co-ed public schools is, and if it is less alarming whether any lessons can be learned from this.

noblegiraffe - that sums it up so well. Had to tweet that one!

Hah! Ellenjane - I did physics O-level because I had a horribly sexist teacher in 3rd year who said girls were useless at physics. I had to go prove him wrong :o I wanted to do medicine at the time, so was going to take Chemistry and Biology anyhow. I ended up keeping up all 3 sciences, plus maths with mechanics at A-level. I did start off at med school, but realised I didn't actually want to be a doctor, so transferred to a Chemistry degree, which I really loved, especially the analytical and organic stuff. Those of us who already had a decent grade at maths A-level had to spend a year doing further maths with the joys of differential equations and iterative methods and all sorts of stuff I can't remember how to do.

DH is a geek - he did Physics, maths, some further maths and computing science at A level and is a software geek. Both of our boys have ASD, so yes, breeding was very dangerous for us!

Hadn't read your post noblegiraffe - your cartoon is better! (fellow geek, I wonder?)

Everyone still needs to read Cordelia Fine though....

aaargh!

all I have to say is have a look at this cartoon, then read www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html

I do wonder whether this cartoon has nailed it. Just go to your local Boots store and look at the shelf labelled 'Girls Toys' with its paint your own teasets and make your own bracelet kits alongside princess dolls, then look at the shelf labelled 'Boys Toys' with chemistry sets and microscopes and build a volcano kits. Seriously a problem.

I loved being the only girl in my a level physics and in my a level maths (there was a girl in the other maths class who was cleverer than me) Made me feel determined! However, one of my physics teachers (had two) was very discouraging and disparaging to me, unlike the other teacher. Served me well in my career before dd where there was only one other woman in my dept. most of my colleagues were great but I did have issues with one or two....

I went to the open day of a girls school a few years ago with DD1. The physics teacher we spoke to was waxing lyrical about how great it was that the girls discovered the science was something girls could "do".

DD1 was nonplussed. As she went to a single sex primary school, the idea that science was for boys was just foreign to her.

DD is studying Astro-physics at Uni as she want's to be an astronomer. However the only other female studying is from Latvia the rest are boys.

She has been very inspired with the documentary's involving NASA as the scientists being interviewed have been 40% female especially in how the universe works.

She has had problems even in a single sex school as she has been determined to be an astronomer for quite some time but the school struggled to engage her interest. A lot of home study got her through the A level but the fact we had to spend a lot of time with her. Just glad XH has a big interest in astronomy as my A levels were Eng Lit and History.

I did a study on girls' views on science as part of my teacher training. By the end of Primary it is already established in children's minds that science is seen as more suitable for boys than girls. The difference in views gets wider and wider as they progress through secondary. The girls who do study science tend to favour biology. Boys tend to not do biology.

Lots of different theories as to the source of this. One idea is that pre-school games and activities at home are different - boys build stuff and girls cuddle pets. Media projects the stereotype of the 'mad scientist' being a middle-aged man in a white coat with test tubes... Ask any primary-aged child to draw you a scientist :-)

There are also theories of differences in brain functions that support boys being better at recall of theory and facts, which means that they find physics easier than girls do.

Another theory is simply that the majority of primary teachers are female and very few teachers are scientists. So girls do not see female scientific role models, so the cycle continues.

I have a science background (albeit biology!). When I was doing my research the class teacher I worked with also had a scientific background. When I conducted the Draw a Scientist Test, the boys drew the stereotype, but the girls all drew women. Maybe there is hope to break the mould, one class at a time

Just to add - my daughter went to a standard co-ed secondary school - and the local sixth form college.

My eldest DD took Physics at A Level (also Maths, Chemistry and German). She is now doing a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering - currently on a one year placement with a top car company. She is having a GREAT time. It is a male dominated domain but this isn't phasing her at all. Tomorrow she is 'off-roading' with her new dept (team building). She is really enjoying being surrounded by like-minded individuals.

I did physics, chemistry and Maths ( pure and applied) @ a level. Love all of them except organic chemistry as it was so hard to remember all the nomenclature.
We had 3 girls in the physics class and 2 in Maths. Chemistry had a little better ratio.
My first day at uni. I was the only girl and 50 or so boys.
I got the mik taken out of in lab exercises. Usual boy/girl tension and a little sexism.
Has made me what I am today.
A very successful engineer.

Lavender and ithink - what appalling attitudes . At least the sheer discrimination LH suffered wouldn't be allowed now (would it?).

I was probably fortunate that, apart from not just being good I was usually best (I need a big-head emoticon, but its true), and my dad was a chemistry teacher so I didn't get sexist crap - science obviously ran in the family.

my physics teacher at school told my parents 'ithink will never be a scientist, its not her forte'. i took physics and biology gcse but did chemistry at night school. i started art a levels but dropped out at age 16. i returned to education later; i now have a BSC (hons) 2:1 and an /MSc; i have been an engineer for 7 years

to be fair, physics was really boring at school (teachers fault? 1970s-80s education?) it wasnt until later that i realised how interesting and relevant physics is

in my experience/opinion, it is about how physics is delivered; it doesnt need to be girlie just relevant to life....and as it is sooooo relevant to almost everything, isnt it a bit of a teaching travesty that more people arent interested?

Ooh, a physics thread! I did Physics A level, along with Maths and English. I was the only girl in a class of 8 doing Physics, and there was only one boy in a class of 16 doing English. This was in a bog standard large comprehensive with its own sixth form. One of the reasons I did Physics was because it was seen to be a boys' subject. I was always contrary and rather feminist.

I went on to do a degree in Physics in the middle of the eighties. There were 4 girls out of 60 students. (And I agree with the poster above, the odds were good, but the goods were odd! ) My best friend was doing a maths degree, with a 50/50 gender split.

My STBEX has a maths degree, and we have one DS with ASD, one geeky DS and one very quirky DS. So that's one reason why girls shouldn't do Physics, they are more likely to breed with a geek! I'm allowed to say this!

My personal experience of this is not being allowed to take physics at school as the subject was popular with boys and there simply wasn't space for a girl even if, like me, she was good at it, liked it and wanted to learn more. I was told I could do art or history instead. The teacher explained I was more likely to waste the place by getting married and not working, so it was important to support the boys. This was a secondary school comp in the mid eighties in Surrey. Lovely.

grimma - yeah there should be data on this in the IOP's site. Will go a hunting. :D