Encouraging girls to do Physics, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Is it worth it

[rationaloptimist123]

Only 2% of British girls are taking A'level Physics. This means that a significant number of high paying career options are going to be closed to them in 5, 10, 15 years time. Does this concern anyone else?

Um, yes?

Yes it concerns people and yes it's worth it.

Various organisations are working to understand the reasons girls don't participate and work to change that.

BTW if you ever meet someone who uses the "have you ever considered that girls don't do it because they don't like it and don't want to" argument you can merrily rebuff them with the difference in participation between mixed schools and girls' schools.

institute of physcis work on this

sciencegrrrl

WISE women into stem

Oh it concerns me not just because of the career / job options but also because

Loss to the community of so much talent from a research / innovation space not just for the £££
Closed doors from a general interest perspective, people who would get so much joy from this and aren't

One of the problems with girls is that they are often good at everything . That means that many promising STEM students have to leave behind other subjects at A Level and many choose the other subjects instead. I found choosing A Levels very hard as there was only one GCSE subject that I was happy to see the back of. I wonder if more baccalaureate style post 16 options would help delay this decision making to a more mature age when careers seem more real.

It might help? Thing is that in single sex schools, girls take-up of STEM is higher so there is something going on.

Physics it is anyway:

"Girls were almost two and a half times more likely to go on to do A-level physics if they came from a girls’ school rather than a co-ed school (for all types of maintained schools in England)"

from IOP research

SardineQueen - what is the difference in participation between mixed schools and girls' schools?

I am interested in this, I took Physics A-Level and have a STEM career (if that's a thing???) I was a STEM ambassador a few years ago as part of a mentoring programme but that was before DCs. My DDs are young, but are showing signs of enjoying maths and science.

Oops cross posted. That's interesting, I went to an all girls school so I don't think sciences were seen as a 'boys' subject' like they might be in a mixed school.

Just as a matter of interest, do you what percentage of British boys are taking physics A-level? It is difficult to judge how much of an issue this is without a comparator.

Out of all A level exam entries for girls, Physics are 1.4% of entries. Out of all A level exam entries for boys, Physics are 5.4% of entries.

FWIW - I went to an all-girls school. I didn't do A-level physics. I did do STEM A-levels though (biology, chemistry, maths, further maths). I still work in a STEM-based career, and the lack of A-level physics hasn't held me back.

IOP has a load of research and figures and all sorts oubliette, follow the link upthread.

This graph is interesting.

Over 7% for single sex independent schools, 1.8% for mixed comps.

Maths I think is picking up for girls IIRC.

I found something interesting out the other day. Of my course at university, of my friends, the boys all seem to have ended up in programming and are really high up at big software houses, mostly moved to the states. The girls are in a disparate range of activities, some are successful but most are in jobs unrelated to our degree.

I just wonder how all the boys knew / managed to get into programming at a great time and the girls didn't. Did they know something we didn't - how did that happen? Did people tell us stuff and we didn't listen? Did people tell us and we thought no thanks and I've forgotten?

I have no idea at all I just found that really really interesting!

YY I went to a selective single-sex independent school and we were all over the sciences.

It didn't even occur to me to think anything about my choices until I went to a state mixed 6th form and suddenly wondered why I was surrounded by boys

It doesn't matter what subject anybody studies as an A level as long as it is in a recognised subject with a good grade. Same with a degree as long as it is a recognised subject from a good university.

A while ago I read that the most common degree for a Chief Executive is History.

Engineering, physics and maths type degrees often lead to lucrative City careers as do Economics degrees which often require an A level in maths.

Jobs directly involved in in applied engineering and physics are typically lowly paid in comparison to City. Engineers often get trapped in companies as 'technicians' and are not seen as senior management material whereas finance and marketing people quickly move up the ranks. Many disillusioned engineers go on and do MBA degree after a few years to facilitate escape into management roles.

Oh I dunno.

I think that a maths degree is more useful than one in drama if your aim is to become an actuary.

Plus not everyone is after the ££££.

"The City" isn't everyone's idea of Nirvana.

The chaps I know who took their Physics degrees and are working for super-successful companies in the states seem quite chipper to me.

& I'm not even sure what the point of that post is.

If good degrees in maths engineering etc lead to lucrative city careers then why is it not a problem if girls are missing out on that due to not studying those subjects.

Don't really get your post actually. It's "well this is what I know about the topic being discussed even though it is largely irrelevant to the actual discussion".

So what's your point? Yes or no to girls studying STEM, does it matter if they aren't, is there any point in trying to understand why.

Looks like only 1/5 of A-level physics candidates are female. Maths is slightly better, with 2/5 of A-level candidates being female. Chemistry is essentially 50:50, and almost 3/5 of candidates for A-level biology are female.

So whilst it is certainly a concern that physics isn't appealing to girls, the picture is a little mess bleak if you consider STEM subjects as a whole.

Of course it matters which A levels and which degree you take! What are you talking about Morebeta? There are jobs which simply require a "graduate", yes, but there are many more that require a specific degree, and many degree courses that require specific A levels.

As an actuary with an engineering degree I can tell you that it does matter what a levels and degree you do if you want to become an actuary!!

Interestingly I was reading today that 40% of actuarial students are now women compared with 25% of actuarial fellows so things are moving towards being more equal in the actuarial world.