Who studies STEM subjects at A level and degree in England? An investigation into the intersections between students' family background, gender and ethnicity in determining choice

The relative lack of students studying post-compulsory STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects is a key policy concern. A particular issue is the disparities in uptake by students' family background, gender and ethnicity. It remains unclear whether the relationship betw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British educational research journal Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 528 - 553
Main Author: Mcmaster, Natasha Codiroli
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London John Wiley & Sons Ltd 01.06.2017
Wiley-Blackwell
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:
A level
Attainment
Choices
College students
Correlation
Degree
Educational Background
Educational Policy
Ethnicity
Families & family life
Family Characteristics
Family Financial Resources
Foreign Countries
Gender
Gender Differences
Mathematics
Regression (Statistics)
Science and technology
Secondary School Students
SES
Social background
Social Class
Social classes
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic Status
STEM
STEM Education
Student Attitudes
Student Characteristics
Students
subject choice
Technology
Uptake
Young women
United Kingdom (England)
United Kingdom > UK
England
ISSN:0141-1926, 1469-3518
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The relative lack of students studying post-compulsory STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects is a key policy concern. A particular issue is the disparities in uptake by students' family background, gender and ethnicity. It remains unclear whether the relationship between student characteristics and choice can be explained by academic disparities, and whether students' background, gender and ethnicity interact in determining university subject choices, rather than simply having additive effects. I use data from more than 4000 students in England from 'Next Steps' (previously the LSYPE) and logistic regression methods to explore the interacting relationships between student characteristics and subject choice. There are four main findings of this study. Firstly, disparities by students' ethnicity are shown to increase when controlling for prior attainment. Secondly, family background indicators are differentially related to uptake for male and female students, with parents' social class and education larger predictors of choice than financial resources. Thirdly, gender, ethnicity and family background interact in determining choices. Particularly, as socio-economic position increases, young women are more likely to choose STEM over other high-return subjects. Finally, associations between student characteristics and subject choices, including interactions, largely persisted when accounting for A-level choices. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
Bibliography:The copyright line for this article was changed on 21 May 2018 after original online publication.
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ISSN:0141-1926
1469-3518
DOI:10.1002/berj.3270