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 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.     

What role do students’ enjoyment and perception of ability play in social disparities in subject choices at university?

Prior research has shown that students from less educated families are less likely to study both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and arts and humanities subjects. This article used a large representative sample of university students in England to explore the relationship between students’ enjoyment, perception of ability and socio-economic disparities in subject choices. Although these attitudes differed by students’ parents’ education level, and were associated with subject choices, disparities in choices persisted when accounting for these differences. Students with less educated parents were less likely to choose arts and humanities and more likely to study social sciences, law and business, over STEM, even when their enjoyment and perception of ability in subjects were similar. Students whose parents had higher levels of education were more likely to choose STEM over arts and humanities as their enjoyment of STEM increased, suggesting different underlying processes informing student choices by social background.     

A family affair: The effect of family on Thai students’ choices of international education

This study examines the influence of family on Thai students’ choices of international education. A qualitative phase indicated that influence from family can be slotted into one of five categories: finance, information, expectation, persuasion, and competition. The choices of international education can be classified into the decision to study abroad, choice of country, city, academic program, and of university. Subsequent quantitative analysis demonstrated that students from family with direct experience of study abroad are, themselves, subject to higher family expectation to study abroad than students from family without direct experience. The impact of social competition on students is more profound for those from Bangkok, than for those from other areas in Thailand. Furthermore, Thai students from households comprising nuclear family are more highly influenced by family than individuals from extended and alternative family households. The study has implications for marketing practices in higher education institutions, in particular those which market themselves to Thailand.     

The relationship between A-level subject choice and league table score of university attended: the ‘facilitating’, the ‘less suitable’, and the counter-intuitive

Abstract

English students from less privileged backgrounds and state, rather than private, schools remain significantly under-represented at high-status universities. There has been little work to date on the role of A-level subject choice, as opposed to attainment, in access to university. Using linked administrative data for three recent cohorts of English entrants to UK universities, I examine the relationship between league table score of university attended and A-level subject choices, using a taxonomy of A-levels categorised according to their published efficacy for Russell Group university admission as ‘facilitating’, ‘useful’, or ‘less suitable’. I further examine the relationship of three ‘less suitable’ A-levels with league table score of university for related degree courses commonly leading to professional business careers (accountancy, business, and law). Holding more facilitating A-levels is associated with attending a higher ranked university overall, even controlling for degree subject, and the converse is true for ‘less suitable’ subjects. The heterogeneous relationships of professionally-related A-level subjects with university ranking make decision-making for aspirational 16-year-olds problematic: an apparently sensible subject choice for students wishing to prepare for a professional career may, in fact, put them at a disadvantage.     

Students' choice of college major and their perceived fairness of the procedure: evidence from Turkey

This study investigated the relative influence of factors and persons in college major choice and procedural justice perceptions of 449 undergraduate students enrolled in 1 private and 2 public universities in Turkey. Results showed that students found themselves to be the most influential person in their choice of college major, followed by parents/other family members. With regard to the factors, interest in the subject, guaranteed employment, expected earnings in the field, the university entrance exam score, and a prestigious career were ranked, respectively. Striking differences were found among majors. Findings also suggested that, whereas male and female students' choices were influenced by very similar factors and persons, female students declared more procedural justice.     

Teachers’ guidance,family participation and track choice: the educational disadvantage of immigrant students in Italy

In Italy, as in other European countries, students of foreign origin are over-represented in the vocational school tracks, with relevant consequences on their limited chances of attaining a university degree. While research has long underlined the weight that a family’s social, cultural and economic capital has on a child’s school performance, educational expectations and choices, the role that school and teachers themselves play in the transition from lower to upper secondary school has been rarely explored in Italian sociological research. The present study aims to bridge this gap in the literature, showing how teachers’ orienting practices, interacting with highly differentiated patterns of family participation in the school guidance process, can play a relevant role in reproducing foreign-origin students’ segregation into the lower tracks of the school system.     

Modeling educational choices. A binomial logit model applied to the demand for Higher Education

This paper presents a microeconomic analysis of the choice of universitydegree course that individuals make on finishing their Secondary studies(four-year university degree or three-year university degree), andcontains the theoretical framework as well as empirical results. Themodel selected for our analysis is a binomial logit model. This model,which can be seen as a special case of a general model of utilitymaximization, deals with those aspects of the economics of educationalchoice that are regarded as important in the literature of this subject:academic aptitude, the social background in which the students havegrown up, family income, employment prospects, etc. By using survey dataon educational choices of Spanish High School graduates (cross-sectionaldata), we investigate to what extent the theoretical determinants areconfirmed in practice. The results of the estimation by maximumlikelihood of the logit model, and which allow us to analyze theinfluence of the explanatory variables on the probability of choosing afour-year university degree, show how social background, family earningsand scholastic ability explain, mainly, the educational choice ofstudents. The students from higher socioeconomic status as well as thosewith the best High School curricula are more likely to follow auniversity degree of greater duration.     

Hard and soft choices? Subject selection by schools and students

We present an analysis of A-level subject choices at around age 16 for a cohort of students in English schools who completed their studies in 2014. We examined both the National Pupil Database and a unique rich dataset on the subject preferences and subsequent choices between the ages of 16 and 18 (i.e. GCSE and A-level). We found substantive differences between students’ preferences and actual choices of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ post-16 subjects (i.e. A-level). These differences were strongly associated with falsification of students’ expectations of examination grades taken at age 16 (i.e. GCSE) in the core subjects of English and mathematics. The sizes of these falsification effects were much larger than other significant associations such as gender, ethnicity, and social class. This suggests that subject choices are not rigidly framed by stable individual preferences and they are therefore open to influence from new information, persuasion, and opportunities.     

Information and choice of A‐level subjects: A cluster randomised controlled trial with linked administrative data

We estimated the effects of an intervention which provided information about graduate wages to 5593 students in England, using a blinded cluster randomised controlled trial in 50 schools (registration: AEARCTR‐0000468). Our primary outcome was students’ choice of A‐level subjects at age 16. We also recorded the students’ expectations of future wages and the A‐level subjects they intended to take before and after the intervention, and linked their data into national administrative school examination records. We found that an hour‐long lesson on information about graduate wages affected students’ beliefs about and choice of subject. They were more likely to take mathematics and less likely to take biology and computing. We found strong evidence that mediating factors such as their beliefs about average graduate salaries and their own likely salary in each subject were affected by the intervention. This suggests that providing accessible and credible information on labour market consequences of school choices may influence students’ decisions. In the light of concerns about the quality of careers guidance for school students and expectations that educational choices should be well‐informed, the study has clear implications for policy and practice.     

Higher education choices of secondary school graduates with a Science,Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) background

Recently, there has been an increase in the Higher Education (HE) options (in terms of both courses and institutions) available to students in the UK. Given that the choice of institution and field of study are crucial for students’ future careers, we investigated how attributes of the institutions and courses determine students’ choices, and how they interact with student characteristics. Data on graduates with a STEM background, who started a course in 2010/11 in an English HE institution, was analysed using a conditional logit model. The research demonstrated that an institution’s prestige, degree subject area and distance from home play an important role in students’ choices. Furthermore, distance from home to the HE institution is a potential barrier to fair access, as socio-economically deprived students may have less choice if they are not able to travel as far.     

Choice of Higher Education Institutions: Perspectives of Students from Different Provinces in China

This study aims to find factors linked to university choice in China that work for or against students’ access to higher education. China has undertaken many reforms in the past two decades and has rapidly expanded its higher education system. The transition from a sequential to a parallel mechanism for students to select universities is a significant change in the admission process. The expansion of higher education increased the number of high school graduates who dream of going to top-ranked Chinese universities. With this dream, students start preparing themselves for higher education during basic education. Despite the increase in top-ranked universities, the issues such as school education, familial expectations, choices of city and of major have a significant impact on students’ choice of university.     

我国城乡大学生择校差异的实证研究

根据对我国大陆31个省市175所普通高校4.7万名2007级大学新生的调查发现：农村子女就读一般公办本科院校和公办高职高专院校的较多,而＂211＂高校和独立学院中城市子女占多数;与农村大学生相比,城市大学生对其所读大学达到＂满意＂的比例更高;择校时,城市大学生更看重＂父母、家人或其它亲属的影响或建议＂,而农村大学生更看重＂学费和生活费用因素＂。因子分析的结果表明：影响农村大学生择校的有＂高校自身的特征＂、＂外人的影响＂、＂地缘和学缘＂和＂高校招生宣传信息＂等4个主要因素,而影响城市大学生择校的3个主要因素分别是＂高校自身特征＂、＂地缘、学缘和特殊项目＂及＂外人的影响＂。     

FROM PRESERVICE PREPARATION TO WORKING LIFE: CAREER EXPERIENCES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS IN FINLAND

ABSTRACT

This is a case study of four students in an early childhood teacher preparation program at a large, state university that intentionally seeks to emphasize supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds and using culturally responsive pedagogy. The program includes a family engagement course in the first semester that is designed to facilitate students’ recognition of the perspectives of diverse families, as well as practica in schools serving children and families from a range of backgrounds. Our investigation revealed that not all of our participants were willing to completely let go of their preconceived understandings of family diversity and engagement, but those who did were very willing to try multiple ways of building mutually beneficial relationships with families. Our findings suggest that teacher educators must have an understanding of the cultural and family backgrounds of teacher preparation students so as to better support students in decentering and resisting normalizing their own family and school experiences.     

Has family involvement migrated into higher education? An investigation of how administrative staff document the phenomenon in students’ university experiences in Cyprus

Families have been getting more and more involved in their children’s education. This paper presents findings of a study investigating family involvement in their members’ undergraduate studies attending a state (non-fee-paying) and a private (fee-paying) university in Cyprus. The data presented in the paper were collected via online logs completed by administrative personnel in the two universities documenting incidents of family involvement. The data analysis demonstrates how similarly the phenomenon manifests in both universities and suggests that where the two universities differ is more in the intensity of the various modes of family involvement. It also projects students’ desires and encouragement of their family’s involvement and their families’ intervention to protect or guide them. The findings of the study are discussed in view of cultural and societal norms and changes about parenthood and the relationship between families and their university age members in a marketized higher education context.     

Book Reviews

The present study explored the relationships of preservice teachers’ levels of commitment to teaching and their beliefs and perceptions of teaching as a career. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher education program at a major university in the southeast. Sixty‐seven preservice teachers completed a survey in which they rated the importance of 20 factors for influencing their choice of career. Additionally, among the survey respondents, nine students were selected from three groups of preservice teachers for in‐depth interviews: (1) students who were currently considering teaching as a career choice, (2) students who were undecided about their future teaching career, and (3) students who were no longer considering teaching as a career. Overall, findings from this study revealed that preservice teachers’ understanding of their goal of becoming teachers and interpretations of their motivation for teaching were unique, yet the types of influences on their career choices were similar across participants’ stories.     

Cultural factors influencing Eastern and Western engineering students’ choice of university

Insight into factors that affect students’ choice of university is useful when designing study programmes, especially in global competition for students. This study focuses on Taiwanese and Norwegian students’ preferences for university, study programme, course qualities and future career qualities. Hofstede's model was used to predict culture-related differences. A pair-wise decision questionnaire was used to conduct measurements. Cultural differences were observed in relation to choice of university, course qualities and future careers. Discipline of study had only minor impact on students’ preferences. The results suggest that a career-relevant curriculum is culture-neutral. Moreover, personal advice is the most preferred factor among Taiwanese students when choosing university.     

Articulation,transfer, and student choice in a binary post-secondary system

This paper investigates the intersection of system articulation, transfer, and the choices that secondary school students make when they apply to college and university. The investigation is based on the results of a study that was undertaken to determine factors that influence choices that secondary school students make between enrolling in community college or university, and in particular whether or not those choices are affected by the degree of “articulation” within a public system of post-secondary education. There are several studies that have emerged recently in the United States and Canada that examine factors that influence the choice of university and 4-year college. There are a few studies that examine the choice of community and 2-year college. None, however, either in Canada or in the United States, has sought to examine “college choice” comparatively among students who apply to baccalaureate (4-year colleges and universities) and sub-baccalaureate (community colleges) programs. This study examines college choice on the basis of two series of longitudinal surveys conducted in the province of Ontario since the late 1980s, and on a series of surveys and interviews of students, parents and guidance counselors in six secondary schools, each with a different student population, since 2004. The third study—called the “college choice” project—tracked secondary school students as they made decisions about attending college or university, and as they finally selected the institutions that they would attend. The study concludes that greater conventional articulation will not significantly affect rates of transfer, that for most students plans to transfer develop after they enter college and are not a major factor in their initial “choice,” that the rate of transfer is highly dependent on the corresponding arrays of programs at colleges and universities, and that articulation might better be thought of as a subset of other basic forms of inter-institutional cooperation. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the ASHE Annual Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, November, 2007.     

Intended college enrollment and educational inequality: Do students lack information?

Despite increasing access to university education, students from disadvantaged or non-academic family backgrounds are still underrepresented in universities. In this regard, the economics literature has focused on the role of financial constraints as a cause of these observed differences in educational choices. Our knowledge of potential effects of other constraints regarding university education is more limited. We investigate the causal relationship between information and educational expectations using data from a German randomized controlled trial in which students in high schools were given information on the benefits of as well as on different funding possibilities for university education. We find that the provision of information increases intended college enrollment for students from a non-academic family background, both two to three months and one year after the intervention. In contrast, it leads students from academic backgrounds to lower their enrollment intentions in the short run. However, this effect does not persist. Our results suggest that educational inequality can be reduced by providing students from non-academic families with relevant information.     

The effect of the Free High School Tuition law on upper-secondary school choice in Japan

The aim of this study was to analyse the determining factors behind parents’ and students’ decisions when choosing upper-secondary schools in Japan and how these factors were affected by the implementation of the new “Free High School Tuition” law introduced in 2010. Public and private upper-secondary schools can be either vocational or academic. This school choice was analysed using the characteristics of families and schools included in the PISA 2009 and 2012 questionnaires in a multinomial logit model. The most influential family characteristics in the upper secondary school choice in Japan are related to the family budget, parental education, class, and status. Moreover, the results show that the implementation of the new law affected families’ school choice. Nevertheless, the law did not have the same equalising effect on families with more than one child and low-budget families in areas with a limited offer of private schools.     

Elite destinations: pathways to attending an Ivy League university

As higher education expands and becomes more differentiated, patterns of class stratification remain deeply entrenched, in part due to class‐based differences in college choice. A qualitative study of 50 Yale students shows the effects of social class, high schools and peers on students’ pathways to college. For students from wealthy and highly educated families, the choice of an Ivy League institution becomes normalized through the inculcated expectations of families, the explicit positioning of schools, and the peer culture. Without these advantages, less‐privileged students more often place elite institutions outside the realm of the possible – in part because of concerns of elitism. These findings suggest that even low‐socioeconomic status students with exceptional academic credentials must overcome substantial hurdles to arrive at an Ivy League university.