Who has high science capital? An exploration of emerging patterns of science capital among students aged 17/18 in England

ABSTRACT

Increasing and diversifying participation in science remains a key educational policy concern for governments across the world. Science capital has been proposed as a useful theoretical lens that can explain patterns in science aspirations among young people aged 11-16 – but to date it has not been explored in relation to educational outcomes among older age groups. This paper reports findings from a new survey of 7,013 17/18 year old English secondary school students. It replicates and extends previous findings, showing that among older students, levels of science capital remain patterned by gender, ethnicity, cultural capital and science set. Comparison of effect sizes with previous findings from a younger cohort also reveal that, overall, levels of science capital seem to decrease with age. However, the proportion of students with ‘high’ science capital remained stable while the proportion of those with ‘low’ science capital increased. Analysis also revealed a small but significant increase in the proportion of boys with high science capital. Findings confirm that science capital relates to outcomes at age 17/18, with high science capital students being relatively more likely to be pursuing post-compulsory STEM qualifications and routes. Implications for educational policy and practice are identified, particularly with regard to goals of diversifying and increasing science participation.

KEYWORDS:

• Science capital
• survey
• aspirations
• intentions
• cultural capital

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. At the age of 16 (Year 11) students take national examinations (GCSEs) where they generally choose three or four subjects to specialise in (beyond the core Maths, English, and Science). Students then have the option to study multiple routes including; A level (considered the prestigious route to university entrance), AS level, BTEC (more applied training route) and International Baccalaureate. After the age of 16 students are required to remain in education or formal training until the age of 18. Currently, Science at GCSE can be taken either as a combined single subject (which is worth two GCSEs, Double Science) or as the three separate subjects of physics, chemistry and biology (each worth a single GCSE in its own right, Triple Science).

2. The data analysed is generated by the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ‘ASPIRES 2’project. The longitudinal study, and its predecessor ASPIRES\ study, have been tracking and exploring children’s science and career aspirations from age 10–19. Methods include a quantitative online survey of the cohort and repeat interviews with a sub-sample of students and their parents. This paper draws on survey and interview data from students age 17/18 years old (Year 13). The study subscribes to the ethical standards of the British Educational Research Association, and has been approved by the UCL Institute of Education ethics committee.

3. The index of multiple deprivation is a government measure of social and economic deprivation in England. It comprises seven main aspects of deprivation: income, employment, health and disability, education, skills and training, housing, crime and living environment.

4. We are aware that we are oversimplifying gender and agree that it is not a binary construction. However, going into the level of detail that reflects the complexity of gender was far beyond the scope our survey. In addition, an extremely small proportion declined to respond to the question. Thus, for the sake of parsimony, we have decided to use a simplified construction of gender in this paper – focusing on ‘males’ and ‘females’.

5. In the UK, some schools organise students into attainment sets for science based on exam results. On the present survey, students were asked if they were in top, middle, bottom, or some other set. Students were also asked whether or not their schools organised them into sets for science. Students’ self-reported responses were used in the analyses and we are aware that these may not accurately reflect what set an individual student was in as they are based on students’ perceptions. However, it is generally quite clear to students what set they have been placed in.

6. That almost 50% of students reported being in the top sets for science suggests that there was also a tendency on the part of schools to ask students in top sets to complete the survey. However, we are unable to weight the data for set, as there is no way of knowing what proportion of students, nationally, are in top sets. This situation is further complicated by the fact that different schools have different proportions of students in their top set (some might have two classes of top sets, while others might have one, or three) and different schools place students in sets based on different criteria.

7. In the UK, students at aged 15/16 have the option to take various study routes including Advanced Levels (A levels), AS levels, BTEC (a more applied training route), and International Baccalaureate. The A level route is generally considered a prestigious route, leading on to post-secondary study at university. Note that the table shows that even the very high cultural capital students would not be grouped into the high science capital group (which has a cut off of 70). We do however appreciate that it could also be argued here that the 70 cut off is possibly too high, a separate issue which we are exploring.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/L002841/2].