Identifying with Science: A case study of two 13-year-old ‘high achieving working class’ British Asian girls

Abstract

This paper provides an in-depth, ‘case study’ style analysis of the experiences of two 13-year-old British Asian girls from a larger qualitative study investigating minority ethnic students' aspirations in science. Through the lens of identity as performativity and Bourdieu's notions of habitus and capital, the ways in which two girls engage with the field of science is examined. Samantha is British Indian and Fay is British Bangladeshi and they are both ‘top set’ students in science, but only one aspired to study triple science, while the other desired to be ‘famous’. The experiences of the two girls are explicated in this paper, teasing out their experiences and constructions of science. It is argued that cultural discourses of family, peers and teacher expectations can shape students' perceptions of science and education.

Keywords:

• Capital
• Habitus
• Performance
• British Asian
• Identity

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express deep gratitude to Louise Archer and Justin Dillon for their continuous support, advice and supervision. The author would like to thank the participants in this study for their contributions. This study is part of a doctoral research funded by the ESRC (ES/H005072/1) and the Rosalind Driver Scholarship Fund at King's College London. It is a studentship as part of the ASPIRES project at King's, a five-year longitudinal study entitled ‘Science Aspirations and Career Choice: Age 10–14’ funded by the ESRC (RES-179-25-0008). The ASPIRES project is part of the ESRC Targeted Initiative on Science and Mathematics Education (TISME).

Notes

General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification generally taken by students aged 14–16 (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland). In academic or governmental publications, GCSE is sometimes referred as Key Stage 4.

Doctoral study began in January 2009 and is due to be completed by December 2011. This paper reports on the early findings of the overall study.

Of the seven schools that participated, four are co-educational state schools (contributing 35 participants) and three are Chinese complimentary schools (contributing 11 of 13 Chinese participants). Chinese complimentary schools were approached due to the lack of Chinese participants in the four state schools (only two).

The schools were ‘typical’ in their respective local authorities, such as GCSE achievements.

Students were also asked in the interviews to self-define their ethnic backgrounds.

Some interview locations were noisier, such as at the corner of a large hall, due to space limitations, which was frequent in Chinese complimentary schools.

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a government department responsible for inspecting the standards of (state or private) schools in England.

GCSE science typically consists of three different levels: ‘single award’, ‘double award’ and ‘triple award’, which corresponds to the number of GCSE it is worth. Triple award science, or triple science, is worth 3 GCSEs and is the most comprehensive course of science available at GCSE. For more information, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/.

In the doctoral study, discussion groups were conducted with students from Afro-Caribbean, Pakistani, Indian and Chinese ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of discussion groups was to shed light on the experiences of minority ethnic pupils in science through student interactions and discussion.

‘Safe routes’ in this context can be understood as pathways that one considers as ‘safe’ and possible, because of prior experience or knowledge of people who have succeeded in such pathways.