Discussion Paper 1 for Bridging the Gender Gap,

Friday 23 November 2007 University of Derby

STEM * Careers for Girls – A Position Paper by the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET.

* Science, technology, engineering and mathematics including the built environment.

Issues for Debate

1. Careers services, schools and parents and STEM influencers - the advice and guidance pathway - who does what and when? How can girls be better informed and supported by gender sensitive advice and guidance on STEM careers?

2. What are the key influencing stages in STEM careers and education for girls and how can they best be approached by those involved?

Introduction

This paper sets out the issues with Careers education, information, advice and guidance that are having a negative impact on the number of girls making positive STEM career choices. The paper draws on research and experience drawn from a range of sources built on the work of Let’s TWIST, the JIVE project and the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (UKRC) as well as other past and current policy activity that influences the STEM careers agenda in general and career choice of girls in particular.

The Careers Service in Context

The Connexions Service in England was launched in 2001 to help all young people aged 13-19 (and 20 – 24 year olds with learning difficulties and disabilities) not only in career information, advice and guidance – but also to support government policy in addressing the issue of NEET group (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The change in the role of the careers adviser reflects the fact that many young people are facing multiple choices when making careers decisions and often other factors need to be taken into account. When you have concerns about having a safe home life, it is difficult to consider career choices. Consequently there has been a shift from careers interviews where the specialist careers adviser offered focused career support, to a position where support in other aspects of life is included, partly through referral to other services.

The debate about the effects on the remainder of young people who do not have access to a universal careers service has grown since the start of the Connexions service. Some would argue that careers advisers have always had to prioritise the level of support, and certainly the funding of this aspect of the service has increased considerably since the introduction of Connexions. Others argue that by failing to offer one-to one advice to the majority there is a danger of increasing the numbers who may later become part of the NEET group. On average in England a young person of 14 will have a 30 / 40 minute interview with a careers professional, and issues that may be covered within that time would include personal and social as well as career related.

Research undertaken on the influence of careers advice on young people indicates that parents are seen as the key source of information and influence upon a young person’s career choices (EPPI, 2004) and the influence of teachers varies depending on the group of young people, as does the direct support from careers advisers. What is clear is that young people and parents agree they want more help with careers choice (Jones and Mortimer, 2004).

The new profession of Connexions Personal Adviser (PA) was developed to provide basic advice, guidance and referral. A new level 4 qualification was developed (the other main qualification is a diploma at post graduate level still offered at universities) but by September 2003 only 50% of PAs were fully or partly trained (NAO, 2004). In addition the Audit Office Report of 2004 pointed out that the original plan for 15,000 PAs to meet the needs of the service had been halved. The report highlights the additional pressure placed on schools and colleges to provide a quality service by this shortfall.

“Our survey of schools found that the majority feel they do not have the capacity to provide appropriate levels of careers education and guidance for young people” (NAO, 2004, p7)

The Government launch of Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004, leading on to Youth Matters 2005 have changed the context for Connexions and the careers service for England. Children’s Trusts are being established in all English local authorities and funding formerly going to Connexions partnerships is being transferred to these (by 2008). The Connexions service is therefore in transition now to become part of the integrated service for young people within the Children’s Trusts. The arrangements are being tackled differently in different parts of the country to suit local arrangements, and there has been concern expressed about a further diluting of the careers element of the service and access by young people to aspects of the provision (ECOTEC, 2006).

The Careers Service in England works differently to that in Wales and Scotland where careers services are delivered for both young people and adults (Careers Scotland and Careers Wales). Research into Careers Scotland and Wales (Watts, 2005; Moulson and Prail, 2004) reveals that Careers Scotland practice is comparable with good practice across the world, and feedback from local and regional stakeholders in Wales is very positive.

STEM Careers Information , Advice and Guidance

Following the SET for Success (Roberts, 2002) call for action to ensure that pupils (especially girls) receive accurate and positive advice about the rewards and breadth of science and technology careers, significant resource has been invested by the STEM communities in debate, campaigns and resource development. There have been growing general concerns in the STEM community and government with a long term decline in study of some STEM subjects e.g. in 2004 less than 10% young people were studying mathematics after 16 (Smith Enquiry) alongside the decline in students at university in physics and chemistry leading to course closures. The impact that the take up of STEM careers has on the UK present and future economic wellbeing is of vital importance within UK government policy. STEM projects to encourage and increase – mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering take up are receiving significant public funding (Girls In Physics, Chemistry our Future, London Engineering Project, Engineering A Better World etc.) and the Royal Society has been leading the development of a partnership between STEM deliverers currently with the name of SCORE (Science Community Partnership Supporting STEM Education). The STEM Programme Report emphasised the current focus:

“We need the right people with the right skills to build a strong science base and we are determined to ensure a good supply of scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians.” (DfES/DTI, 2006, Foreword)

The STEM Programme Report concentrates on support for all learners by joining up and rationalising the many and varied initiatives promoting STEM (over 470 in the initial mapping) in a coherent strategy. There is no strategy for linking the STEM communities with the Careers Service and its professionals. Apart from the huge number of single subject STEM web based careers information sites the development of partnership websites is also being developed. STEM careers information designed without considering gender has tended to be either too focused on boys’ interests (toys for boys) or in some cases also offensive towards girls and women. It is essential that new developments learn from the mistakes made in the past. Clearly there is no single idea that will attract all boys or all girls – the key is to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

The national STEM community’s web portal is being introduced to underpin the delivery network and signpost people to the appropriate providers. The Engineering Technology Board via its Scenta website aims to provide a gateway to the best information and resources for those pursuing a career in science, engineering and technology. The Science Council via its Career from Science project is working to develop a single starting point for young people to find information on STEM careers via a website aimed at students aged 11 – 19. Clearly the information about STEM careers is receiving due attention. Support measures that involve role models are a common feature of promotion of STEM careers, and the recent expansion of the Science and Engineering Ambassadors scheme will provide a greater service to schools. Role models in themselves do not always provide a positive image and the lack of sensitivity and awareness of gender will reinforce the stereotypical perception of STEM as a career for boys.

Comments and criticisms about the role of Careers Advisers from the STEM community have indicated not only a shortage of knowledge and awareness on STEM careers in general but also a failure of the careers service to promote STEM careers, particularly to girls. The careers service would respond that they are not there to promote certain careers – what they do have is a responsibility to challenge and to address stereotypes. Many seminars and meetings where the STEM community has come together suggest that more careers information and hence better careers advice will solve the problems. This is overly simplistic and does not recognize the contextual issues, and can result in the belief that more information can resolve all problems.

Gender Stereotyping and Careers

Girls, despite outperforming boys at school, colleges and university in many subject areas continue to make very stereotypical choices that limit their earning capacity and their career advancement. Choice of subject at school can differ by gender and as such limit vocational choice from the age of 14, so that IT is dominated by boys and home economics is dominated by girls (EOC, 2001). Vocational subjects chosen at 14 (in England the name of these qualifications have been GNVQs and are now called vocational GCSEs) are clearly stereotyped with girls predominantly training in hairdressing and boys in engineering. Work experience placements reinforce those stereotypes, with a study (Hamilton, 2003, p9) in Scotland providing clear gendered patterns of placement in the traditionally gendered occupations e.g. engineering, installation, maintenance and repair 97.6% male (319) against 2.4% female (8) and community and health 10.9% male (117) against 89.1% female (957).

The Women and Work commission recommends that girls need a wider range of work experience in order to address occupational stereotyping.

Statutory requirements regarding subject choice have ensured that girls take sciences and mathematics to GCSE and consequently the segregation is clearer beyond 16. However within statutory subjects there is still room for difference between boys and girls. The Women and Work Commission Report (2006) has highlighted the continuing pay and opportunity gaps between women and men as a result of girls’ and women’s career paths. In addition, if gender inequality is added to ethnicity and social class, disadvantage can be compounded.

Occupational segregation is influenced by society and education, and influences such as work experience and subject choice at school are significant. Whilst the aspects of women’s lives that affect their career – breaks for children, caring commitments – hold women back, it is horizontal segregation that is having a significant impact on the gender pay gap. Careers guidance is one opportunity to influence and create some change – not just by providing information, but by challenging traditional career choice and providing support if non-traditional choices are made.

“A young woman might punch self-stereotyping descriptions into a computer, which might then list ‘girlie’ jobs. That may please her. But it is not good careers work if she has never taken her own view of her culture and its expectations. Simple matching takes no account of that right. It may even help to further entrap her.” (Law, 2002, p8)

There is evidence that stereotyping does occur within the careers service, but gender stereotyping also occurs within other services and influencers such as education, as well as within peer groups and the media.

A Holistic Approach to STEM Careers for Girls .

If occupational segregation is to be tackled, then the influence of vocational guidance needs to be understood and altered to operate in a more gender sensitive way. However, it is dangerous to give too much weighting to careers guidance (Hodkinson, 1996) when there are so many variables that influence career choice. A positive approach to tackling barriers needs to be holistic, taking account of the many factors and stages that influence the decisions in girls’ and women’s lives (Siann & Callaghan, 2001; Chisolm, 1997; Evetts, 2000). The Let’s TWIST project started as an ESF project in 1998 led from Bradford College with partner Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield College to tackle occupational segregation, first developing staff development training for education and training providers, and later staff development for careers professionals. A model was developed which has formed an essential keystone in the national JIVE project to tackle occupational segregation, and lately further developed as part of the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. The holistic model calls on all those responsible in STEM to work together in a spirit of collaboration in order to achieve real change for girls and women. It is worth noting that an ETB Research report in 2002 called for a "coordinated approach to encouraging girls in SET subjects and careers." This must be a priority if we are to capitalise on the significant moves for change.