Farewell Marie Curie: Why are young women turned off STEM?
Research has shown that nearly 50 per cent of females aged 16-24 have considered a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but only 13 per cent gain employment in a STEM role.
Turned off STEM in school
Nearly a quarter of the young women involved cited the way that STEM subjects are taught at secondary school as a turn off and one third blamed the lack of ‘real-life’ careers education for the low numbers of women in STEM careers.Charlie Taylor, Founder of Debut commented, “This research has revealed that the UK education system still has a long way to go when it comes to educating females on the positives of entering a STEM industry.“That said, schools and teachers are not the only ones accountable for inspiring the next generation – parents and employers have an important role to play.”This comes at a time when the UK is recognised as a centre of excellence for STEM – highlighted in the article British education: Delivering skills for the future in the Relocate Global Guide to Education & Schools in the UKMandatory STEM work experience
When asked the top three ways that secondary schools could ignite an interest in STEM careers for women, aside from making STEM subjects more interesting to learn (23 per cent) the young women involved in the research stated that STEM industry work experience should be made mandatory and ‘real life’ STEM careers education should be made available such as ‘a day in the life of’ videos.Relocate Global recently wrote about the IB Career-related Programme, (CP), which, research has shown, prepares students better for university and the workplace. The CP is an integrated package of academic study and hands-on work experience. At a time when apprenticeships have had a clear rebrand and are becoming increasingly popular, there appears that more needs to be done within schools to tie up academic learning with practical work experience.Related news:
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“It would be great to see more STEM employers going into primary and secondary schools, or better still, live streaming direct from their organisations into the classroom, to give young people an insight into what STEM careers involve. Companies would benefit from this time investment in the long-run,” said Mr Taylor.