Is Science for Us? Black Students' and Parents' Views of Science and Science Careers.

LOUISE ARCHER,JENNIFER DEWITT,JONATHAN OSBORNE

doi:10.1002/sce.21146

LOUISE ARCHER, JENNIFER DEWITT + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21146

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Abstract

ABSTRACTThere are widespread policy concerns to improve (widen and increase) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics participation, which remains stratified by ethnicity, gender, and social class. Despite being interested in and highly valuing science, Black students tend to express limited aspirations to careers in science and remain underrepresented in post‐16 science courses and careers, a pattern which is not solely explained by attainment. This paper draws on survey data from nationally representative student cohorts and longitudinal interview data collected over 4 years from 10 Black African/Caribbean students and their parents, who were tracked from age 10–14 (Y6–Y9), as part of a larger study on children's science and career aspirations. The paper uses an intersectional analysis of the qualitative data to examine why science careers are less “thinkable” for Black students. A case study is also presented of two young Black women who “bucked the trend” and aspired to science careers. The paper concludes with implications for science education policy and practice.

Highlights

There is a widespread concern among governments and policy makers in Western developed nations (e.g., ACOLA, 2013; US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010; Danish EU presidency, 2012) that more needs to be done to improve—to increase and widen—participation in postcompulsory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
This paper addresses issues of “race”/ethnicity, with a particular focus on the identities and aspirations of Black students, we attempt to bring an intersectional lens to bear on the data to uncover ways in which ethnicity interacts with gender and social class to make science aspirations less “thinkable” for Black students
The Y6 survey showed that Black and Asian students expressed stronger science aspirations than White students, as reflected by their mean scores on a composite variable composed of items related to aspirations in science (i.e., “I would like to study more science in the future,” “I would like to have a job that uses science,” “I would like to work in science,” “I would like to become a scientist,” and “I think I could become a good scientist one day”)

Summary

BACKGROUND

There is a widespread concern among governments and policy makers in Western developed nations (e.g., ACOLA, 2013; US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010; Danish EU presidency, 2012) that more needs to be done to improve—to increase and widen—participation in postcompulsory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We use the above theoretical toolkit to explore the extent to which Black students perceive science careers as being “for me” (or not) and the ways in which these perceptions are shaped by intersection of identities and inequalities (of material and cultural resources, i.e., capital) in relation to intersections of “race”/ethnicity, social class, and gender. A feminist poststructuralist lens was applied across the coded data extracts and subsets to explore how and where particular versions of (classed, racialized) femininity and masculinity were being reproduced, asserted, or resisted (e.g., the resistance of science identity through “glamorous” working-class Black heterofeminity) These were retested across the sample of participants to establish prevalence and to map patterns in relation to the expression of science aspirations. Science Education, Vol 99, No 2, pp. 199–237 (2015)

Summary

Findings

CONCLUSION