Science career aspiration and science capital in China and UK: a comparative study using PISA data

Xin Du,Billy Wong

doi:10.1080/09500693.2019.1662135

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe concept of science capital has a growing influence in science education research for understanding young people’s science trajectories. Popularised in the UK, this paper aims to extend and evaluate the applicability of science capital in the context of China by drawing on PISA2015. More specifically, we make use of existing items in the PISA2015 survey as a proxy for operationalising the construct of science capital to explore the science career aspirations and attainments of 15-year-old Chinese and UK students (n = 23,998). Our findings indicate that science capital has more explanatory power for understanding UK students’ science career aspirations than for Chinese students, where science attainment seems most important. We raise the potential challenge for Chinese students to convert their science capital into scientific self-efficacy and science career aspirations as we highlight the importance of recognising cultural and national differences in operationalising science capital.

Highlights

There is a broad agreement by governments and industries that post-compulsory science participation should increase (Marginson, Tytler, Freeman, & Roberts, 2013), especially in the physical sciences
Our findings indicate that science capital has more explanatory power for understanding UK students’ science career aspirations than for Chinese students, where science attainment seems most important
We find that the explanatory power of science capital to explain for students’ science career aspirations is different when applied to different countries, which reminds us of the importance to be wary of Eurocentric groundings and assumptions

Summary

Introduction

There is a broad agreement by governments and industries that post-compulsory science participation should increase (Marginson, Tytler, Freeman, & Roberts, 2013), especially in the physical sciences. Much research has been conducted on adolescent participation and choice in science career aspirations, in the UK and US (Henriksen, Dillon, & Ryder, 2015). The STEM career aspirations of adolescents in China are lesser-known, especially in comparison with developed countries such as the UK. Research in this area have used the concept of ‘science capital’ (Archer, Dawson, DeWitt, Seakins, & Wong, 2015), which refers to an individual’s science-related resources and dispositions to explain for the differences in science career aspiration, as well as a pedagogy for science teaching in UK classrooms (Nomikou, Archer, & King, 2017)

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