Abstract
The relative lack of students studying post‐compulsory STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects is a key policy concern. A particular issue is the disparities in uptake by students’ family background, gender and ethnicity. It remains unclear whether the relationship between student characteristics and choice can be explained by academic disparities, and whether students’ background, gender and ethnicity interact in determining university subject choices, rather than simply having additive effects. I use data from more than 4000 students in England from ‘Next Steps’ (previously the LSYPE) and logistic regression methods to explore the interacting relationships between student characteristics and subject choice. There are four main findings of this study. Firstly, disparities by students’ ethnicity are shown to increase when controlling for prior attainment. Secondly, family background indicators are differentially related to uptake for male and female students, with parents’ social class and education larger predictors of choice than financial resources. Thirdly, gender, ethnicity and family background interact in determining choices. Particularly, as socio‐economic position increases, young women are more likely to choose STEM over other high‐return subjects. Finally, associations between student characteristics and subject choices, including interactions, largely persisted when accounting for A‐level choices. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
Highlights
There is a long-standing skills gap in the supply of graduates with much-sought-after expertise in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, causing concern for how economies will cope with our increasing dependence on technology in everyday life (Winterbotham, 2014)
Research into educational achievement disparities has started to look at how student characteristics interact to produce outcomes, rather than how they additively lead to deficit in attainment, studies of students’ subject choices have not yet considered more complex models
Generally there were similar patterns of uptake by students’ ethnicity across genders, the interaction between Black African ethnicity and gender suggests that Black African women are more likely to study STEM than arts and humanities
Summary
There is a long-standing skills gap in the supply of graduates with much-sought-after expertise in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, causing concern for how economies will cope with our increasing dependence on technology in everyday life (Winterbotham, 2014). A particular problem is that socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity are all associated with the study of STEM subjects (CaSE, 2012; Equality Challenge Unit, 2014). The economic case for increased participation and diversity in STEM fields is clear, but there are substantial benefits to be had for individuals. Those who study STEM subjects at degree level and General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A level) typically earn higher salaries later in life (Dolton & Vignoles, 2002; Greenwood et al, 2011). It is important to understand which students do not study STEM subjects, and why particular groups have lower participation
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