ASPIRES3 main report: young people's STEM trajectories, age 10-22

Abstract

In the UK, there are widespread policy concerns about the need to increase and diversify participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These concerns relate to current and predicted skills gaps in key STEM employment areas, and the poor recruitment and retention of science and mathematics teachers and researchers. Moreover, despite many years of interventions, key communities such as women, racially minoritised and working-class people remain persistently and acutely underrepresented in STEM, particularly at senior levels and in disciplines such as the physical sciences, engineering and computing. In this report, we share evidence from the ASPIRES research project, a fourteen-year, mixed methods investigation of the factors shaping young people’s trajectories into, through and out of STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The study collected survey data from over 47,000 young people and conducted over 760 qualitative interviews with a longitudinal sample, which tracked 50 young people (and their parents/carers) between the ages of 10 and 22. The project also conducted secondary analyses of National Statistics and UK Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data sets. This report focuses on analyses of survey data collected at age 21/22 and longitudinal interviews conducted from age 10 to 22, to shed light on the factors shaping STEM trajectories, particularly at degree level.