Women in Physics: the leaky connections

1. Women in Physics: the leaky connections Peter MainDirector, Education and ScienceEnabling All Students to Achieve Their Full PotentialUniversity of Manchester 26 February 2014 peter.main@iop.org, www.iop.org

2. Plan • General Overview • School Issues • University Issues • Concluding remarks

3. GENERAL OVERVIEW

5. SCHOOLS’ ISSUES

6. A-level entries in Physics and Maths

7. A-level subjects for male students 2012 A-level subjects for female students 2012

9. It’s Different for Girls An exploration of data from the National Pupil Data-base • Published October 2012 • Looking at progression to A-level physics from different types of school at KS4. • Assuming that pupils’ experience of teaching at KS4 will be a critical factor in choice of A levels. • Are there patterns in the type of school where pupils’ sat their GCSEs and progression on to A-level physics?

13. % Female entry to A-level subjects in 2013

14. Gendered Subjects: Closing Doors

15. 81% of state co-ed schools either maintain or exacerbate gender stereotyping

16. Huge local differences

17. To “beat” the woeful 20% ratio in a state co-ed, have to challenge gender across the board

18. Recent research on (not) choosing science A-levels • Liking science is not enough – there is no problem with the popularity of science • ‘Science capital’ affects likelihood of child expressing science aspirations (strong influence of family and social class) • Children put off aspiring to science due to popular view as ‘brainy’ • Gender – girls have to do more ‘identity work’ to balance science aspirations (implications for role models)

19. UPMAP: Understanding participation in maths and physics • Extrinsic material gain motivation • Girls who choose physics have lower confidence in their conceptual ability than boys even though there was no actual difference in such ability. • Having the opportunity to study a minor subject as well as mathematics/physics can be attractive • Relationships (with significant others) are more important than enrichments • No evidence for any outreach event changing decisions about courses

20. Some new ideas to overcome gender bias • Building confidence and owning the problem • Help them own the problem instead of seeing them as the problem • Girls do better than boys at physics – let them know • Help them build relationship with “significant other” (see later) • Improve the classroom experience • Curriculum Context • Group work and practical work • Tailored advice on progression routes • Classroom management • Changing the school culture • Changing the attitude of all departments in a school • Schools have a gender equality duty • Working with Ofsted on this

21. UNIVERSITY ISSUES

22. Longitudinal survey: Background • Tried to sign up UK physics graduates and track them through the early years • Got ~ 40% of cohorts (some departments helped more than others…) • Returned data seemed a fair sample of cohorts in terms of what we know

23. BSc men more likely to go into employment, women more likely to continue education • BSc women most likely group to go into teacher-training • BSc men most likely group to be unemployed.

24. Distribution of destinations for MPhys/MSci men and women is very similar • Most notable difference is higher proportion of women studying for Masters • Low proportion of MPhys/MSci men and women going into teacher-training • MPhys/MSci primary route into PhD studies.

25. Salaries • The median salary one year after graduation was £22,500, higher than the estimated starting salaries for 2008 graduates across all degrees of £19,667 • Median salary for MPhys/MSci was 6.7% higher than BSc • Gender pay gap of 3.3% for MPhys/MSci, compared to 6.4% for BSc • Higher degree class corresponds to higher salaries • However, women with first class degrees have similar distribution of salaries to that of men with upper-seconds.

26. Salaries one year after graduation

27. Degree Classifications *Yes I know they do not add up

28. Aggregated data

29. MPhys/MSci vs. BSc • 20% female in MPhys/MSci graduating cohort • 25% female in BSc graduating cohort • 45% of male physics students do 4-year course • 39% of female physics students do 3 year course • 40 students a year

30. % Female registration for MPhys/MSci and BSc Physics MPhys/MSci BSc

31. % Female graduation from MPhys/MSci and BSc Physics MPhys/MSci BSc

32. Observations and discussion • Women are much less likely to drop out (graduation % is much higher than entry %) • Despite that, women much more likely to register for integrated masters but much less likely to graduate with such degrees • Something is putting women off the integrated masters, which is the main route to a career in physics

33. Observations and discussion • Possible reasons in link to longitudinal survey (women more likely to become teachers or do MSc) • Not possible to track students through the system (yet!) • Some evidence that women are more diligent in choosing career routes…. • …or are they simply being deterred from physics for some reason? (one leading department reported that women said they were deterred by the long hours…) • Any volunteers to help?

34. Final remarks • There is no simple answer to why more girls do not do physics… • …but they are not the problem – there are barriers that can be overcome. • Women in universities are less likely to drop out and perform, in general, at least as well as men and pursue similar careers paths with integrated masters degrees • But something in physics programmes is deterring them from pursuing the professional route • Similar remarks apply to engineering