ABSTRACT

Increasing and diversifying participation in science remains a key educational policy concern for governments across the world. Science capital has been proposed as a useful theoretical lens that can explain patterns in science aspirations among young people aged 11-16 – but to date it has not been explored in relation to educational outcomes among older age groups. This paper reports findings from a new survey of 7,013 17/18 year old English secondary school students. It replicates and extends previous findings, showing that among older students, levels of science capital remain patterned by gender, ethnicity, cultural capital and science set. Comparison of effect sizes with previous findings from a younger cohort also reveal that, overall, levels of science capital seem to decrease with age. However, the proportion of students with ‘high’ science capital remained stable while the proportion of those with ‘low’ science capital increased. Analysis also revealed a small but significant increase in the proportion of boys with high science capital. Findings confirm that science capital relates to outcomes at age 17/18, with high science capital students being relatively more likely to be pursuing post-compulsory STEM qualifications and routes. Implications for educational policy and practice are identified, particularly with regard to goals of diversifying and increasing science participation.

摘要

增加和多样化对科学的参与仍然是世界各国政府关注的关键教育政策问题。科学资本已被提议作为一种有用的理论视角，可以解释 11-16 岁年轻人的科学抱负模式——但迄今为止，尚未对它与老年群体的教育成果进行探讨。本文报告了一项对 7,013 名 17/18 岁英语中学生的新调查结果。它复制并扩展了之前的研究结果，表明在年龄较大的学生中，科学资本的水平仍然受性别、种族、文化资本和科学背景的影响。将效应量与之前年轻队列的发现进行比较也表明，总体而言，科学资本的水平似乎随着年龄的增长而下降。然而，“高”科学资本的学生比例保持稳定，而“低”科学资本的学生比例有所增加。分析还显示，拥有高科学资本的男孩比例略有显着增加。研究结果证实，科学资本与 17/18 岁的结果有关，高科学资本的学生相对更有可能追求后义务 STEM 资格和路线。确定了对教育政策和实践的影响，特别是在多样化和增加科学参与的目标方面。