Children’s Aspirations Towards Science-related Careers

Abstract

Science-related careers are often considered to be less accessible by many children. More research is needed to distinguish any influences from different aspects of life so that support and/or interventions can be focused to help mitigate any disadvantage and inaccessibility. In order to gain greater understanding of constraints or influences on children’s aspirations towards science-related careers, a nationally-representative cohort of 7820 children in England was considered at age 11 and at age 14. At age 11, children’s science-related career aspirations were predictively associated with their ethnicity, gender, and science self-confidence, and also (at lower magnitudes) with the children’s motivation towards school and indicators of family advantage. At age 14, children’s aspirations were predictively associated with their prior aspirations (as of age 11), science self-confidence (as of age 14), and again with ethnicity and gender. Notably, these gender and ethnicity associations varied when considering specific aspirations towards science/engineering and towards medicine/health: boys were more likely to express science/engineering aspirations and less likely to express medicine/health aspirations; concurrently, children from some minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to express science/engineering aspirations and more likely to express medicine/health aspirations. Overall, the findings suggest that support after age 11 still needs to promote the feasibility of different science careers for all children.