Assessment

Careers Advice: Plugging the leaks

Try watering a garden with a leaky hose and you’ll only get a dribble from the nozzle. The same is true of our education system. We can build up pressure by raising standards, investing in teaching, and other worthwhile interventions, but any ‘leaks’ on the way mean we’ll find children who don’t achieve the success they deserve. AQi looks at under-representation of key groups in school subject choices, and the role careers advice plays in addressing it.

Date11/05/23

AuthorAQi team

Good support for subject choice and careers advice can plug the leaks
Photo: Korona Lacasse/Flickr

Careers Advice and the Leaky Pipeline

The Leaky Pipeline metaphor is well used in education to describe why certain social groups do not choose to study key subjects at GCSE, A-Level and beyond.

These ‘leaks’ are the moments where children disengage or are encouraged to follow a path that isn’t right for them.

In particular, we know that women, some ethnic minorities and those from poorer backgrounds are under-represented in a range of key careers, such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Economics.

Diversity in Economics and STEM - what the numbers show

Looking at economics we see a mix of under-representation and over-representation among ethnic minority groups in academia.

In 2018/19 men and women of Pakistani heritage accounted for 0.8% of research staff against a working age population (WAP) of 1.8%. Bangladeshis made up 0.3% with a WAP of 0.6% and black Caribbean people represented 0.4% with a WAP of 1.2%.

Chinese people on the other hand make up 0.6% of the WAP but accounted for just over 4.5% of academic economists. Similarly, Indians were over represented in the field.

Looking at STEM, the industries are dominated by white men who make up 65% of all employees. Incredibly, men account for 91% in engineering.

The GCSE to A-Level leak

These problems in the workplace and academia start earlier on in the pipeline.

In 2017, the GCSE Maths female cohort was a shade over 50% of the total. Two years later, at A Level, the proportion was just 35.5%.

The ‘leak’ of girls in physics was worse, plummeting from 50% at GCSE to 22% at A Level.

This is particularly stark in co-educational state schools.

Girls in single-sex state schools are twice as likely to study Physics A-Level than their co-ed counterparts. Those at single-sex Independent schools were four times more likely.

Is poor subject choice support behind the leaks?

The question is why they’re ‘leaking out’ on the way, and what we can do to change that.

Of course, there is a resource element to this.

State institutions are more likely than independent schools to restrict students from taking certain subjects or subject combinations at KS4 or post-16.

This makes it more likely that young people will take the specific combination of subjects that most suits them.

Indeed, research by the Russell Group found that the most common reason students did not take a subject is that either their school did not offer it or option blocks hampered their ability to take the subjects they wanted.

However, there is also something here about pre-GCSE advice in school.

Quality careers counselling at the right time can plug a leak

If careers advice is focussed on the post-16 phase, this might already be too late to influence GCSE and A level choices.

Evidence suggests that there is a lack of quality or structured advice when GCSE choices are being made.

The Gatsby Benchmarks, part of the Government's statutory guidance for schools’ careers programme, has Benchmark 3 – Addressing the needs of each pupil, which includes ‘actively seeking to challenge stereotypical thinking and raise aspirations.’

But a review found that of the 8 Benchmarks, schools in the most disadvantaged group performed worst at this one.

Another study found that 88% of state school teachers didn’t think their training prepared them to give careers information and guidance.

Increasing diversity means challenging myths and stereotypes

These realities, combined with long-standing myths and stereotypes about what is achievable and by whom, may allow preconceptions to persist among under-represented groups and their advisors.

Finally, students’ home context is strongly related to their choices.

For STEM and vocational subjects such as accounting, law and business, cultural background appears to influence the high uptake among certain groups.

For example, students of Indian heritage are well-represented in business studies, potentially because of perceptions that it is likely to lead to successful careers.

Quality careers and subject advice is vital for student outcomes

Better understanding these perceptions and presenting clear evidence and data to young people could be key to ensuring that everyone gets excellent, high quality careers advice at the right time.

Fundamentally, if underrepresented social, ethnic and gender groups leak out of, or don’t even enter, the STEM or economics pipeline they are not going appear at the other end.

Careers advice is vital in affecting outcomes and opportunities for different groups.

Ultimately, existing inequalities may get wider if the ‘wrong’ choices are made.

Good careers advice is about helping students make the right choices.

Education Policy

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Assessment

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Education

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Data Analysis

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International Approaches

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Briefing

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Adaptive Assessment

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

The number of students resitting their maths GCSE is growing, but the proportion getting a grade 4 or higher is falling. This situation is not only dispiriting for the young people striving to get the qualifications they need, but also for the teachers working hard to help them. How can outcomes for this cohort be improved? Bart Crisp, associate director at the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, thinks adaptive assessment may be part of the solution.

SEND

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Assessment

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Assessment

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

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Careers Advice: Plugging the leaks

Careers Advice and the Leaky Pipeline

Diversity in Economics and STEM - what the numbers show

The GCSE to A-Level leak

Is poor subject choice support behind the leaks?

Quality careers counselling at the right time can plug a leak

Increasing diversity means challenging myths and stereotypes

Quality careers and subject advice is vital for student outcomes

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

Student success: Every milestone matters

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

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Download a PDF version.

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