By Orna Herr, Communications Officer (Education) at the British Science Association
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“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Children start hearing this from a young age, and as they get older it’s something they’ll think about more and more.
For many young people it’s always been a tough question to answer with any certainty. With no experience in the working world, no idea of its politics and complexity, of the breadth of options, of which skills are needed for which industry, how can teenagers picture where they’ll fit in?
On top of that, the future can be a scary place.
Career options have always evolved in the face of new technology and a changing world but today, with the rise of AI and an increasingly urgent climate crisis, it feels as though that evolution is happening at super-speed.
To find out more about how AI could shape our future, according to the experts, read our blog covering a recent panel discussion co-hosted by the British Science Association - Charting the Path Forward: A Call for UK Leadership in AI and Innovation, with our strategic partners 3M, and the New Statesman.
We don't know quite yet exactly what impact AI will have, but we do know that the job market will look very different by the time today’s 16-year-olds turn 21.
Yet 16-year-olds will be making decisions now about their education that will shape the rest of their lives.
The Education Policy Institute report – STEM disparities are rife
Earlier this month, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) released a new report: Progression at age 16 of young people from underrepresented backgrounds towards careers in STEM.
The report looked into the disparities between different groups of the student population – including young people eligible for free school meals, from ethnic minority backgrounds and girls – in the choices they make post-16 which may or may not lead towards a career in STEM*
The EPI found that, sadly but unsurprisingly, disadvantaged students (defined as students eligible for free school meals) are 44% less likely than advantaged students to progress to level 3 STEM study (A level or equivalent).
Again unsurprisingly, girls were found to be 42% less likely than boys to choose to continue STEM study after 16. We say unsurprisingly as the underrepresentation of disadvantaged students and girls in STEM have been researched and analysed in their own right, having roots in the earliest stages of children’s lives.
Read some of our blogs here that explore these topics:
Early years maths engagement can help combat the attainment gap
What role does location and deprivation play in GCSE results?
Why we need more girls to study computing
Bringing STEM careers into the classroom
The EPI made several recommendations on how to address this situation, including giving students more real-world examples of STEM careers:
Students often do not have a good understanding of the wide range of STEM career opportunities and improving awareness of the courses and routes that are available will likely increase participation.
Offering young people work experience placements is a key example of boosting students’ understanding, but there are also lots of things teachers can do in the classroom to connect STEM subjects with exciting careers, especially for students from groups underrepresented in the STEM workforce.
We encourage schools to make showcasing STEM careers a highlight of their British Science Week celebrations, and to help with this, we run our Smashing Stereotypes campaign each year.
We profile several people who have in some way smashed the stereotype of who a scientist is, how they came to work in STEM and their role. These profiles are perfect to share with students as role models they can look up to.
Smashing Stereotypes and finding role models
For British Science Week 2024 we had, among others, Tumi Siwoku, a Scientific and Innovation Lead at The GelBottle. Tumi first considered following her STEM A levels with a medicine-related degree, but took a broader look at STEM courses and found one that suited her better – cosmetic science. She started with focus on colour cosmetics, but soon moved into skincare.
We also profiled Nile Henry, the Founder and CEO of The Blair Project, a social enterprise that empowers young people by teaching them about motorsports and enhancing their STEM skills.
After leaving college, Nile decided university wasn’t the path for him so, inspired by his brother Blair’s passion for motorsports, he set up The Blair Project. Nile told us he didn’t have many Black businesspeople to look up to when he was younger, so he hopes to be a role model for the next generation.
There are over 50 Smashing Stereotypes profiles available, with more to come for British Science Week 2025. They cover people from all sorts of backgrounds, working in fields right across the STEM spectrum.
Students who have an aptitude for STEM but aren’t sure how to turn that into a career they’re passionate about will find inspiration among the profiles.
CREST Awards – a window into the real world
Alongside inspiring role models, discovering how school STEM subjects relate to careers by getting hands-on can have a hugely positive impact on students. Working on secondary CREST projects can be a fantastic way for students to achieve this.
CREST Awards is the British Science Association’s flagship education programme that encourages young people to think and behave like scientists and engineers. Projects that earn students a Gold Award are the most advanced, usually completed by students aged 16+.
Students can design their own projects based on their interests, or they can choose one from our resource library, where they’ll find a range of project ideas.
Design the ultimate toothbrush has students thinking about how engineering and design skills can be utilised in healthcare. The effects of additives on bread looks at how understanding biological processes is key in mass food production.
Read some case studies here on students who earned Gold CREST Awards:
Finding the link between nutrition and mental health
How CREST Awards can boost UCAS applications and university admission interviews
Underrepresentation and the next generation
All students taking their first steps onto a self-chosen path deserve to feel that their future can be anything they want it to be, armed with information about the possibilities, even as they develop before our eyes. The next cohort of STEM professionals needs to be diverse in every sense to tackle the issues that will affect us all.
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*STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and maths