STEM, Social Mobility and Equality

Avenues for Widening Access

Kate Hoskins, Bernard Barker

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030492151
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030492168
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book examines the role of the family in intra and inter-generational social movement. The authors take a genealogical approach to researching social mobility, using a university chemistry department as a case study to explore participants' motives for pursuing a STEM undergraduate degree and the influences that have shaped them. Assessing the roles of genealogy, family and higher education in shaping their aspirations and careers, the authors examine the contributions of these variables to the students aspirations. With a wealth of empirically rich qualitative data, the authors identify areas where work is required to achieve greater equality of access to high performing chemistry departments and enhance career outcomes, which could be applied more widely. This book will appeal to scholars of educational inequalities and widening access, particularly in terms of STEM education.

© The Author(s) 2020

K. Hoskins, B. BarkerSTEM, Social Mobility and Equalityhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49216-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Kate Hoskins¹ and Bernard Barker²

(1)

Education, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK

(2)

Education Leadership & Management, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

Kate Hoskins (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Bernard Barker

Abstract

In this chapter, we contextualise our project and relate the case study to the wider educational policy concern in England, which emphasises equal opportunity policies that aim to improve social mobility for all (DfE, Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential: A Plan for Improving Social Mobility Through Education, CM 9541, 2017), and Athena Swan’s (2005) concern with gender equality, fairness and the workforce’s welfare. We provide a rationale to justify our choice of case study within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects, which we argue is because of the importance given to these disciplines by policy-makers (HMG 2012: House of Lords, 2012). We provide an in-depth discussion of the methodology and methods informing our study and justify taking a case study approach. In doing this, we point out the wider appeal of our case study findings to fields beyond chemistry and show how our work provides insight into studying STEM subjects more broadly.

Keywords

STEMSocial mobilityEquality opportunitiesPolicy

End Abstract

A casual conversation with a former Pro Vice-Chancellor of Marsden University (pseudonym) gave an unexpected introduction to a top-rated Russell Group chemistry department, where over 90 per cent of the research is rated as ‘internationally excellent’ (Research Excellence Framework [REF] online). The department believes passionately in social inclusion and equal opportunities for students and staff. It aims to improve and enhance every aspect of its work so that everyone is empowered to pursue their studies and careers without hindrance from background variables, including social class and disadvantaged circumstances, in addition to the characteristics protected by the Equality Act (2010), namely age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, and sex and sexual orientation. It has engaged on a sustained basis with the Athena Swan Charter (ASC). The Charter assists institutions to build a culture that values diversity and equality; and encourages cultural and systemic changes that make a real impact on the lives of staff and students (Bhopal 2018; AdvanceHE 2019).

Our chance contact presented, therefore, an unusual opportunity to examine troubling concerns arising from government policies to promote social mobility, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and equality more generally. There is a remarkable gulf between ambitious policy plans in this arena and the limited outcomes achieved, especially in science-related disciplines and occupations. Initiatives and legislation intended to ensure equal opportunities, regardless of an individual’s background characteristics, have achieved less than many hoped. This is a case study in higher education (HE), therefore, that traces the STEM student trajectory through family, school and university (based on interviews with undergraduates); and examines the adoption, implementation and relative success of the ASC in the Marsden chemistry department (based on interviews with staff). Departmental plans and submissions for charter recognition are examined and discussed in the context of staff perceptions of the Athena Swan process.

The overall aim of our book is to better understand how students’ identities and aspirations are formed and developed; and in light of that understanding to assess the effectiveness of strategies to enable career progression and mobility; to extend and enhance equal opportunities; and also, to identify improvements that may help institutions become more fully inclusive. This case study has wider significance, although the thick descriptions and detailed knowledge we have assembled here do not lend themselves to generalization. The aim is not to generalize, but to identify and describe influences and relationships and to formulate hypotheses about mobility processes that can be compared with the results of similar enquiries (Bertaux 1995). The Marsden findings are relevant to the wider debate because they identify areas of inclusion that work well and draw critical attention to systems and processes that need improvement.

The Problem

Since at least Labour’s Plan for Science (Wilson 1963), human capital theory (Goldin 2014) has justified an almost continuous effort to educate young people for an advanced, science-based economy. The aim has been to make the country richer by opening routes to new, rewarding careers, with upward social mobility for highly skilled individuals who choose to work in STEM subjects. The widespread perception that social mobility is open to everyone who aspires to success, works hard and seizes opportunities, has further encouraged multiple attempts to raise aspirations, improve STEM skills and create a meritocratic society (Hoskins and Barker 2019).

These goals have proved elusive, however, despite reforms that were supposed to enable disadvantaged children to overcome their backgrounds (Department for Education [DfE], 2010, 2017), and the rapid expansion of HE, designed to widen participation, especially for under-represented groups. Equal opportunities, apparently secured by the Equality Act (2010), seem less open to all when closely examined. There is evidence, for example, that disadvantaged students perform consistently less well at school than their peers (Cook 2012; Andrews et al. 2017) and that top professions are dominated by people with private school backgrounds (Social Mobility Commission [SMC] 2016; Friedman and Laurison 2020). Women are ‘vastly under-represented among top earners’ (Fortin et al. 2017: 1) and a substantial pay gap persists across all occupations (Olsen et al. 2014). Race and ethnicity are equally powerful in shaping people’s opportunities (Powell 2019) and what individuals believe is possible and desirable (Archer et al. 2012).

The drive to promote STEM subjects at school and university seems to have been equally unsuccessful. As the President of the Royal Historical Society says,

Especially from the late 1950s, when economists and industrialists began to bear down on educational policy, the public discourse about subject choice has been dominated by the alleged insufficiency of science (or what we now call STEM) and policy has been aimed almost exclusively at remedying that insufficiency. How misleading this discourse is as a guide to actual behaviours is clear from the brute fact that there has been a nearly continuous swing away from science from the early to mid-1960s up until the last few years. (Mandler 2017)

The expansion of HE seems to have made little difference to relative life chances, while participation in STEM courses has been stable in terms of undergraduate backgrounds and ethnic group (Smith 2011). Young people, regardless of their origins, seem resistant to attempts to steer their choices and decisions; and appear driven by background influences that do not appear on the policy-makers’ mobility map.

The Case Study

At South Park and Felix Holt, two high-performing academies, we chose a best-case scenario for an earlier social mobility study, designed to test the government’s assertion that improved educational access, combined with high-quality teaching, will enable young people to transcend disadvantaged backgrounds and achieve hard-earned success. Interviews with 16 and 18-year olds led to the conclusion that government expectations are unduly optimistic (Hoskins and Barker 2014). We found little evidence that school reforms created favourable conditions for upward mobility; and our data confirmed the importance of family, community and other deep structural influences in shaping aspirations and goals.

Individual and family employment trajectories emerged as intimately related, with social , economic and cultural capital transmitted through the three generations (grandparents, parents, young person) investigated (Hoskins and Barker 2019). Interests and occupational dispositions were linked, with participants’ progress making sense in the context of their extended family history and historic changes in the local and national job markets. These findings suggest the government’s reliance on an over-simple, individualist approach to education and vocational choice has contributed to the sustained failure of initiatives to increase social mobility in general, and to expand the supply of STEM graduates in particular. Policy-makers are trapped in their own assumptions, especially with the idea that family background is a handicap to be overcome, not a shaping ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Contemporary Social Mobility and Equality Policy Context: Framing the Problem
• 3. Making Chemists
• 4. Equality Policies and Initiatives at Marsden
• 5. The Limits of Equality Policy
• 6. Conclusion
• Back Matter