Young People's Science and Career Aspirations age 14-19 ('ASPIRES2')

在英国，就像在几乎所有发达国家一样，人们普遍认为，我们需要更多的人在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的各个层面学习和工作。主干行业是英国经济的重要组成部分，预计将相对于其他领域扩张。但人们普遍认为，STEM存在技能缺口，而且这一缺口正在扩大，人们担心，预计缺乏合格的STEM毕业生和拥有STEM技术技能的工人，将对英国经济产生负面影响。也有一个被广泛接受的案例表明，需要扩大16岁后STEM学生的性别、族裔和社会阶层概况，特别是在自然科学领域。因此，迫切需要进行研究，以了解影响STEM参与的因素以及许多年轻人在16岁后选择不学习这些科目的原因。这项研究(ASPIRES2)将扩展第一项Apires研究(RES-179-25-0008)开发的独特数据集，该研究跟踪了年轻人从10岁到14岁的科学和职业抱负的发展。ASPIRES1在9 000多名儿童上小学(10/11岁)时对他们进行了调查，然后在队列达到中学时进行了进一步调查(12/13岁调查了5 600名学生，13/14岁调查了C.5000名学生)。除了这些调查，研究人员还纵向跟踪了一群孩子和他们的父母，在6年级对92名年轻人和78名父母进行了采访，并在8年级和9年级对他们进行了再次跟踪。这项新研究旨在了解年轻人在接下来的重要五年(从14岁到19岁)是如何发展他们的科学和职业抱负的。它将探索家庭、学校、职业教育和社会特性以及不平等对这些年轻人科学和职业抱负的变化影响，关键是将这些与他们在国家普通中等教育证书考试中的实际科目选择和成绩以及他们16岁后的选择联系起来。对年轻人的抱负和教育成果的跟踪是我们跟踪这一群体的关键“最后一环”。为了实现这一目标，该项目将进行两次调查，每次调查的样本为全国有代表性的C.7-10,000名学生。这些学生将从与上一次Apires调查相同的年龄组中抽取，并将在11年级(15/16岁)和13年级(17/18岁)进行。这将为我们提供一幅10-19岁年轻人观点发展的权威图景。我们还将在11年级和13年级对C.80名学生和他们的60名家长进行访谈，所有这些学生都是研究人员从6年级开始跟踪的。我们还将统计分析第一次调查(Y6)的国家数据集，探索早期态度和/或因素如何与后来的结果(例如，GCSE成绩、16岁后的选择)相关。该项目将与两个科学组织(物理研究所和科学理事会)合作，开发方法，让家庭和年轻人参与STEM职业生涯的关键项目信息。协作1将侧重于通过社交和流行媒体形式(例如，通过在超市杂志等流行印刷媒体上刊登的一系列文章以及使用推特和社交网站)为家长受众翻译项目信息。Collaboration 2将开发一个‘app’(计算机应用软件)来开发一个互动测验，该测验能够以一种引人入胜的互动形式向年轻人传达关键项目信息。我们也希望得到学校和科学教师的帮助，在学生中推广使用这款应用程序。ASPIRES2解决了更深入地了解学生抱负是如何形成的迫切需要，提供了一个独特的机会，通过学生教育生涯的关键点，从10-19年扩展现有的知识。

In the UK, as in virtually every developed country, it is widely accepted that we need more people studying and working at all levels in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). STEM industries are vital elements of the UK economy and are predicted to expand relative to other fields. But there is a widespread consensus that there is a STEM skills gap and that this gap is growing with fears that the predicted lack of appropriately qualified STEM graduates and workers with STEM technical skills will impact negatively on the UK economy. There is also a widely accepted case for the need to broaden the gender, ethnic and social class profile of those who study STEM post-16, particularly in the physical sciences. It is therefore a matter of urgency for research to understand the factors affecting STEM participation and the reasons why many young people choose not to study these subjects post-16.This study ('ASPIRES2') will extend the unique dataset developed by the first ASPIRES study (RES-179-25-0008), which tracked the development of young people's science and career aspirations from age 10-14. ASPIRES1 surveyed over 9,000 children when they were in primary school (age 10/11) and then conducted further surveys when the cohort reached secondary school (surveying 5,600 students at age 12/13 and c.5000 at age 13/14). Alongside the surveys, researchers longitudinally tracked a group of children and their parents, conducting interviews with 92 young people and 78 parents in Year 6,following them up again in Year 8 and 9.The new study aims to understand how young people develop their science and career aspirations over the next important five years of their lives (from age 14-19). It will explore changing influences of the family, school, careers education and social identities and inequalities on these young people's science and career aspirations and, crucially, will relate these to their actual subject choices and attainment in national GCSE examinations and their post-16 choices. This tracking of young people's aspirations and educational outcomes comprises the vital 'final link' in our tracking of this cohort. To achieve this goal, the project will conduct two surveys with a nationally representative sample of c.7-10,000 students per sweep. The students will be drawn from the same age cohort as the previous ASPIRES survey, and will be conducted when students are in Year 11 (age 15/16) and Year 13 (age 17/18). This will provide us with an authoritative picture of the developing views of young people from age 10-19. Interviews will also be conducted in Year 11 and Year 13 with c.80 students and 60 of their parents, all of whom have been previously tracked by the researchers from Year 6. We will also statistically analyse national datasets for those who took part in the very first survey (Y6), to explore how early attitudes and/or factors may relate to later outcomes (e.g. GCSE attainment, post-16 choices).The project will collaborate with two science organisations (the Institute of Physics and the Science Council) to develop ways of engaging families and young people with key project messages around STEM careers. Collaboration 1 will focus on translating project messages for parent audiences, via social and popular media formats (e.g. through a series of articles placed in the popular print media such as supermarket magazines and by using Twitter and social networking sites). Collaboration 2 will develop an 'app' (computer application software) to develop an interactive quiz that can convey key project messages to young people in an engaging, interactive format. We also hope to enlist the help of schools and science teachers to promote the use of this app among students.ASPIRES2 addresses the urgent need for a deeper understanding of how student aspirations are shaped, offering a unique opportunity to extend existing knowledge from 10-19, through key points in students' educational careers.