4月27日星期三 科学 & Technology Committee's inquiry on Diversity in STEM 被称为 凯瑟琳Birbalsingh, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission as a witness.
Watch the evidence session on Parliament TV
In 响应 to questioning around quality of teaching, 她谈到了在她担任校长的学校里学习高级水平考试(A - Level)物理的女生比例, Michaela Secondary School in London (rated Outst和ing by Ofsted). Birbalsingh说:
…physics isn’t something that girls tend to fancy. They don’t want to do it, they don’t like it.
When probed further by Chair of the Committee, 葛瑞格议员, 为什么这个数字这么低, 她认为:
里面有很多我认为他们不愿意做的数学题. *
Birbalsingh接着说，有“研究”表明，女孩对物理的厌恶是“自然的”。, 和 that she believes there are “no external factors” at her own school.
*数学A级课程的女生比例逐年下降, mirroring the decline in the numbers of boys (明智的,2019)
The 百乐博app下载’s (BSA) 响应
The BSA wants 科学 to be more representative of society. 我们认为，做出使长期存在的成见永久化的断言, such as those made to the STC inquiry, 是否具有破坏性且未能解决导致当今妇女和女童在科学领域长期代表性不足的系统性问题.
在英国，少于 23% of the students awarded a physics A Level 我们都是女孩 27%的STEM劳动力 是女性. 比较:
证据表明，更好的表现是可能的，而且男孩学习科学并不比女孩多的“自然”倾向. Barriers to 科学 in the UK have made it systemically inequitable.
Through providing the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Diversity & 包含(D&我在干), BSA已经看到了明确的证据，表明STEM教育中的不平等现象在劳动力中普遍存在, 创造不欢迎包括女性在内的少数群体的环境. 一个阻碍了很大一部分人口的劳动力，将不会像其他能够吸引多样化人才的劳动力那样具有竞争力或创新性.
包容 starts at an early age 和 the education system has a vital role to play; schools' role in GCSE options selection in particular is leading to inequity, especially in the most disadvantaged areas.
包容ary practices should therefore be implemented early on, challenging beliefs such as “physics is for boys”, 释放孩子们的潜力，确保他们的抱负不受社会限制.
In the report on inequity in STEM education, APPG on D&我在STEM中建议，应该采取措施确保所有的教学方法和资源都是广泛和包容的. This refers to the knowledge 和 practices they represent, 和 that they do not reproduce normative ideas of who does STEM. 目前已经有一系列广泛的干预措施寻求解决STEM教育中的公平问题, but for many there is a need for consistency, better targeting 和 better evaluation of the results.
希瑟王博士, 教育副总裁 在BSA说:
据报道，更多的男孩比女孩被父母和老师鼓励学习数学和物理, 这凸显了科学学科的性别划分在我们的社会中是多么普遍和根深蒂固.
“学龄女孩还表示对自己的数学和物理能力缺乏信心, despite their teachers viewing them just as capable. This demonstrates systemic problems in the design of curricula, 用学校的科学和公认的谁能而且应该“做”科学的信念来评估.
“要创造支持和培养各种背景的学习者的学习环境，还需要做更多的工作, 不仅为更包容的劳动力铺平道路，而且确保社会中的每个人都有权以自己的方式参与STEM.”
BSA前首席执行官凯瑟琳·马蒂森(Katherine Mathieson)也为调查提供了证据.
Read more about the BSA’s testimony at the Diversity in STEM inquiry