Education & Employers Research Digest
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Education and Employers
Research Digest - November 2023
Full summaries of all publications contained in the Digest are available by clicking the link embedded titles.
We are always looking to promote the work of others in related fields. To share your publications, conferences, events, or blog posts with our network please email: research@educationandemployers.org
In case you haven’t seen it, our free, searchable online library of research from around the world is available here: Research library
Publications
The futures we build: abilities and competencies for the future of education and work
UNESCO
The report answers questions that are relevant and have consequences in the teaching world as well as for the education decision-makers, human resources executives, and young people who will inhabit the future. The report generates and share a synthesis of the main lessons obtained from this analysis, something that has echoed in deferent reports.
Promoting gender equity in and through education
Alejandra Mizala, Catalina Canals, and Lorena Ortega36
The report focuses on three bodies of literature, deriving nine principles for educators. It delves into the relevance of teachers’ expectations, practices, and interactions, highlighting how teachers can challenge gender bias and stereotypes in the classroom. Second, it summarizes the evidence on gender gaps in educational achievement in competitive and noncompetitive standardised tests, informing how stereotype threat and other gender disparities (i.e., in risk-aversion, self-confidence, response in time-constrained environments, and willingness to compete) affect the performance of boys and girls. We also identify school and teaching practices that can contribute to reducing these gaps. Third it focuses on gender segregation across fields of study by reviewing evidence on gendered patterns of upper-secondary school specialisation and university-major choices, and on the social mechanisms that drive them.
Post 18 opportunities and aspirations
James Yarde, Xin Shao, Jake Anders, Carl Cullinane, Erica Holt-White, Kevin Latham & Rebecca Montacute
This report examined the education and career plans of the COSMO cohort when they were in Year 12 (aged 16-17).1 A key finding from this analysis was that over three in five young people changed their education or career plans due to the pandemic. Following this group into Wave 2 of the study, we are now in a position to say more about what the repercussions of this have been. For some, the education and career pathways set upon last year will have remained on course; for others, instabilities in their lives precipitated by the pandemic may have resulted in further change – above and beyond what they reported in Year 12.
Requires improvement: urgent change for 11–16 education
Authority of House of Lords
The report indicates that 11–16 phase of education is a crucial stage in a young person’s life. The inquiry focused on whether the current system effectively equips
young people with the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to progress to
the next phase of their education, and to flourish in the future. The Committee received extensive evidence about the 11–16 system in England from pupils, teachers, school leaders, academics, exam boards, trade unions and
subject associations, among others. The evidence left us in no doubt of the need
for urgent action. Our conclusions recognise that the 11–16 curriculum must be
revised to incorporate a greater emphasis on technical, digital and creative areas
of study.
ASPIRES 3: Young People’s STEM Trajectories, Age 10-22
Archer, L., DeWitt, J., Godec, S., Henderson, M., Holmegaard, H., Liu, Q., MacLeod, E., Mendick, H., Moote, J. and Watson E
This report shares evidence from the ASPIRES research project, a fourteen-year, mixed methods investigation of the factors shaping young people’s trajectories into, through and out of STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The study collected survey data from over 47,000 young people and conducted over 760 qualitative interviews with a longitudinal sample, which tracked 50 young people (and their parents/carers) between the ages of 10 and 22.
Comments
Nicholas Bowman, Christine Logel, Jennifer Lacosse, Elizabeth A. Canning, Katherine T. U. Emerson, & Mary C. Murphy
Mabel Martinez, Diego Angel-Urdinola, Gemma Rodon, & Juanita Caycedo
Nobuyuki Tanaka, Diego Angel-Urdinola, & Gemma Rodon
What makes students curious about science?
Chris Reid
Notice
Children in the UK, Canada, China, Denmark, and South Africa were all asked to draw pictures of people doing typical jobs and the film captures what they draw…revealing their astonished reactions when they meet the people who do those jobs in real life!
CLICK ON IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
The new video is a global version, based on the original ‘Redraw the Balance’ UK version, which the Education and Employers charity published to mark International Women’s Day in 2016. Kindly made by Mullen Lowe, it showed 66 children aged five to seven drawing a picture of a firefighter, a surgeon, and a fighter pilot. 61 children drew these roles as men, only five drew women…
Event
We believe no child should be constrained by stereotypes or the expectations of others. We know that if young people hear firsthand about the world of work, they work harder, get better grades and are more likely to break down barriers.
They should have the chance to start as early as possible, and that is why we launched the national I am #InspiringTheFuture campaign.
Any views expressed in the publications featured in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Education and Employers.
