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By Diane Hofkins.

These subjects lead to good careers, but even many talented students aren鈥檛 interested. How can we get more young people to embrace physics and maths?

Britain needs scientists and engineers in order to compete on the economic world stage and to have a vibrant scientific life at home. Yet there are not enough young people studying mathematics and physics to advanced levels to meet industry鈥檚 needs or to teach the next generation.

Most qualified students drop these subjects when they become optional at 16. In 2010, physics entries only constituted 3.6% of the entire cohort sitting A levels. If parents and teachers are to encourage more young people to study physics and maths to an advanced level, we need to ask a key question:听what motivates those students who do study these subjects at A-level and at university to do so?听

IOE researchers from the听Understanding Participation rates in post-16 Mathematics And Physics (UPMAP)听project conducted a three-year project to find out.

For example, university physics student Benjamin told the researchers: 鈥淢y Grampa, he helped a lot because when I went to visit him in Spain we went for a walk and he was telling me about the stars and about the earth rotating and it鈥檚 all these new things, it was like, wow.鈥�

And Gita, another interviewee, said: 鈥淚 went to my careers advisor and I read a lot on the internet and it said that physics, it opens a lot of鈥� opportunities and stuff.鈥�

鈥淔rom a policy point of view, given that governments have little control in the short term over how parents view subjects, we stress the value of deep conceptual understanding mediated by long-term relationships with excellent teachers,鈥� say the researchers.听

They also urge policy-makers and schools to tell young people more about the potential of physics and maths to broaden their horizons and lead to exciting and lucrative careers.听

Although boys and girls study physics and maths for the same reasons, girls are less likely to continue these subjects post 16. In 2010, only 1.4% of girls sitting A levels took physics, compared with 6.2% of boys. This is despite the fact that girls do as well in the subject at 16 as boys do.

The researchers looked at the differences between boys鈥� and girls鈥� answers to questions about studying physics. Boys were more likely to identify with every positive statement. The greatest difference between boys鈥� and girls鈥� answers was to the statement 鈥淢y teacher thinks that I should continue with physics post-16鈥�. More boys also believed their teacher was good at explaining physics, had high expectations of students and was interested in them as a person.

Boys displayed more confidence about their own ability in the subject than girls did. The greatest difference between boys鈥� and girls鈥� answers to questions about their own experience with the subject was to the question, 鈥渉ow do you feel you compare with the others in your group?鈥� Boys were significantly more likely to rate themselves highly.

University physics student Eleanor, interviewed for the study, is typical in that she was encouraged by a parent and a teacher: 鈥淚 always found [physics] fascinating from an early stage, space and particle physics and I read books about it for a long time because my dad was interested in it so there was books around the house and that helped me to develop my interest鈥� 鈥� She also had a very good teacher at GCSE: 鈥淪he was very good at making it interesting, she made the lessons fun and I suppose I got on with her on a personal level鈥� and she was very encouraging鈥︹�澨�

But her A level teacher 鈥渄idn鈥檛 know my name for maybe nine months and he didn鈥檛 pay any attention鈥︹�澨� And, worryingly, at the end of her degree course, Eleanor told the interviewer that she couldn鈥檛 see continuing with physics any further. This, say the researchers, 鈥渋s an important issue with respect to the education of future scientists鈥�.

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