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Not so much a problem but an opportunity!
Friday 5 October 2012
Categories: Careers, Girls' schools, Media Influence, Role Models, Science
Here’s a way for your daughter to get ahead – study Physics. Then she’ll be one of a precious few women with the specialist knowledge and understanding of this fascinating world. In a very few years, there will be employers begging to employ female scientists and physicists.
Why? Because research shows just how few are taking up the subject – in half of the UK’s state co-ed schools not a single girl took A Level physics in 2011. Mind you, the picture is very different in girls’ only schools where they are two-and-a-half times more likely continue studying Physics into the sixth form. And in girls’ independent schools girls get the true picture –that yes, physics is intellectually challenging, but it is exciting and rewarding, and not just financially.
The media has cottoned onto the fact that Physics can be a “sexy” subject. There have been several TV series on astronomy together with an ongoing stream of news of the Hadron Collider and the latest Mars mission. And former boy band member Sir Brian Cox has helped to bring glamour to the subject! It’s time for our daughters to get stuck in and reap the rewards.
The trick to succeeding in this world is not to do what everyone else does but to stand out from the crowd. To be different, to be special. And now this opportunity has come about because too many co-ed schools present Physics study as a male domain.
This is your opportunity, girls!
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Girls’ Physics Stereotype Doesn’t Exist at Our School
This week we have been told that girls are not studying Physics and it remains an area dominated by boys. The fact that 49% of state co-educational schools in England did not send any girls to study Physics at A Level in 2011 is an appalling and depressing statistic.
Girls are two and a half times more likely to go on to study A Level Physics if they come from a girls’ school, according to the Institute of Physics’ (IOP) study released this week. At Burgess Hill School for Girls we are proud to say that Physics is thriving.
The Physics IGCSE results this summer saw 91% of the girls achieve A* to A grades and a 100% pass rate at grades A* to B. Almost a quarter of our current Lower Sixth are studying Physics at AS Level this year and a third of our A Level entries over the last 10 years have been in the STEM subjects (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Technology).
The news that girls do not take up Physics is nothing new. I was very much in the minority when I was at school and university; in fact there were only two girls on my degree course and I was the only female on my PCCE Physics course. What I believe to be important is the teaching. I was very much inspired by my Physics teachers, the lessons were fun, we not only learnt new things but we enjoyed going to the lessons and this is something which I try to bring to my teaching. If I had not had such good teachers I probably would not have opted to study Physics and would not be a Physics teacher today. The fact that many schools find it difficult, and in some areas, impossible to find good quality Physics teachers is inevitably going to impact on students and unfortunately the shortage of highly qualified, specialist teachers is not going to go away in the near future.
We offer an environment in which every girl can achieve her best in every subject. There are no taboo subjects, it is not seen as ‘uncool’ to want to study Science or Mathematics and the fact that they are taught by specialist teachers from Year 8 upwards means that they can be inspired and want to take the subject further.
At the end of the day, my biggest achievement is not necessarily the girl who obtains the top grade, although this is of course rewarding, I count some of my biggest achievements as inspiring girls to want to study Physics at A Level purely because they enjoy it.
Sandra Marsh,
Head of Physics at Burgess Hill School for Girls
Interestingly, I am considering studying this subject for my Masters dissertation in Education Studies.
TISME report that those girls who are more competitive are more likely to consider both Maths and Physics A level. Whilst I have both taught in girls schools and my daughter attends an independent girls’ school, the vast majority of girls attend co-educational schools. As both articles point out, the statistics are damning at present. Perhaps with the review of A levels, the DoE and Universities will look at this issue as well; it is too good an opportunity to miss to redress the balances….