Careers in Science and Technology An International Perspective (1995) / Chapter Skim
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PART III ANALYZING TRENDS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CAREERS ...
PART III ANALYZING TRENDS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CAREERS ...
Pages 77-132
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From page 77... ...
PART III Analyzing Trends in Science and TecbDology Careers Factors DetermiDiDg Choice
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Science and Technology Careers: Individual and Societal Factors Determining Choice by Thomas Whiston and Factors Behind Choice of Advanced Studies and Careers in Science and Technology by Torsten Husen probe the factors influencing an individual's decision to pursue scientific and technical studies and to continue on to a career in science and technology. 79 Factors Influencing Choice What are the factors influencing a man or woman to pursue studies in science and technology?
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5. Career Prospects Science and technology curricula are perceived as narrow, and thereby limiting career flexibility.
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Our questions still outnumber our answers. More research is needed to address the challenges nations around the world are facing when and how to best intervene in the process to maximize influencing the educational and career choice of individuals to ensure we have a highly skilled scientific and technical workforce to face the challenges of today and bring us into the future.
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Career was determined by contemporary factors (at the point of, or close to, graduation) such as economic conditions, relative proportion of job openings, and perceived career prospects.
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maximum and stimulatory information regarding the positive contributions that S&T makes in all walks of life to encourage the view that S&T can be a warm subject, motivating and personally involving; and encourage industrial/academic crossover and wider societal input into syllabus and organizational structure, staff exchange, and challenging field projects at all levels of the educative process, again with an enabling and motivating purpose in mind. In short, the aim is to maximize fluidity and flexibility in an organizational sense, while fostering latent ability into shaped performance and interest.
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Many studies testify to the difficulties of such human resource or manpower planning. There are, in free market economies, numerous obvious difficulties.
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In order to do the latter, we need to consider the factors influencing choice, the shaping and development of scientific personnel in a systematic way. It is to that process that we now turn.
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. Decision as lo ``hclller lo colllinuc witl tScicllcc Link bcl`'ccll dcgrcc and l;llcr career prospects_ CAREERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ciencies, insufficiency of resource-support, or grossly poor tuition occurs at an early stage, it is less likely that a student will progress into further or higher education in that area.
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They may be of a broad socioeconomic nature that influences the general span of occupations available, the degree to which the student has enjoyed or been stimulated by his university instruction and experience, the specificity of linkage between the study period to date and subsequent occupational opportunities, the perceived images of career progression possibilities, the extent to which latent ability (in science) has flowered or withered, economic considerations, supply-demand considerations, etc.
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Similarly, the actual and perceived opportunity for academic S&T careers fluctuates over the years as do relative rates of pay and career progression opportunities. Thus, there 88 is not a social constancy in relation to the decision or choice procedure.
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. Based upon detailed interviews, the paper "explores first-year university and polytechnic students' attitudes to degrees and careers in S&T and the factors influencing their choices to pursue S&T or turn to alternative non-S&T areas.
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Vocational Awareness and Vocational Flexibility Fuller posits, "In thinking about S&T skill shortages in industry it was interesting to discover at what point student's awareness of vocational options started to impinge on choices." Responses indicated that at 14-16 years old, decisions were not careerdriven. At 18 it was a greater factor, but enjoyment and academic success were still the dominating factors not an assessment of "opportunity structures within the labor market." But students tried to keep options open (vocational flexibility)
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At the postgraduate level, such programs as the Teaching Company Scheme and the CASE Awards have equal importance at the research level.) Career prospects have also to be viewed across a wider horizon.
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CAREERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATlOlIAL PERSPECTIVE 00 90 80 To 60 so ~ 40 C) so 2n SOURCE: Eurostat, 1992.
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. of ~ 1 t7 'old ,, ~// ~r ~ r 30 40 50' 60 Proportion of UK labour force in industry FIGURE 7 First destination of university graduates: industry.
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FIGURE 8 First destinations of university graduates: industry.
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THOMAS WHISTON 12 11 10 9 8 be ~7 0 D" s 4 3 2 _ /\N |Social Science ~'is / - Art5 A_ ~ \~` o' O\ \~+ ~ \/ \4-~ Science °\0/°~/~.~ i2 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 Year SOURCE: Bee and Dolton, 1990. FIGURE 10 Public service: percentage by faculty (1962-19871.
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In their text Degrees of Success: Career Aspirations and Destin~ns of College, University, and Polytechnic Graduates, they examine qualifications and career aspirations, early destinations, career opportunities and prospects, realization of aspirations, level of income factors, and retrospective evaluation of degrees. In terms of aspiration and career they note, inter alla, the data indicated in Tables 1 and 2.
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CAREERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Degrees Awarded 1986 (as % of age group)
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Rally Score A job that gives me good long-term career opportunities A high future salary The opportunity to be creative and original The opportunity to use knowledge gained on my degree course A job with a lot of responsibility A suitable geographical location A job that will give me the opportunity for rapid promotion The opportunity to use the skills I acquired on my degree course Long-term job security Work in which I'm independent of supervision A job with flexible working hours A job with good fringe benefits The opportunity to travel and work overseas A job in which I will work as part of a team A job that is concerned with helping others A career that will allow me to move from job to job A high starting salary A job with social prestige and status A job with a good pension plan A job in industry Probability of eventual self-employment Work that will be mainly out-of-doors SOURCE: Boys and Kirkland, 1988.
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A high score goes to good career prospects; they want a job to have a series of opening doors. Career advisory staff have a large influence on influencing career choice.
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~ a' no ~ · - ~ a- lo- Atto to ~t to to ~l to to toAt to A At A u%' ~.
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Primary Schools Excellent 6 5 10 0 Good 7 13 21 15 Indifferent 13 14 21 23 Poor 13 7 12 12 Non-existent 54 54 27 38 Not answered 8 7 9 12 Secondary Schools Excellent 17 19 33 0 Good 61 44 53 65 Indifferent 13 13 9 12 Poor 3 6 0 4 Non-existent 3 14 2 12 Not answered 4 3 2 8 FE and 6th From Colleges Excellent 17 16 30 4 Good 44 37 40 46 Indifferent 17 17 16 19 Poor 4 4 1 12 Non-existent 8 18 7 12 Not answered 10 8 6 8 Uni and Poly Departments Excellent 1 14 23 15 Good 26 35 56 77 Indifferent 15 16 15 42 Poor 17 9 0 0 Non-existent 31 22 5 0 Not answered 10 3 1 4 Uni and Poly Careers Service Excellent 0 4 11 19 Good 14 19 49 58 Indifferent 11 19 23 15 Poor 17 9 5 4 Non-existent 46 41 7 0 Not answered 13 9 4 4 LA Careers Service Excellent 39 7 15 0 Good 50 29 44 38 Indifferent 8 22 21 31 Poor 1 13 15 4 Non-existent 0 22 4 19 Not answered 1 7 1 8 N= 72 209 81 26 SOURCE: Connor, 1992.
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As we noted earlier in this paper, individual freedom of choice is a paramount concern in a free market economy. Success is therefore variable.
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IV Continuation Level Transfer and reorientation program Integrated Graduate Development program Flexible reentry program Modular retraining program Level or Area of Application Direct or Indirect Effect (D, I) D D D D D D D D D D I, D I, D D I, D D D D D D Infrastructural Level Increased resource to Academe Increased research facilities Distance Learning programs Involvement in Science Parks Industrial-Academe Campus Linkage Opening Windows for Engineering Neighborhood Engineers schemes Young Engineer for Britain Local Career Exhibitions, National Exhibitions SCIP Insight into Industry VI Demographic or Sociocultural Level Awareness and understanding of Science programs Programs specifically geared to increasing women's participation (NNISE)
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For example, who can say, at present, whether resource allocation should be primarily directed at the early stages of the educational process, or at later stages? How can we measure policy efficiency and effectiveness?
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levels, such EC programs as Erasmus or Comett are of much importance and relevance. The principal aims of Erasmus are "to increase the number of students spending a period of study in another member state, to foster cooperation among universities in all member states, and to increase the mobility of teaching staff and thus improve the quality of education and training provided." With respect to Comett, "the objective is to improve technological training, especially in the advanced technologies, the development of highly qualified human resources and hence the competitiveness of European industry." The program comprises three elements: (1)
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Many projects were identified that would not have been undertaken without some EC sponsorship. The quantitative effect in terms of later career uptake (or attend career aspirations)
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Provide a fully developed systems model or assessment of He whole educative process in order to guide the relative weighing, importance, and role of each of the present separate policies that obtain at each phase of the educational process. (This is an economic, strategic, evaluatory, and sociotechnical task.)
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(1969) , Future Trends in Science Education, Education in Chemistry 6~4)
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219 IMS University of Sussex. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Washington, D.C.
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1981. The missing half - girls and science education.
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IMS Report No. 193, IMS University of Sussex.
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1969. Future trends in science education.
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In our highly complex, technological society we need to recognize the strong motivating effect of the growing concern of the ecological and social effects of applied sciences and how they affect the public image of science and its uses. Thus, science education reaches far beyond the pedagogical problem of what abilities are needed, what specific competencies should be taught to young people, and what standard of knowledge should be achieved.
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ATTEMPI S TO PROVIDE E1\IPIRICAL EVIDENCE The factors influencing science achievements and aspirations to pursue careers in science shall be elucidated by drawing upon existing empirical data, most of which comes from the IEA cross-national surveys. I do not pretend to present a complete, comprehensive, state-of-the-art picture of the research on what makes young people opt for or not opt for advanced studies and courses in science and technology.
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On the positive side, we consistently find Hungary (far above the other countries) , and, on the negative side, the Netherlands, Sweden, England, and India, strangely enough, among those also taking science in the last grade of secondary schooling.
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17 Chile 13 W Germany .06 Australia .01 USA INTERNATIONAL MEAN SCORE 50% -.16 W
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The polarization of students in England and Australia into science and non-science-oriented courses during the last few grades explains the drop of career interest in these countries. The relatively low interest of Japanese students at the secondary level in science careers may seem puzzling; however, one important explanation could be that the proportion of an age group entering advanced science programs at the tertiary level is by far much lower in Japan than in all the other highly industrialized countries.
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~' . 60 5 20 1~ -10-20 -so- _ so Non-harmfd1 Aspects of Science Notes: Attitude scale scores range from -100 to +100 l~year~ld level - 14-yearmld level -- - - Upper secondary level O no data available
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CAREER IMPLICATIONS OF SEX DIFFERENCES IN SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENTS AND ATTITUDES TO SCIENCE DEA SURVEYS) The sex differences in secondary school science participation, science achievements, and attitudes were studied in-depth by both of the international surveys on science education in 1970 (Combes and Keeves, 1973; Kelly, 1978)
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x 100 pooled standard deviation across counmes FIGURE 3 Sex differences in science scores and subscores at different ages, 1970-1971 and 1983-1984. Australia United States Thailand / , ; ; Finland Sweden :\ Hungary Japan Italy SOURCE: Keeves, 1992.
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The ratio of male to female students in academic programs in the upper secondary level in Finland and Hungary, for instance, decreased from 0.8 to 0.6 and from 0.8 to 0.6, respectively. It was found that sex differences in attitudes toward science increase with age, a phenomenon parallel to that in achievement.
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The largest sex differences were found in Japan, which also had the lowest enrollment in science at the tertiary level of all the countries in the first IEA survey of girls. On the whole, the largest differences in motivational orientation were found in technologically developed countries, such as Japan, the United States, and Sweden.
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The yielding interest in scientific careers may be an outcome of an ongoing silent revolution. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS Factors influencing science achievement, attitudinal and motivational orientation toward science, and, in the long run, propensity to embark upon careers in science are many and operate in an intricate interplay with each other.
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1978. Girls and Science: An International Study of Sex Differences in School Science Achievements.
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127 Factors Behind Choice of Advanced Studies and Careers in Science and Technology: A Synthesis of Research in Science Education by Torsten Husen, University of Stockholm The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) cross-national surveys in mathematics and science, referred to in Husen's paper, provide a unique and invaluable source of data on young people's attitudes toward science.
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Of interest are the large sex differences Husen discusses with regard to participation in the three main subfields: biology, chemistry, and physics (see Figure 4 in Husen's papery. For example, males favor physics and females consistently favor the biological sciences; in fact, they enroll in them increasingly from the preuniversity level to the Ph.D.
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Science and Technology Careers: Individual and Societal Factors Determining Choice by Thomas Whiston, University of Sussex Whiston is thorough in his inclusion of a considerable amount of data from a number of studies in his discussion of individual and societal factors in S&T career choice. Perhaps it is that the subject is too broad and/or that the available research is actually not focused sufficiently at any rate, one is left with the feeling that very little can be said conclusively about career choices, save that many things affect them, which Whiston does say.
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Our youth and their talents cannot be treated as commodities in a free market economy if we wish to have them take education seriously, and this includes science education. Measures that will guarantee at least entry-level employment need to be taken; and if nations and corporations are so convinced that they need more skilled manpower, they must structure their occupational worlds to accommodate it.
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Supporting this is the Boyd and Kirkland data in which "a job that gives me good long-term career opportunities" was the number one choice factor, with "a high future salary" being a close second. "The opportunity to be creative and original" did come in third, due largely to its importance to non-scie)
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However, along that highway there are many intervention points, and few would argue that they shouldn't be taken advantage of and that the highway itself is venously in need of repair, upgrading, re-routing, and access ramps for those who have had unequal opportunity to use it. But if S&T careers are not in fact good places for long-term, reasonably rewarded employment, then even the best science education system will not produce new entrants into S&T careers.
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