Research into whether gendered beliefs about intellectual abilities transmit through peers and impact girls’ academic performance relative to boys’. The findings highlight how the prevalence of stereotypical beliefs, in a person’s ambient and peer environment, can shape their belief and academic ability – even when those stereotypes can be readily contradicted.

Following on from the Gender Literature Review, this report includes case studies of schools that have been successful in increasing girls participation at A level. The strategies they use are compared with the five factors that are known to affect students’ intentions to continue with maths and recommendations given.

This research tests the effectiveness of interventions based on behavioural insights theory, with the aim of increasing the number of high-achieving female students choosing STEM subjects at A Level. The principle mechanism was improving perceptions of the utility of STEM subjects. The secondary mechanism was designed to improve students’ self-concept and expectations of success in STEM.

Longitudinal research project studying young people’s science and career aspirations.
The first phase of the ASPIRES study tracked the development of young people’s science and career aspirations from age 10 to 14 (from 2009 to 2013).
ASPIRES 2 continued to track young people until age 19, to understand the changing influences of the family, school, careers education and social identities and inequalities on young people’s science and career aspirations.
The third stage of the research, ASPIRES 3, continued to track the young people as they move into adulthood and employment, from age 20 to 23.
ASPIRES 3 Summary report for mathematics identifies six main recommendations for policymakers and practitioners who want to support increased and more diverse participation in mathematics specifically, and STEM more generally.

A Report for the Joint Mathematical Council of the United Kingdom

There is persistent evidence that the UK has an inadequate ‘pipeline’ to the mathematics needed for personal and societal thriving. Also, participation in that pipeline post-16 is significantly skewed towards males. This short report gives some key findings and recommendations that are particularly useful with regards to encouraging participation in mathematics beyond GCSE level.

The paper analyses pupils’ mathematical beliefs about themselves, and beliefs about achievement in maths. Pupils’ beliefs about themselves as learners of maths are strongly connected with their general attitudes toward maths and their success in the subject.

Self-concept is formed through experience and interpretations of one’s environment as it regards feelings of self-confidence, competence, and ability. The external frame of reference is guided by a social comparison of one’s own achievements with those of peers. The internal frame of reference is guided by a comparison with abilities in other subjects. Students with the higher academic self-concept will advance in their achievements over the course of time while the others will lag.

Confidence assessment (CA), in which students state alongside each of their answers a confidence level expressing how certain they are, has been employed successfully within higher education. This study explores CA with secondary pupils and the connection between confidence and competence.