Supporting increased and wider participation in STEM

Participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is widely recognised as being highly important for national economic competitiveness, greater upward social mobility and active citizenship. There is a strongly held belief that our future economy and workforce will need more, and more diverse, young people to continue with STEM post-16. However, despite extensive investment by governments in the cause of attracting more young people to STEM subjects and careers, patterns in participation have remained stubbornly resistant to change. The ASPIRES2 research, conducted at the UCL Institute of Education, sought to generate new understandings of how and why young people come to see science as being ‘for me’, or not, with the goal of supporting more effective approaches to increasing and widening participation in STEM. ASPIRES2, conducted 2014-2019, was a large, national mixed methods project that investigated young people’s science and career aspirations from the age of 14 through to 19. It surveyed 40,000 young people and conducted 650 in-depth interviews. The study, led by Professor Louise Archer, extended previous research, the ASPIRES project, conducted with the same cohort of young people at age 10 to 14. The study provides an authoritative source of evidence on how young people view science (and STEM) and how these views change over time. In the process, it offers valuable insights into the variety of factors that combine to shape a young person’s likelihood of pursuing science and why existing efforts to build interest have had such limited impact. Its recommendations, set out overleaf, re-frame the problem and the remedies

"Make it more relevant and practical": Young people's visions for school science in England

What do young people think about their school science experiences? What would they like to see improved? What should the curriculum cover, and how should science be taught? How can school science best prepare young people for life and the future? How could we help more young people to find school science engaging and worthwhile? There are many views on these fundamental questions. However, decisions about teaching and learning within school science have overwhelmingly been made by adult policymakers and professionals. The views of young people tend to be ignored or sidelined and are routinely absent from education policy discussions. Young people are key stakeholders within education, and their perspectives and experiences are both important and illuminating. As young people in our study explained, they wanted to be “given more of an option on what was being taught to [them]” and called for educationalists to “involve students in decision-making” to better reflect their needs and interests. In this report, we summarise new national survey and interview data from a cohort of nearly 8,000 young people aged 20-22, in which they share their vision for how school science could be improved. As a cohort who have recently left compulsory education and are now moving through further/higher education and/or entering the workforce, these young people offer an insightful and thoughtful perspective into what others might need from school science. Their views can help inform how school science might better engage young people, prepare them for active citizenship, and support wider participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). While many young people agreed that learning science is important1 , only 39% said that they had enjoyed school science and only 25% agreed that the science they learned at school has been useful in everyday life. In fact, 20% felt that school had put them off science. When asked to reflect on their school science experiences, the vast majority identified areas of improvement – only 5% said that no improvements were needed

Careers ‘from’ but not ‘in’ science: why aspirations to be a scientist are challenging for minority ethnic students?

The importance of science to the economy and for the progression of society is widely acknowledged. Yet, there are concerns that minority ethnic students in the UK are underrepresented, and even excluded, from post-compulsory science education and careers in science. Drawing on an exploratory study of 46 semi-structured interviews with British young people (aged 11-14) from Black Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Chinese ethnic backgrounds, this paper explores why careers in science are not popular aspirations among minority ethnic students, while careers from science are highly sought after. Using sociological theories of identity, this paper argues that gender and ethnic identities can operate in multifaceted ways to influence students’ careers aspirations. Being a scientist is constructed by students as a highly gendered and racialized profession, which may reflect popular discourse of scientist as typically for ‘white men’. Careers from science, particularly in medicine, appeared popular among some, but not all, minority ethnic groups, as being a medical staff is considered intrinsically and extrinsically rewarding. Implications of the findings for the science education of minority ethnic students are discussed

Investigating infection management and antimicrobial stewardship in surgery: a qualitative study from India and South Africa

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the drivers for infection management and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) across high-infection-risk surgical pathways. METHODS: A qualitative study—ethnographic observation of clinical practices, patient case studies, and face-to-face interviews with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients—was conducted across cardiovascular and thoracic and gastrointestinal surgical pathways in South Africa (SA) and India. Aided by Nvivo 11 software, data were coded and analysed until saturation was reached. The multiple modes of enquiry enabled cross-validation and triangulation of findings. RESULTS: Between July 2018 and August 2019, data were gathered from 190 hours of non-participant observations (138 India, 72 SA), interviews with HCPs (44 India, 61 SA), patients (six India, eight SA), and case studies (four India, two SA). Across the surgical pathway, multiple barriers impede effective infection management and AMS. The existing implicit roles of HCPs (including nurses and senior surgeons) are overlooked as interventions target junior doctors, bypassing the opportunity for integrating infection-related care across the surgical team. Critically, the ownership of decisions remains with the operating surgeons, and entrenched hierarchies restrict the inclusion of other HCPs in decision-making. The structural foundations to enable staff to change their behaviours and participate in infection-related surgical care are lacking. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying the implicit existing HCP roles in infection management is critical and will facilitate the development of effective and transparent processes across the surgical team for optimized care. Applying a framework approach that includes nurse leadership, empowering pharmacists and engaging surgical leads, is essential for integrated AMS and infection-related care

The elephant in the room: Exploring the influence and participation of patients in infection-related care across surgical pathways in South Africa and India

Data availability statement: Data on which this publication is based are available via a secure server. Access to the data can be provided upon reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Objective: The irrational use of antibiotics is a leading contributor to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic stewardship (AS) interventions predominantly focus on prescribers. This study investigated the influence and participation of inpatients in infection-related care, including antibiotic decision-making, within and across two tertiary hospitals in South Africa (Cape Town) and India (Kerala). Methods: Through ethnographic enquiry of clinical practice in surgical pathways, including direct nonparticipant observation of clinical practices, healthcare worker (HCW), patient and carer interactions in surgical ward rounds and face-to-face interviews with participants (HCWs and patients), we sought to capture the implicit and explicit influence that patients and carers have in infection-related care. Field notes and interview transcripts were thematically coded, aided by NVivo 12® Pro software. Results: Whilst observational data revealed the nuanced roles that patients/carers play in antibiotic decision-making, HCWs did not recognize these roles. Patients and carers, though invested in patient care, are not routinely involved, nor are they aware of the opportunities for engagement in infection-related decision-making. Patients associated clinical improvement with antibiotic use and did not consider hospitalization to be associated with infection acquisition or transmission, highlighting a lack of understanding of the threat of infection and antibiotic resistance. Patients' economic and cultural positionalities may influence their infection-related behaviours. In the study site in India, cultural norms mean that carers play widespread but unrecognized roles in inpatient care, participating in infection prevention activities. Conclusion: For patients to have a valuable role in AS and make informed decisions regarding their infection-related care, a mutual understanding of their role in this process among HCWs and patients is crucial. The observed differences between the two study sites indicate the critical need for understanding and addressing the contextual drivers that impact effective patient-centred healthcare delivery. Patient or Public Contribution: Ethnographic observations and interviews conducted in this study involved patients as participants. Patients were recruited for interviews after obtaining signed informed consent forms. Patients' identities were completely anonymized when presenting the study findings.Economic and Social Research Council. Grant Number: ES/P008313/1

Investigating infection management and antimicrobial stewardship in surgery: a qualitative study from India and South Africa

Appendix A. Supplementary data: The following is the Supplementary data to this article: Multimedia component 1. Avalable online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1198743X20307734#appsec1 .This work was supported by the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research, UK Department of Health (HPRU-2012-10047) in partnership with Public Health England. This study is part of the ASPIRES project (Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways—Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems) (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/arc/aspires/). ASPIRES aims to address antimicrobial resistance and improve clinical outcomes optimizing antibiotic usage along surgical pathways. The support of ESRC as part of the Antimicrobial Cross Council initiative supported by the seven UK research councils, and also the support of the Global Challenges Research Fund, is gratefully acknowledged

Policy Reform Brief s No 3 December 2016 INNOVATION LAB FOR FOOD SECURITY POLICY TANZANIA Agricultural Sector Policy and Institutional Reform Strengthening (ASPIRES) ASPIRES SUPPORT TOWARDS THE ES TABLISHING OF A MARKET INTELLIGENCE UNIT (MIU)

Tanzania has been food self-sufficient in staples such as maize and rice in normal years. However, reoccurring draughts in cycles of about 7-10 years have resulted in occasional food shortages. In recent years, the predictability of food availability has become more complex because of climate change leading to draughts and floods, often associated with El Nino and La Nina, respectively. Also, as markets become more regionally integrate d (through EAC or SADC), price shocks arising from food deficit in neighboring countries could be transmitted to Tanzanian markets. The Government of Tanzania has been responding to food price increase by releasing food stocks from National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) or by restricting food trade