Blog post: ajb: Girls not taking up physics

Image: ISTOCKPHOTO/CIMMERIAN

Girls are under represented in physics post-16, despite about equal success between genders in GCSE physics and science. For the last 20 years, only 20% of physics A-level students have been girls. Have a look at the recent numbers below..

Taken from Trends in physics education

Straight from the IOP report It's Different for Girls: The influence of schools

• 
   
  
• 49% of maintained co-ed schools sent no girls on to take A-level physics in 2011. The figure for all secondary schools is 46%
  
• Girls were almost two and a half times more likely to go on to do A-level physics if they came from a girls’ school rather than a co-ed school (for all types of maintained schools in England)
  
• Twice the percentage of girls who went on to do A-level physics came from a school with a sixth form, compared to schools that only teach up to age 16 (for co-ed maintained schools in England)
  
• For maintained schools in England, the positive effect of single-sex education on girls’ choice of physics post-16 is not replicated in the other sciences
  

Professor Sir Peter Knight, President of IOP

Links

Girls are being left behind (IOP News)

Read and comment on the full post