Ethnic Groups in the Physical Sciences

The report, Representation of Ethnic Groups in Chemistry and Physics, presents a statistical picture of the progress of English and Welsh students from different ethnic groups through the various stages of the educational system into university chemistry and physics courses. 

The study, carried out by a team at Warwick University, sought to understand why and at what stage different ethnic groups leave academic chemistry and physics. Students may discontinue the study of chemistry or physics either voluntarily (choosing not to study these subjects although qualified to do so) or involuntarily (failure to achieve the necessary pre-requisite qualifications to continue). 

The study used three main data sources: data collected via the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) National Curriculum Assessment; the Youth Cohort Study (YCS) of England and Wales – a survey of young people’s education and labour market experience following completion of compulsory education (also collected for the DfES) and data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) the central source for higher education statistics.

The first hurdle

The first hurdle that students must jump over to make further educational progress is the achievement of five GCSEs at grade A* to C. The data shows that there are notable differences in achievement at GCSE by ethnic groups. Chinese and Indian pupils perform best, followed by white pupils, whilst children from black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds perform less well. 

The consequence of this for the physical sciences is that a significant drop-out of ethnic minority groups takes place at this very early stage. Many black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students fall at this first hurdle, often before students have the opportunity to specialize in chemistry or physics. 

In effect, this early drop-out leaves a smaller pool of students from these populations that are qualified for further study. With a smaller pool available to make subject choices later on in their educational career it is not surprising such groups are underrepresented at higher levels relative to their population sizes.

A level

Looking only at students who start with at least five GCSE grade A* to C passes, all ethnic minority groups, except black Caribbean students, are more likely than their white counterparts to study and pass an A-level in chemistry.

A comparison of physics and chemistry shows that with the exception of white and Chinese students, other ethnic groups are significantly less likely to achieve an A-level in physics than chemistry. This may well be linked to the number of students taking chemistry to satisfy the university entrance requirements for medicine. 

Going to university

Students belonging to some ethnic groups are much more likely to go to university than white students.  For example, Indian students are almost twice as likely to study for a degree as white students. This makes a comparison of the popularity of different degree subjects with ethnic minority students difficult to interpret. The most useful comparisons are made between the university populations alone.

There is evidence of systematic differences in the undergraduate subjects chosen by ethnic groups. In comparison to their numbers in the overall undergraduate population, ethnic minority groups are over represented in chemistry (with the exception of black Caribbean students). 

Comparing disciplines

Chemistry is in fact unusual amongst the traditional science subjects in being more popular amongst ethnic minority students than white students relative to their population sizes. Overall within science, engineering and technology (SET), traditional areas such as the physical sciences, the biological sciences and mathematics, are less popular amongst ethnic minority groups than white students. In contrast ethnic minority groups tend to strongly favor courses in information, communication and technology (ICT) and computer science, compared with their white counterparts.

Medicine and vocational subjects

Outside science, a very strong bias towards medicine and related subjects is found amongst  non-white groups, especially amongst ethnic Asian students. This is in line with the earlier observation that chemistry is a popular A-level subject amongst ethnic minority groups as it is a pre-requisite for medicine. 

In particular, medicine, dentistry, pharmacology and ophthalmic all attract very high numbers of Indian and Pakistani students relative to their numbers in the undergraduate population as a whole. In addition, it is found that ethnic minority groups generally show a preference towards other vocational subjects such as business and administration or law. 

Black Caribbean students, however, are different to most ethnic minority groups, showing a general preference for arts, social sciences and humanities subjects.

Degree success

The study identifies key differences between ethnic groups’ achievements in chemistry and physics in higher education. Success at first degree level is key to career decisions made after this stage, for example whether to continue with postgraduate study.

There is strong evidence of significantly different patterns of achievement in chemistry and physics by ethnic group.  White students have much higher rates of success in terms of achieving a first or upper second degree (taken as the normal qualifying standard for undertaking further study), and hence are in a better position to access postgraduate chemistry, physics or related science courses. 

The differential in achievement of non-white students is found not only in chemistry and physics, but across most subject areas. There is research evidence1 that  most of this differential achievement can be explained by subject choice, as a lower proportion of students gain first or upper second class degrees in medicine and science. Also because a larger proportion of the ethnic minority population undertake degree courses, a wider range of abilities is represented with relatively more students from the weaker end of the spectrum included - leading to lower average grades.

Postgraduate study

Amongst the students who do achieve high standards at undergraduate level, ethnic minority students are less inclined to go on to take a PhD in chemistry or physics than their white counterparts. 

Interestingly whilst ethnic minority graduates drift away from chemistry and physics, they are significantly more likely to go on to some sort of further study than their white counterparts. These students are studying subjects outside chemistry and physics at postgraduate level – perhaps in more vocational areas.

Ethnicity and gender

As well as the ethnic differences already described, there is a recurring theme of gender throughout the RSC/IOP report. Physics is in particular male dominated and to a lesser extent so is chemistry. 

Moreover, the pattern of attrition is such that in moving along the educational pipeline the majority white male group has higher retention rates compared to other groups and therefore becomes an increasingly larger majority in the later stages – in terms of actual numbers and as a proportion of the initial pre-GCSE populations. 

Culture or socio-economics?

Not all the differences described in the study can be attributed entirely to the different choices various ethnic groups make. Different ethnic groups have different socio-economic profiles and consequently the study is not able to say categorically whether the differences observed are due to ethnic differences per se, or whether socio-economic factors play a part. Continuing research needs to look at the socio-economic make up of different ethnic groups and the effects of socio-economics on educational achievement. 

Nonetheless, it is clear that ethnicity is correlated with the progress of different groups along the educational pipeline in chemistry and physics. In addressing these differences the challenge for policy makers is to recognize the diversity of influences likely to be at work and design policies which, regardless of color, race and culture, will work to increase opportunities for underrepresented minorities.

The message for chemistry

On the other hand, the message for the chemistry community is that students from a number of ethnic minority groups are more likely to achieve the qualifications to study chemistry at university than their white counterparts. 

The problem is in keeping talented ethnic minority students interested in pursuing further study to develop an academic or industrial career in chemistry. We must work to persuade these students, and their families, that studying chemistry leads to a variety of interesting and rewarding careers.  

References

1   Leslie, D., Why people from the UK’s minority ethnic communities achieve weaker degree results than whites. Applied Economics 37, 619-632 (2005).