Last month we attended the book launch of our former colleague Dr. Billy Wong, who was a Research Associate on the first phase of our study. Billy now lectures in Education Studies at the University of Roehampton and has published in science education and sociology of education journals.

His book, Science Education, Career Aspirations and Minority Ethnic Students, builds on his work on both the ASPIRES and Enterprising Science projects at King’s College London by exploring the science career aspirations of minority ethnic students. It investigates the views, experiences and identities of British Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani youths in relation to science.

Order Billy’s book here.

Follow Billy on twitter.

— Emily MacLeod

Last month we launched the first of our Project Spotlight reports; ASPIRES 2 Project Spotlight: Year 11 Students’ Views of Careers Education and Work Experience.

The report, written by ASPIRES 2 Director Professor Louise Archer and Research Associate Dr. Julie Moote, summarises our project findings on careers education provision following our most recent data collection. Using survey data from over 13,000 Year 11 students, and interviews with 70 of these and 62 of their parents, we found that there is a demand for more and better careers education from students.

One of our key findings was that careers education is not currently reaching those most in need it; careers provision is not ‘patchy’, but is ‘patterned’ in terms of social inequalities. Girls, minority ethnic, working-class, lower-attaining and students who are unsure of their aspirations or who plan to leave education post-16 are all significantly less likely to report receiving careers education.

Download the Project Spotlight here.