The purpose of this thesis is to identify typical patterns of career destinations for young
women and men in relation to their high school science preparedness. This is an empirical
structural study that documents the way high school academic capital is turned (or not)
into human capital for science and engineering professions. The study uses ten years of
longitudinal data on educational and career paths of British Columbia high school
graduates of the Class of '88. Correspondence analysis and other descriptive statistics
provide a picture of students' participation in mathematics and science senior high school
courses and post-secondary academic programs. School course choices, post-secondary
educational attainment, specialization fields are correlated to respondents' high school
science preparedness, parental education and gender. A major finding of this study is that
high school science preparedness opens greater opportunity for students to attend and
succeed along abroad range of post-secondary pathways. Still, thesis findings confirm
the existence of a "leaking" phenomenon along the physical sciences and engineering
post-secondary pipeline, especially for women as well as men with non-university
educated parents. Equity in access and outcomes is discussed in relation to respondents'
possession of cultural and academic capital, and in relation to gender inequality that
persists within school and post-secondary institutions, the science community and society
at large. Implications for further research emerge from the literature review and the
interpretation of thesis findings. Longitudinal research needs to explore more directly the
reasons why many young women and men who excelled in science at the high school
level depart from the science pipeline sooner or later. A major conclusion is that the
"critical mass" approach that directs attention toward creating a large supply pool to feed
the science pipeline by encouraging more young women to enter the field of science is
still a unilateral numerical strategy, and more has to be done to improve the retention and
advancement of talented women interested in science. This thesis reinforces the need for
an analysis of the culture of the science community and a revision of the leaking science
pipeline concept that should be replaced by a more open non-linear model of science
careers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/14342 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Adamuti-Trache, Maria |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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