Role Models and Case Studies - National HE STEM Programme

Exploring the Range of Role Models and Case
Studies in STEM Careers
Dr Pat Morton, Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University
April 2011

Role Models and Case Studies - Final Report
By Dr Pat Morton, Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University, April 2011
This report is an overview of work undertaken for the Science Council to identify the range of role
models and case studies available to promote STEM subjects and careers to young people. The review
examines the range and type of case studies as well as the use of role models in widening participation
to under - represented groups in STEM careers.
Science for Careers
This research project arises from the Science for Careers Expert Group Action Plan published in March
2010 which identified the need to expand the breadth of role models and case studies beyond the
traditional academic, research science and HE case studies that are often utilised. "The group agreed
they would like to see more effort in showing the excitement and satisfaction achieved from ‘real’ jobs." 1
ROLE Models are only part of the story…
A role model scheme is 'an initiative seeking to promote SET (or STEM) to young people by intentionally
promoting SET practitioners as positive role models' (according to Royal Society, 2004, Taking a
Leading Role) but who are the role models that young people most frequently refer to? It is generally
recognised that role models can be important…but defining characteristics and how they influence
education and career choices is still unclear. Research findings vary - some suggest celebrities are most
likely while others have found that family members and friends are still most influential (Bricheno and
Thornton, 2007).
The age of young people will influence who and what they aspire to be when they grow up and their sex,
ethnicity, backgrounds and life experiences are also hugely influential (Bourdieu, 1990; Hodkinson and
Sparkes, 1997) but we know that young people's 'social identities are fluid, multiple, and accommodated
and resisted' (Francis et al, 2006) with young people drawing on some examples from their lives and
rejecting others to support and justify what are strongly held positions and opinions.
From our experience (see www.wiset.org.uk ) of more than 10 years developing schemes for girls and
running women's courses as well as research on gender and SET - we know that:
Girls and women in these careers need to be visible (this can be transferred to other under
represented groups) - but that this is only a first and basic step.
Having same sex role models to talk to (or mentors too) and read about can help you to
understand barriers to be faced, support measures needed - and just plain what to do if you do
not see any other women studying / working in the sector.
You need to be able to relate to the role model on a number of levels - more than just sex or even
age - other wise the role model can have a negative effect.
1 http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/site/careers/2010/03/03/new-science-for-careers-reportpublished/,
p 21
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'Habitus challengers' (Hodkinson, 1996) can serve as positive role models to challenge fixed
stereotypes over time - such as an uncle being an engineer and encouraging his niece - the girl
knows the stereotype of engineering - but can challenge it because of her own knowledge of her
uncle and his job. Thus the role model can be very different from the target group - but they need
to be confident enough to challenge stereotypes and be supportive when confidence is lacking in
the audience.
Within careers EIAG - signposting young people to case studies / clips can provide additional information
so they make informed choice. So careers advisers need to be able to trust the case studies / role model
examples they are using and to know they will not reinforce stereotypes.
At the same time further along the continuum real people role model schemes like STEM Ambassadors
are strengthening their delivery and diversity to help deliver positive career messages as a part of STEM
careers education and enrichment. This work is just as important…and we need to encourage all real life
ambassador programmes as well as those organisations that use them to take the responsibility to be
more aware of how role models are used and how they relate to the people they are engaging with.
What works and Why
Obviously there are many ways of providing case studies and role models - and different types can be
made to work in different ways. Examples of use in action include:
Issues
Women in SET poster exercise - pupils have to guess the job role from a normal photo - then you
explore stereotypes and real job roles. This exercise is hugely popular with teachers and other
groups - demand is consistent. (www.wiset.org.uk)
Watch short video clips that can be matched across to the curriculum in teaching e.g. In the
Limelight (STEM careers) links to Future Morph / science and maths / Will the Lighting Designer.
Just a useful context pointer and provides a flag for students to explore further.
Direct young people to do their own research about various careers - using www.icould.com or
www.careersbox.co.uk
Real people within schools - for example the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme (UAS) within
geosciences at Southampton University.
The providers of the case studies vary hugely.
Employer case studies are generally there to promote the company as well as the sector. This
can be acknowledged - but sometimes can be too strong and sound biased. Careers advisers will
be aware of this.
Sector Skills Councils and Professional Societies can provide information one step back from
employer sites - and provide useful information linked to the sector or profession / chartered
status - with less bias.
Professional societies with education / career investment provide some really good case studies
within an appealing framework. (Two sites not included in the report – Future Morph is the best
example of this - and Maths Careers too).
Careers based providers view STEM as one sector amongst many - their focus is wider - which
could be employer wide case studies / information for young people who do not know what they
want / teacher based activities / general careers education.
Those sites with an equality and diversity focus are generally looking at one strand like gender or
ethnicity - and can be useful to break down stereotypes. But there can be a risk in providing an
unreal perspective to some young people.
Different types of media
There are many different media types available including real people, written case studies, posters,
video and audio clips and films, blogs, online networks. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses -
video clips on YouTube can be really accessible for young people if short and snappy - but written case
studies and posters still go down well with teachers for young people in school. Written case studies
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need to have enough information to make them useful - name, age; job role is not a case study really.
Longer video clips provide real insight into what work is like as well as showing the route to a career.
STEM Careers mapping and evaluation
Rather than just mapping what exists the STEM Subject Choice and Careers Project in 2009 decided to
take the opportunity of the new IAG Standards framework to evaluate 2 existing resources against the
extracted and cross-referenced standards.
We have designed a database (Access) to catalogue the evaluations to capture a section of the huge
amount of careers resources available, and details of formats of resources. We have over 548 resources
collected, registered and evaluated between May 2008 and October 2010 (some original resources from
2008 have been revisited and updated). The National STEM Centre library is to host a selection of useful
careers resources in a wide range of formats for use by teachers along with a copy of the database.
From this database we have drawn the resources that include case studies and role model elements and
mapped them separately against our criteria and that of the Science Council instructions (see Appendix
One).
In addition we have separately and additionally identified case study / role model related resources and
databases to support the breadth of mapping request.
Database findings
Some observations:
Many websites include career profiles or case studies - but accessing these within any
organisation's website can be extremely complex and time consuming for those searching.
Unless you are determined - you would be likely to give up! Websites need to be much clearer in
signposting to their case studies.
The information contained within case studies can vary hugely - from very basic information
about a job without anything about the person (not even a picture), right the way through to full
entry qualifications, interests and job details with a video clip. The databases that provide very
little but the basic details do not really serve a purpose in promoting careers. Many case studies
contain part but not all of the basic information needed to be informative and useful. Some film
clips are too long and would be unlikely to hold the attention of young people.
The target group for the case study is rarely identified, but can generally be determined by the
host site and section e.g. Prospects is clearly aimed at graduates while careers box is aimed at
school pupils.
There are already some excellent diverse role model / case studies particularly female. The short
list of exemplar sites / individuals below provides some examples. They can be found in a
number of different places - some sector skills councils, individual companies, Aimhigher / RDA
funded STEM projects and STEM Institutions.
We have categorised 286 individuals from our STEM careers database as well as other case study sites,
focusing on the best ones. Websites such as Maths Careers website where there are a large number of
case studies enable individual subjects to be well covered, however the balance in maths is graduate
and above. A further 46 additional sites containing case studies / role model schemes in STEM beyond
our careers resources have been identified and are listed.
Exemplar examples
The list of twenty five exemplars consists of those generally in their twenties / early thirties and graduate
/ postgraduate unless otherwise identified. Some exemplars are from large careers resources - but
others are small - but illustrate good practice. There are few examples of diversity in ethnicity - so I have
included some that are only part STEM based that focus on black and Muslim case studies.
1. The East Midland STEM Partnership was a great example of a range of organisations coming
together to produce resources and promote STEM. Their series of hero videos cover a day in the
2 This is an evaluation of content in its broadest sense, i.e. a measure of content validity
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life of stories of a good range of roles. Watch the one of Hiten Mishtry, who is Train Systems
Engineer with London Underground Victoria Line for the East Midlands STEM Partnership (he
studied in the East Midlands).
http://www.emstempartnership.org.uk/WhatIsSTEM/STEM+Videos/STEM+Partnership+Hero+Vide
os/
2. The IET - Meet the members, meet the apprentices, and meet the students (case studies). A
detailed case study of a wide range of engineering roles, with a diverse age and ethnic background
(but women only feature in apprentice section!). The site also encourages and informs about
progression to professional membership and benefits of chartered status. Thomas Hlang, Rolls
Royce Graduate Scheme on the IET website http://www.theiet.org/careers/careeroptions/explore/case-studies/mtm-tom-hlaing.cfm
3. ABPI website is a comprehensive careers site with a wealth of information and useful resources.
The case studies cover a wide range of different pharma based careers, with a diverse range of
role model backgrounds. The case studies include the basic needs and more. Marie, Analytical
Chemist on ABPI Careers website http://careers.abpi.org.uk/case-studies/Pages/discoverychemist.aspx
Cerian, Biologist, on ABPI Careers website http://careers.abpi.org.uk/casestudies/Pages/biologist-biomarkers.aspx
4. The Royal Meteorogical Society case studies provide a focused look at job roles in one sector in
an informative and interesting way. The case studies are not too long, the language used is clear,
and the people chosen are from a range of backgrounds and are a mix of men and women. Fiona
Campbell, Meteorologist on the Royal Meteorological Society website
http://www.rmets.org/activities/careers/spotlight.php#fiona
5. The Science Oxford website provides short case studies covering a range of STEM careers - the
site allows you to choose a subject and interest areas and then leads to particular case studies.
The people are local, the information includes earnings, photos (for most), a good mix of ages and
gender, but very few from non white ethnic backgrounds and majority of roles are graduate
upwards. The format includes a short question / answer format. Matt, Scientist, Lifelab, Science
Oxford website, http://www.scienceoxfordnext.com/lifelab/profile/person/matt-k
6. icould is a comprehensive targeted careers website that covers a huge range of careers in and
outside STEM. There are many ways to use the site - the clips can be watched in full or in
highlight, there are linked teacher resources and ideas, and they have young people involved in
the management of the site. The career stories can be funny, informative and insightful - and they
have a few famous people on there too. They include a Life Theme search e.g. first in family to
university - very useful. Ed Collings, Automotive Engineer, icould website,
http://icould.com/videos/ed-collings/?length=short
7. Summit Skills careers website is a STEM careers Exemplar careers resource. The case studies
are diverse in all respects and feature a number of apprentices as well as those who have
progressed to higher levels...Good Day careers, Summit skills /CIBSE Ivan Chan at Buro Happold
http://www.goodday.org.uk/Careers/Case-Studies/16
8. The Metskill Academy is part of SEMTA - the 5 case studies of apprentices can be printed off for
use in school and they have male and female examples (no ethnic minorities).
http://www.metskill.co.uk/about_metskill_academy/case_studies.aspx
9. The UKRC provides two useful role model resources to promote gender equality in SET. The
GetSET women database http://www.getsetwomen.org/html/search-getset-women/viewprofile/?id=4575
provides information on a huge range of women working and studying in STEM
related areas - contact can then be made by organisations to ask for the role model to visit. The
blogs provide a different and innovative way to find out about STEM roles that women are involved
in - young and old and from diverse backgrounds. See Dr Cheryl Pitt
http://www.theukrc.org/blogs/getset-women/2010/09/investigating-plane-crashes
10. A Day in the Life series website has a small number of case studies with slides that show a day in
the life of Scientists at different stages of their careers working in brain research at Manchester
University. Not much career information - but a useful way of getting an insight - useful for teachers
to use with students. http://www.youramazingbrain.org/insidebrain/daylife.htm#
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11. Gradcracker women in SET - over 100 short case study profiles of women working in a wide range
of STEM roles and sectors - very diverse set of case studies. A great way of showing women being
very visible in these sectors - a short profile and a photo for each one.
http://www.gradcracker.com/women-in-science-engineering-and-technology
12. Careers box - is one of the main sites used by careers professionals (linked to ICG) to show
profiles of different sectors - it is a huge database and draws on some of the largest companies.
They try to cover a range of levels and diverse backgrounds - short clips and give a great snapshot
of different roles and sectors to dip into. http://www.careersbox.co.uk/
13. Physics.org - hosted by IOP and covering a range of different sectors in an eye catching graphical
design. Each profile has a written overview, a photo and a YouTube video clip. Good mix of
backgrounds and diversity of gender and ethnicity, as well as information about the physics in it. A
great site. http://www.physics.org/careers.asp?contentid=381
14. Talking jobs is a careers resource written by careers professionals that consists of video interviews
with comprehensive teaching resources to back it up. Available by subscription - but the preview
does show the depth to the materials. http://www.talkingjobs.net/
15. Real cool futures is a careers website developed hosted by the Eden Project that focuses on
careers linked to environment and climate change. The site has a range of video clips with
individual case studies and a montage that gives an overview. The site is good on gender and
ethnicity - most case studies are young and they are all enthusiastic.
http://www.realcoolfutures.com/
16. A series of 12 case studies of Muslim women who followed non-traditional career paths including
STEM, that arose out of the Muslim Women's Advisory Group. Case studies like this are just so
rare. The style is in a Q&A format - and the questions asked do cover overcoming barriers as well
as about the work. http://www.ourchoices.org.uk/role-models.htm
17. Plus Maths part of the Millennium Maths Project - the careers interviews with people who have
taken maths degrees is a great resource. There are a huge amount of profiles that range widely
across the directions maths can take you and they are diverse on gender and ethnicity. They are
quite long and include elements of mathematics. The area of the site is aimed at those who have
an interest in maths already - but may not be sure where it could take them.
http://plus.maths.org/content/Career?page=5
18. Lantra - Sector skills council for land based and environmental careers - the careers site includes a
clear and informative list of short case studies (with more detail if you want) on a wide range of
careers - in an area not well covered elsewhere. http://www.lantra.co.uk/careers/careershome.aspx
19. Bigbangblogs - the site hosted by Brightside UNIAID has lots more than case studies, including e-
mentoring by real scientists and blogs -but the profiles are good - although no photos and not easy
to find. http://www.bigbangblogs.org/knowledge-bank/science-and-maths/careers-in-science-andmaths
20. Vega Science Trust Career videos are slightly longer than most video clips (around 14 minutes)
but they have a good wide range of STEM roles covered, they are young and people from a very a
diverse range of backgrounds - the clips are a day in the life and a lot more. The general list is
available at http://vega.org.uk/video/series/10 . Watch Faye Banks for an example
http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/49
21. Leading Lights, from STEMNET showcases portraits and details of a small number of STEM
Ambassadors from across the country working in a wide range of STEM roles. The case studies
are diverse and detailed and work really well in classroom situations as lesson starters.
http://www.stemnet.org.uk/list/1
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Employer sites
22. Centrica graduate profiles on YouTube are a great resource - being on YouTube makes them
accessible for a wide audience. The short clips cover a range of graduate roles within the company
and case studies are diverse in gender and ethnicity.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Centricaplc#g/c/156D9672C9B8D439
23. Step into the NHS is an exemplar careers resource. The case studies cover a range of NHS jobs -
STEM based and outside STEM. The short profiles provide an insight into the work involved in an
informal way - with links to further career information and entry requirements. Scott Elliott, Exercise
Physiologist, NHS careers website, http://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/casestudies/scott-elliot.aspx
24. The Jaguar Land Rover video clips provide an insight into job roles and to the company. Watch
Lauren Coyle, Human Factors Engineer, Jaguar Land Rover.
http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com/Our-People/Default.aspx?v=qUBUd2kgT6k
25. EADS Astrium - an employer site that has case studies of apprentices with a good gender balance.
The case studies are short and informative about apprenticeship routes.
http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/meet-our-apprentice-engineers/
26. Yorkshire Water careers website has a number of employee blogs / case studies with people
talking about what they do. A good range of roles, photos, diversity and informal descriptions
together with information about CSR that Yorkshire Water are involved in provide a useful site.
http://www.yorkshirewater.com/careers/through-our-eyes.aspx
Real people
We have not included these as part of the report - but their contribution can be significantly greater than
case studies - if managed appropriately.
27. STEMNET http://www.stemnet.org.uk/content/ambassadors/whoareambassadors
28. Researchers in Residence http://www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk/cms/researcher-profiles-2/
29. The Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme puts undergraduates in schools to do a project with
young people. A number of STEM subject areas at universities are involved e.g. geosciences at
Southampton. http://www.uas.ac.uk/
30. Schemes such as EDT / Bloodhound also offer real people - STEM Ambassadors and with STEM
Careers training they can have confidence to include careers within their engagement activities
with students.
Gaps
Technician and apprentice case studies are not widely available - large majority are university
based.
Black and minority ethnic (BME) case studies are not widely available, however there are more
female BME case studies than male.
Subject gaps - our snapshot suggests that Technology and Chemistry are the least covered
areas (biology, physics, chemistry, maths, engineering, technology) - but our general focus has
not been on technology.
Sector gaps are similar to subject gaps - chemistry and computing. Other areas that need to be
expanded include energy and power, food, materials and built environment.
The majority of case studies we found come from large employers.
There is potential to increase the access to real people and job profiles through blogging. The
UKRC and BigBangBlogs have real potential.
Disability is largely invisible in case studies. Some sites have disabled profiles but they are not
identified as such - so it is hard to gauge how many are available.
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Conclusions and Recommendations
There area number of points to be drawn out of the analysis.
1. Challenge stereotypes as a basic requirement - diverse examples will meet the needs of a wider
audience. There needs to be more ethnic minority case studies and some visible role models with
disability - to challenge invisibility.
2. When setting up case studies - organisations need to have a clear idea how the case studies will
be used and who by.
3. Role models alone will not create change and solve the STEM skill shortage - they need to be part
of a progressive engagement with STEM and careers.
4. Video clips of any length (over 5 minutes) need a breakdown of script headings - so users can find
the part of the clip that meets their needs most.
5. Basic information about a person is not enough to change perceptions - day in the life / teaching
exercises / links to curriculum or subject or interest area are needed. Q and A case studies work
well.
6. YouTube clips well established - good media to reach young people - need to expand into blogs /
online media.
7. There are real issues about how the user can find case studies; many are hidden well behind
many headings. Organisations need to follow simple accessibility guide and provide clear signpost
for young people. Perhaps there should be more use of user focus groups in design?
8. Computer Science / IT have not been a focus of the search - as such it appears as a gap - but
further analysis is needed. Chemistry related jobs from our searches appear to be an area that has
limited good coverage in case studies - however chemistry related jobs are covered in other
sectors - so this may be misleading.
9. There are a large number of case studies and profiles - but it was quite difficult to identify 25 that
could be highlighted as good practice.
10. While we can show "the excitement and satisfaction achieved from real jobs" (p21, BIS, 2010)
there is also plenty of scope to improve the existing wealth of case studies that are trying to
achieve this effect. With some simple changes and better coordination, all of these case studies
could have a greater impact to support entry to STEM subjects and careers.
References
11. BIS (2010) Science for Careers; report of the Science and Society Expert Group, March 2010.
12. Bourdieu,Pierre (1990) In other words; Essays towards a Reflexive Sociology, Stanford University
Press, USA.
13. Bricheno, Patricia and Thornton, Mary (2007) Role model, hero or champion? Children's views
concerning role models in Educational Research, Vol 49, No 4, pp383 - 396.
14. Francis, Becky, Skelton, Christine, Carrington, Bruce, Hutchings, Merryn, Read, Barbara, Hall, Ian
(2006) A perfect match? Pupils' and teachers' views of the impact of matching educators and
teachers by gender, paper presented at British Educational Education research conference,
University of Warwick, September 2006.
15. Hodkinson, P (1996) Learning careers, continuity and change in young people's dispositions to
learning in British Educational Research Journal, Vol 26, No 5, pp583-597.
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16. Hodkinson, Phil and Sparkes, Andrew (1997) A sociological theory of career decision making, in
British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 18, No 1, p29-44.
17. Royal Society ( 2004) Taking a Leading Role, Royal Society, England
page 8/12

Appendix One Categories
Name
Picture
Job title
Employer
Employment sector (aeronautical, aerospace, built env, chem eng, civil eng, electric,
electronic, energy and power, general eng, mechanical eng, marine eng, applied math,
pure math, stats, economics, bio, chem, env science, food, forensic, material, health,
teaching, comp and IT)
Size of employer
Type of scientists
Career stage
Subject (bio, chem, eng, math, phys, tech)
Qualification (subject)
Qualifications (level)
Qualification route (university, PhD, apprentice, industry, chartered, not known)
Sex
Age
Ethnicity
Length of Profile
Target audience (14-16, 16-18, 18+, graduate, parent, teacher)
Format & location (website, video clip, social network, brochure, poster, other)
Source of info
Notes
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Appendix Two - list of databases used
Scheme
Gradcracker
Scenta
EPSRC Noisemakers
BTEG
Our Choices
Women in Technology
UKRC Getset Women
Researchers in Residence
Vega
SHU Graduation Project
BP Profiles
Bloodhound
Talking jobs
Lifelab
Naked Scientists
STEMNET case studies
STEM Partnership hero videos
Real Cool Futures case studies
Planet Science
EngineeringUK
Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme
AEDS astrium
cibse
iop working in series
plus maths
Centrica
Yorkshire Water
Jaguar landrover
STEMNET ambassadors / Leading Lights
Wiset case studies
Practical Action posters
Physics.org
Radiography Careers
BBC job profiles
Institution of Civil engineers
UK Space Agency
Engineering apprenticeships
National apprenticeships
icould
Prospects
STEMgirls
Careers in Aerospace
Defence science and technology
Whynotchemeng
Geological society
ABPI
STEP into NHS
Royal Meteorological society
Metskills
Royal Statistical Society
Learn about O.R.
IET
page 10/12

Pie charts illustrating make up of sectors etc.
Level
Subject
page 11/12

Sectors
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