Encouraging girls to study Physics at A-level and beyond: a classroom study in England

This is reflective study based on my own teaching practice in two all-girls’ schools in England. At the first school my curiosity was ‘piqued’ when I realised how difficult it seemed to be to enthuse girls about Physics compared to the boys I had taught in schools prior to this. In the second school where I had more influence as head of Physics, I decided to try a number of interventions to attempt to improve the take-up of Physics at A-level and also to improve retention rates between year 12 and year 13 where traditionally about half of the students dropped out of the Physics course. I have experimented with a range of techniques to make Physics more appealing to female students and to find more reasons for them to explore the world of Physics both in terms of intrinsic interest and in terms of career prospects. My reading of the literature has suggested that the problem is multi-factorial with the influence of society at large, parents, teachers and the culture of schools themselves all having an effect on girls’ attitudes towards Physics. This suggests that potential solutions are also likely to be multi-factorial, with pedagogy, extra-curricular projects and trips all being part of reversing this trend. Although working with small numbers, I have found that increasing the number of opportunities for female students to practice Physics, by taking part in both open experimental investigations and theory extension work, does increase their confidence and their interest in taking the subject further. Trips to CERN, taking part in the British Physics Olympiad competitions, special projects to try and photograph sunspots and especially changing approaches to teaching to encourage more student involvement in lessons have all played a part in encouraging these students to go on and study Astrophysics, Physics and Engineering