Engaging young female students in digital technology programs: Part two

This report is part of a larger project commissioned by CSIRO and designed to highlight the enablers and barriers to young female students engaging with digital technology through a primary research project. This research aimed to gain insight from teachers, students and tertiary educators in order to trace the pathway from primary through to tertiary digital technology education. The perspectives of these stakeholders are compared with the findings from Part One of the project. Part Two of the larger project relates to a primary research project designed to gain further insight into the factors that facilitate and hinder young female students’ engagement with digital technologies and STEM. To achieve this aim, the research project focused on gaining the perspectives of Australian teachers including those involved in CEdO programs, a small group of students aged 14-16 years, and a sample of STEM educators in tertiary institutions. This report firstly outlines the approach used to gain the perspectives of the first and second groups, namely: a sample of Australian teachers; and a sample of students aged 14-16 years. This is followed by a findings section which integrates the teacher and student data to discuss key themes that emerged from the analyses. The next section outlines the method and findings for the third group, a sample of STEM educators in tertiary institutions. The final section of this report presents the key findings that emerged across the different data collected in the research project. It also connects these findings to the recommendations made in the Part One report to illustrate the links between the two aspects of the project.