STEM career aspirations

In both Germany and Canada—Canada being one of the countries with the strongest competencies in PISA—young people were found to be more likely to think about choosing a STEM profession in PISA 2015 in comparison with PISA 2006. However, students from these two countries show differences in their motivational-affective orientations. Whereas young people in Canada were found to be more interested, more motivated, and more self-efficacious in PISA 2015, the trend in Germany was found to be the opposite. Among girls in particular, interest, instrumental motivation, and self-efficacy expectations have decreased significantly since PISA 2006. The project is analysing the interplay of these characteristics and looking at the role of research-based discovery teaching as an additional potential factor of influence. This factor remained largely stable in Germany between PISA 2006 and 2015. Young people in Canada, on the other hand, reported more frequently in PISA 2015 that they are allowed to develop experiments themselves and that a stronger connection to the real world is being established in science lessons.